skydrive Updated SkyDrive/Microsoft TOS Clarifies Stance on Content & Privacy

[Matthew_Thepc]

The new Microsoft TOS (http://windows.micro...vices-agreement) has a somewhat updated and clarified content section, as seen below.

3. Content

3.1. Who owns the content that I put on the services? Content includes anything you upload to, store on, or transmit through the services, such as data, documents, photos, video, music, email, and instant messages (?content?). Except for material that we license to you that may be incorporated into your own content (such as clip art), we do not claim ownership of the content you provide on the services. Your content remains your content, and you are responsible for it. We do not control, verify, pay for, or endorse the content that you and others make available on the services.

3.2. Who can access my content? You have initial control over who may access your content. If you share content in public areas of the services or in shared areas available to others you?ve chosen, you agree that anyone you have shared content with may, for free, use, save, reproduce, distribute, display, and transmit that content in connection with their use of the services and other Microsoft, or its licensees?, products and services. If you don't want others to have that ability, don't use the services to share your content. If you use or share content on the services in a way that infringes others? copyrights, trademarks, other intellectual property rights, or privacy rights, you are breaching this agreement. You represent and warrant that for the duration of this agreement you have (and will have) all the rights necessary for the content you upload or share on the services and that the use of the content, as contemplated in this section 3.2, won't violate any law.

3.3. What does Microsoft do with my content? When you upload your content to the services, you agree that it may be used, modified, adapted, saved, reproduced, distributed, and displayed to the extent necessary to protect you and to provide, protect and improve Microsoft products and services. For example, we may occasionally use automated means to isolate information from email, chats, or photos in order to help detect and protect against spam and malware, or to improve the services with new features that makes them easier to use. When processing your content, Microsoft takes steps to help preserve your privacy.

3.4. Does Microsoft have voice enabled services? Yes. If you use voice enabled services, you consent to Microsoft recording and collecting your voice input. The voice input will be used to provide the voice enabled services to you and improve Microsoft products and services. Microsoft won't use your voice input for any other purpose.

3.5. What type of content isn't permitted? Content that violates this agreement, which includes the Microsoft Anti-Spam Policy (http://go.microsoft..../?LinkId=117951) and the Microsoft Code of Conduct (http://g.live.com/0ELHP_MEREN/243) or your local law isn't permitted on the services. Microsoft reserves the right to review content for the purpose of enforcing this agreement. Microsoft may block or otherwise prevent delivery of any type of email, instant message, or other communication to or from the services as part of our effort to protect the services or our customers, or otherwise enforce the terms of this agreement.

3.6. Can Microsoft remove my content from the services? Yes. We may ask you to remove your content from the services if it violates this agreement or the law. Failure to comply may result in loss of access to, or cancellation of, the services or your Microsoft account. Additionally, Microsoft may remove your content without asking you if we determine it's in violation of this agreement or the law, or if we receive a notice of intellectual property infringement from a third party.

This Neowin news article has a copy of the old content policy:

5. Your content

Except for material that we license to you, we don't claim ownership of the content you provide on the service. Your content remains your content. We also don't control, verify, or endorse the content that you and others make available on the service.

You control who may access your content. If you share content in public areas of the service or in shared areas available to others you've chosen, then you agree that anyone you've shared content with may use that content. When you give others access to your content on the service, you grant them free, nonexclusive permission to use, reproduce, distribute, display, transmit, and communicate to the public the content solely in connection with the service and other products and services made available by Microsoft. If you don't want others to have those rights, don't use the service to share your content.

You understand that Microsoft may need, and you hereby grant Microsoft the right, to use, modify, adapt, reproduce, distribute, and display content posted on the service solely to the extent necessary to provide the service.

Please respect the rights of artists, inventors, and creators. Content may be protected by copyright. People appearing in content may have a right to control the use of their image. If you share content on the service in a way that infringes others' copyrights, other intellectual property rights, or privacy rights, you're breaching this contract. You represent and warrant that you have all the rights necessary for you to grant the rights in this section and the use of the content doesn't violate any law. We won't pay you for your content. We may refuse to publish your content for any or no reason. We may remove your content from the service at any time if you breach this contract or if we cancel or suspend the service.

The new policy clarifies their policies by providing six points which it elaborates on, "Who owns the content that I put on the services?," "Who can access my content?," "What does Microsoft do with my content?," "Does Microsoft have voice enabled services?," "What type of content isn't permitted?," and "Can Microsoft remove my content from the services?"

