Microsoft is emphasizing privacy with its new terms of service update

If you keep track of Microsoft’s Terms of Service agreements, you know that the TOS went through a limited but embarrassing revamp in March after Microsoft admitted it scanned a blogger’s Hotmail account in response to the Kibkalo Windows 8 leaks. Russian Alex Kibkalo, nicked at a conference in Bellevue, drew a prison sentence of time-served-plus-one-week, followed by extradition. We pay penance with yet another MS TOS update. As the Scroogled campaign made abundantly clear, Microsoft’s view of its approach to privacy varies greatly with Google’s “we can look at anything to dish out ads” stance. There’s a fair amount of gray area at the edges, though, that the new MS Terms of Service leave fuzzy.

Microsoft has updated its customer service agreements to make them easier to understand and more explicit about privacy. The firm has advised users in a blog post. The message is heavy on ease of use and transparency, but privacy is a hot topic, and it is privacy that Microsoft highlights as its first change. “We are now explicitly stating what we’ve said in past, that we don’t use people’s documents, photos or other personal files or what they say in email, chat, video calls or voice mail to target advertising to them,” said Ryan Gavin, Microsoft GM of search, cloud and content. Gavin added that each of Microsoft’s products, including mail and storage apps, now have their own tailored privacy statements. “We tailor our privacy statements for each product and organise content for consistency, so people can easily find it,” he added. “This includes a new Windows Services Privacy Statement that covers Microsoft account, Outlook.com and Onedrive.” The changes will come into effect at the end of July, said Gavin, and Microsoft will send its customers emails before then. A FAQ is also available.