Office 2016 licence - all 35,000+ words of it

Office-Watch.comLast updated: 30 May 2016

The Norwegian experiment of reading out Terms and Conditions got us wondering about how long the Microsoft Office Terms and Conditions really are.

It’s a bit like asking ‘How long is a piece of string’? It depends on what you think is part of Office. There’s the initial software licence plus additional privacy terms and conditions and the general Microsoft Service Agreement.

There’s also other Microsoft software and services that are linked or integrated into Office, so those additional terms should be considered.

For example, the encryption and signing features in Office, for password protecting documents and emails, comes from technologies in Windows. Office has links to Bing searches and images while Outlook has a mapping features from Bing Maps. OneDrive is Microsoft’s preferred cloud storage service for Office, so any T&C’s from there need to be considered too.

All the major licence terms are below, as at 30 May 2016. These are the documents that Microsoft says apply to Microsoft Office users:

Office Software Licence Terms – 3,529 words
Microsoft Privacy Statement – 19,819 words
Microsoft Service Agreements – 12,137 words

A total of 35,485 words which isn’t quite a full novel, more like a novella.

Microsoft Software Licence Terms

3,529 words of which only 378 are visible in the dialog window. There are links to web pages with additional, important, conditions but the links aren’t clickable and easy to overlook. The links lack the usual ‘http://’ prefix, which makes the links just a little harder to find and use.

Here’s all the links that Microsoft has buried in their Office 2016 Service Agreement. We’ve added the ‘http://’ and made the links clickable, unlike Microsoft.

The most important links are at the very bottom:

” The links containing terms that bind you and us are:

http://r.office.microsoft.com/r/rlidOOPrivacyState15HighLight?clid=1033 (Office 2016 Privacy Statement);
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=246338 (Microsoft Service Agreement) “

” Privacy Statement, at http://r.office.microsoft.com/r/rlidOOPrivacyState15HighLight?clid=1033 ” this appears many times.

The other links are for information, not part of the formal conditions.

“For more information about activation, see http://microsoft.com/piracy/activation.mspx .”

Office Personalization Experience Program – “To learn more about OPEP, see http://O16.officeredir.microsoft.com/r/rlidOfficeLegal?clid=1033 .” –

Information Rights Management ” For more information, go to http://O16.officeredir.microsoft.com/r/rlidIRMHelp?clid=1033 “

” If you want to find out more about University subscription, or you want to find out if you are a Qualified Educational User, visit http://microsoft.com/education “

Export Restrictions – “Please see treasury.gov/resource-center/Documents/soc_net.pdf for more information” and ” http://www.microsoft.com/exporting “

” Limited customer support for Office 365 Consumer Subscription is available at http://office.com/support (help/how to) and at http://support.microsoft.com/ph/13615 “

SUPPLEMENT TO MICROSOFT SERVICE AGREEMENT

MICROSOFT OFFICE 365 CONSUMER SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE AND SOFTWARE:

MICROSOFT OFFICE 365 HOME PREMIUM

MICROSOFT OFFICE 365 UNIVERSITY

Thank you for choosing a Microsoft Office 365 Consumer Subscription. Your use of the Office 365 Consumer Subscription service and software is governed by the terms and conditions of the Microsoft Service Agreement you agreed to when you signed up for a Microsoft Account (formerly known as Windows Live ID) and the terms and conditions of this Supplement, which with other terms contained in web links listed in this Supplement are an agreement between you and Microsoft Corporation (or, based on where you live, one of its affiliates). A separate license may be presented when installing and using the software on a licensed device. That separate license controls to the extent of any conflict with this Supplement. For your convenience, we’ve organized this Supplement into two parts. The first part includes introductory terms; the Additional Terms follow and contain greater detail. You should review this entire Supplement, including any linked terms, because all of the terms are important and create this contract that applies to you. You can review linked terms by pasting the forward link into your browser window. In the event of any conflict between the Microsoft Service Agreement and this Supplement, this Supplement will govern as to your use of an Office 365 Consumer Subscription.