Let's compare the policies.

First up is about who owns the content that you upload.

3.1. Who owns the content that I put on the services? Content includes anything you upload to, store on, or transmit through the services, such as data, documents, photos, video, music, email, and instant messages (?content?). Except for material that we license to you that may be incorporated into your own content (such as clip art), we do not claim ownership of the content you provide on the services. Your content remains your content, and you are responsible for it. We do not control, verify, pay for, or endorse the content that you and others make available on the services.

And the old policy:

"Except for material that we license to you, we don't claim ownership of the content you provide on the service. Your content remains your content. We also don't control, verify, or endorse the content that you and others make available on the service."

Apart from including the definition of "content," adding a part about including material such as clip art that Microsoft provides that's "incorporated into your own content" as content Microsoft claims ownership of, and adding that they don't pay for your content it's almost exactly the same.

Next let's look at "Who can access my content?"

3.2. Who can access my content? You have initial control over who may access your content. If you share content in public areas of the services or in shared areas available to others you?ve chosen, you agree that anyone you have shared content with may, for free, use, save, reproduce, distribute, display, and transmit that content in connection with their use of the services and other Microsoft, or its licensees?, products and services. If you don't want others to have that ability, don't use the services to share your content. If you use or share content on the services in a way that infringes others? copyrights, trademarks, other intellectual property rights, or privacy rights, you are breaching this agreement. You represent and warrant that for the duration of this agreement you have (and will have) all the rights necessary for the content you upload or share on the services and that the use of the content, as contemplated in this section 3.2, won't violate any law.

and the old policy:

"You control who may access your content. If you share content in public areas of the service or in shared areas available to others you've chosen, then you agree that anyone you've shared content with may use that content. When you give others access to your content on the service, you grant them free, nonexclusive permission to use, reproduce, distribute, display, transmit, and communicate to the public the content solely in connection with the service and other products and services made available by Microsoft. If you don't want others to have those rights, don't use the service to share your content."

The big addition here is the second part of the paragraph:

If you use or share content on the services in a way that infringes others? copyrights, trademarks, other intellectual property rights, or privacy rights, you are breaching this agreement. You represent and warrant that for the duration of this agreement you have (and will have) all the rights necessary for the content you upload or share on the services and that the use of the content, as contemplated in this section 3.2, won't violate any law.

which essentially works as the last paragraph in the old policy:

"Please respect the rights of artists, inventors, and creators. Content may be protected by copyright. People appearing in content may have a right to control the use of their image. If you share content on the service in a way that infringes others' copyrights, other intellectual property rights, or privacy rights, you're breaching this contract. You represent and warrant that you have all the rights necessary for you to grant the rights in this section and the use of the content doesn't violate any law."

3.3 goes:

3.3. What does Microsoft do with my content? When you upload your content to the services, you agree that it may be used, modified, adapted, saved, reproduced, distributed, and displayed to the extent necessary to protect you and to provide, protect and improve Microsoft products and services. For example, we may occasionally use automated means to isolate information from email, chats, or photos in order to help detect and protect against spam and malware, or to improve the services with new features that makes them easier to use. When processing your content, Microsoft takes steps to help preserve your privacy.

This is an updated version of this in the old policy:

"You understand that Microsoft may need, and you hereby grant Microsoft the right, to use, modify, adapt, reproduce, distribute, and display content posted on the service solely to the extent necessary to provide the service."

It seems to be attempting to address the privacy concerns that people have been talking about by saying that "When processing your content, Microsoft takes steps to help preserve your privacy." Other than that, it gives an example of how they would use your content.

3.4:

3.4. Does Microsoft have voice enabled services? Yes. If you use voice enabled services, you consent to Microsoft recording and collecting your voice input. The voice input will be used to provide the voice enabled services to you and improve Microsoft products and services. Microsoft won't use your voice input for any other purpose.

This wasn't included in any way (as far as I can see) in the old policy. If we're lucky, it could be hinting at better voice integration in WP8 (*cough*Bing Now/Clipi*cough*) :rofl:

3.5:

3.5. What type of content isn't permitted? Content that violates this agreement, which includes the Microsoft Anti-Spam Policy (http://go.microsoft..../?LinkId=117951) and the Microsoft Code of Conduct (http://g.live.com/0ELHP_MEREN/243) or your local law isn't permitted on the services. Microsoft reserves the right to review content for the purpose of enforcing this agreement. Microsoft may block or otherwise prevent delivery of any type of email, instant message, or other communication to or from the services as part of our effort to protect the services or our customers, or otherwise enforce the terms of this agreement.

