In 2001, the Electronic Frontier Foundation's staff attorney Deborah Pierce criticized Microsoft Passport as a potential threat to privacy after it was revealed that Microsoft would have full access to and usage of customer information.

In Autumn 2003, a similar good Samaritan helped Microsoft when they missed payment on the '.uk' address, although no downtime resulted. The payment resulted in the site being available the next morning. A Linux consultant, Michael Chaney, paid it the next day ( Christmas), hoping it would solve this issue with the downed site. The oversight made Hotmail, which used the site for authentication, unavailable on December 24. In December 1999, Microsoft neglected to pay their annual $35 '' domain registration fee to Network Solutions. As a consequence, Windows Live ID is not positioned as the single sign-on service for all web commerce, but as one choice of many among identity systems. He then joined Microsoft in 1999 after his company was acquired and was its Chief Architect of Access and Identity until his 2019 retirement, helping to address those violations in the design of the Windows Live ID identity meta-system. A prominent critic was Kim Cameron, the author of The Laws of Identity, who questioned Microsoft Passport in its violations of those laws. Microsoft Passport received much criticism. Microsoft Passport, the predecessor to Windows Live ID, was originally positioned as a single sign-on service for all web commerce.

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