BY ACCEPTING THIS AGREEMENT OR USING THE SOFTWARE/SERVICE, YOU AGREE TO ALL OF THESE TERMS AND CONSENT TO THE TRANSMISSION OF CERTAIN INFORMATION DURING ACTIVATION AND FOR INTERNET-BASED FEATURES OF THE SOFTWARE/SERVICE. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT AND COMPLY WITH THESE TERMS, YOU MAY NOT USE THE SERVICE OR SOFTWARE.

How can I use the software that is provided as part of the service? We do not sell our software or your copy of it – we only license it. Under our license we grant you the right to install and run that one copy of the software on one licensed computer (the first licensed computer) for use by one person at a time, but only if you comply with all the terms of this Supplement. The user whose Microsoft account is associated with the software license for the first licensed computer is the “licensed subscriber.” Provided that you comply with all the terms of this Supplement, you may install and run additional copies of the software on licensed computers and licensed devices as follows:

Office 365 Home Premium: On four additional licensed computers and five licensed devices, for use only by members of the same household as the licensed subscriber. Please refer to the Additional Terms for qualifications and requirements that apply to “Military” and “Canadian Forces” subscriptions.

Office 365 University: On one additional licensed computer and two licensed devices, for use only by the licensed subscriber. Please refer to the Additional Terms for qualifications and requirements that apply to “Qualified Educational Users.”

Only one person at a time may use the software on each licensed computer or licensed device. The service/software may not be used for commercial, non-profit, or revenue-generating activities. The components of the software are licensed as a single unit, and you may not separate or virtualize the components and install them on different computers. Except for the permitted use described under “Remote Access” below, this license is for direct use of the software only through the input mechanisms of the licensed computer, such as a keyboard, mouse, or touchscreen. It does not give permission for installation of the software on a server or for use by or through other computers or devices connected to the server over an internal or external network. The software also is not licensed for commercial hosting. For more information on multiple user scenarios and virtualization, see the Additional Terms.

How long can I use the software? Your right to use the service/software is limited to the subscription period. You may have the option to extend your subscription. If you extend your subscription, you may continue using the service/software until the end of your extended subscription period. See the software activation screens or other accompanying materials for subscription details. After the expiration of your subscription, most features of the service and software will stop running.

Can I assign or transfer the software to another computer, device or user? License transfers are not permitted. You may assign the software license to another computer or device in accordance with the above installation and use rights. Anytime you assign the software license to a new computer or device, the software will no longer run on the prior computer or device.

How does Internet activation work? Activation associates the use of the service/software with a specific computer or device. Activation is required for each licensed computer and each licensed device to which a software license is assigned. During activation, the software will automatically contact Microsoft or its affiliate to confirm that the license is associated with the licensed computer or licensed device. Because activation is meant to identify unauthorized changes to the licensing or activation functions of the software, and to otherwise prevent unlicensed use of the software, you have no right to use the service and software after the time permitted for activation and you may not bypass or circumvent activation. If you have not entered a product key during the time permitted for activation, most features of the service and software will stop running.

Does the software collect my personal information? If you connect your computer to the Internet, some features of the service or software may connect to Microsoft or service provider computer systems to send or receive information. You may not always receive a separate notice when they connect. If you choose to use any of these features, you agree to send or receive this information when using that feature. Many of these features can be switched off or you can choose not to use them.

How do we use your information? Microsoft uses the information it collects through the service and software features to upgrade or fix the service and software and otherwise personalize the user experience or improve our products and services. We may use this information we collect to identify and contact you. In certain circumstances, we also share it with others to improve our products and services. For example, we share error reports with relevant hardware and software vendors, so that they can use the information to improve how their products run with Microsoft products. You agree that we may use and disclose the information as described in our Privacy Statement, at r.office.microsoft.com/r/rlidOOPrivacyState15HighLight?clid=1033.