Again, this attempts to address the concerns about SkyDrive deleting photos and suspending accounts by clarifying what's OK and what's not OK to upload, although "Microsoft may block or otherwise prevent delivery of any type of email, instant message, or other communication to or from the services as part of our effort to protect the services or our customers, or otherwise enforce the terms of this agreement" is new.

And, finally, 3.6:

3.6. Can Microsoft remove my content from the services? Yes. We may ask you to remove your content from the services if it violates this agreement or the law. Failure to comply may result in loss of access to, or cancellation of, the services or your Microsoft account. Additionally, Microsoft may remove your content without asking you if we determine it's in violation of this agreement or the law, or if we receive a notice of intellectual property infringement from a third party.

This basically just says that Microsoft can (and probably will) delete your pr0n if/when they find it. A slightly more harsh punishment can be seen below that in the agreement:

4.1. What happens if I don't abide by these terms? If you violate this agreement, we may take action against you including (without limitation) removing your content from the services, suspending your access to the services, asking you to refrain from certain activities, canceling your services, and/or referring such activity to appropriate authorities. Additionally, we enforce a policy that provides for the termination, in appropriate circumstances, of the accounts of users who are repeat infringers. In the event we take action against you for a violation of this agreement, we may permanently delete, and you may permanently lose, some or all of your content stored on the services and/or we may cancel your services in their entirety. Data that is deleted may be irretrievable.

TL;DR: Microsoft is attempting to address concerns about SkyDrive privacy by clarifying their TOS.

(note: I used "" for a few of the quotes because for some reason if I add too many quotes Neowin says like "the number of opening quote tags doesn't match the # of closing tabs" O.O might wanna look into that)

[grayscale]

I'm liking this Q&A type of presenting the TOS.

[tomasarson]

ms has always been pretty good about user privacy/rights when it comes to the biggest corporations in the world.

that being said, they can still change the TOS at anytime to whatever they see fit.

i still like them for privacy over google and a lot of other companies.

[Dashel]

Except the overriding issue still isn't addressed. The content rule is still the 2009 one and is ridiculous. I'd be more interested in a comparison with the other two ecosystems, because that will dictate my next gadget. I assume with the new rollup this now applies to email too or did it always?

[tomasarson]

Except the overriding issue still isn't addressed. The content rule is still the 2009 one and is ridiculous. I'd be more interested in a comparison with the other two ecosystems, because that will dictate my next gadget. I assume with the new rollup this now applies to email too or did it always?

as far as i know they don't crawl email. that's their biggest point over gmail. (to me anyway)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDbrX5U75dk&hd=1

not to crap on google. i use it all of the time. just not for my email. cause i have so much to hide.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

So they're still going to go through your files and delete anything they don't like then.

[Dashel]

as far as i know they don't crawl email. that's their biggest point over gmail. (to me anyway)

Frankly, crawling my information for marketing in a free service is less distasteful to me that what MS is doing. It doesn't jeopardize your entire account (and I assume linked accounts)? One is slimy, the other is hello thought police.

[tomasarson]

Frankly, crawling my information for marketing in a free service is less distasteful to me that what MS is doing. It doesn't jeopardize your entire account (and I assume linked accounts)? One is slimy, the other is hello thought police.

i guess. google can do the same thing and shut you down. everything is linked through one account.

it's all the same. people just have preferences.

want to show me some TOS from other major services you may use for free that won't do the same?

btw, i pay for my personal email account. 20 bucks a year is so worth it.

[PsYcHoKiLLa]

So what, Microsoft tries to force the horrendous Bing Bar on you everywhere, even when you install DirectX now. They're all out to make money, that's business, that's capitalism. Get used to it.

[tomasarson]

So what, Microsoft tries to force the horrendous Bing Bar on you everywhere, even when you install DirectX now. They're all out to make money, that's business, that's capitalism. Get used to it.

man that bar sucks. and so do the other nameless bars that ive never even heard of when my parents install whatever programs and say that their pc is running slow.

i thought old people loved reading! it seems they love clicking even more.

[ArialBlue]

So still no hiding the personal collection on SkyDrive... MS you disappoint me.