ADDITIONAL TERMS

LICENSE RIGHTS AND MULTI USER SCENARIOS
Computer and Device. In this agreement, “computer” means a hardware system (whether physical or virtual) with a storage device capable of running the software. A hardware partition or blade is considered to be a computer. “Device” means a mobile device capable of running the software.
Multiple or pooled connections. You may not use hardware or software to multiplex or pool connections, or otherwise allow multiple users or multiple computers or devices to access or use the software indirectly through the licensed computer or licensed device.
Use in a virtualized environment. If you use virtualization software, including client hyper-v, to create one or more virtual computers on a single computer hardware system, each virtual computer, and the physical computer, is considered a separate computer for purposes of this agreement. This license allows you to install only one copy of the software for use on each computer or device permitted under the installation and use rights above, whether that computer or device is physical or virtual. If you want to virtualize the software, you must obtain separate copies of the software and a separate license for each copy. Content protected by digital rights management technology or other full-volume disk drive encryption technology may be less secure in a virtualized environment.
Remote access: The licensed subscriber may access and use the software installed on the licensed computer or licensed device remotely from any other computer or device, as long as the software installed on the licensed computer or licensed device is not being used non-remotely by another user simultaneously. As an exception, you may allow others to access the software simultaneously only to provide you with technical support.
ACTIVATION
More on how activation works. During activation, the software will send information about the software and your computer and/or device to Microsoft. This information includes the version, license version, language, and product key of the software, the Internet protocol address of the computer, and information derived from the hardware configuration of the computer. For more information about activation, see microsoft.com/piracy/activation.mspx. If the licensed computer is connected to the Internet, the software will automatically connect to Microsoft for activation. You can also activate the software manually by Internet. Internet service charges may apply.
Re-activation. Some changes to your computer or device components or the software may require re-activation of the software.
Activation failure. During online activation, if the licensing or activation functions of the software are found to be counterfeit or improperly licensed, activation will fail. The software will notify you if the installed copy of the software is improperly licensed. In addition, you will receive reminders to obtain a properly licensed copy of the software.
Updates and Upgrades. You may only obtain updates or upgrades for the software from Microsoft or authorized sources. Certain upgrades, support, and other services may be offered only to users of genuine Microsoft software. To identify genuine Microsoft software, see howtotell.com.
INTERNET-BASED FEATURES; PRIVACY

The following software features use Internet protocols, which send to Microsoft (or its suppliers or service providers) computer information, such as your Internet protocol address, the type of operating system, browser and name and version of the software you are using, and the language code of the computer or device where you installed the software. Microsoft uses this information to make the Internet-based features available to you, in accordance with the Office 2016 Privacy Statement, at r.office.microsoft.com/r/rlidOOPrivacyState15HighLight?clid=1033. Some Internet-based features may be delivered at a later date via Microsoft’s Update service.

Consent for Internet-Based Services. The software features described below and in the Office 2016 Privacy Statement connect to Microsoft or service provider computer systems over the Internet. In some cases, you will not receive a separate notice when they connect. In some cases, you may switch off these features or not use them. For more information about these features, see the Office 2016 Privacy Statement at r.office.microsoft.com/r/rlidOOPrivacyState15HighLight?clid=1033. BY USING THESE FEATURES, YOU CONSENT TO THE TRANSMISSION OF THIS INFORMATION. Microsoft does not use the information to identify or contact you.
Office Personalization Experience Program (OPEP). You have the option of joining OPEP. If you join, OPEP automatically sends Microsoft information about your hardware and how you use this software and our services. We collect this information to identify trends and usage patterns so that we can personalize your experience and improve Office software and services. We may use the information collected to identify and contact you. OPEP will also periodically download a small file to your computer. This file helps us collect information about problems that you have while using the software and service. When available, new help information about software errors might also be automatically downloaded. If you choose recommended settings during first run of the software, you turn on OPEP. To learn more about OPEP, see O16.officeredir.microsoft.com/r/rlidOfficeLegal?clid=1033.
Online Features and Content. Features in the service and software can retrieve online content from Microsoft and provide it to you. Certain features may also permit you to search for and access information online. Examples of these features include clip art, templates, online training, online assistance and help, and Outlook Weather on the Calendar. If you save a template provided by Office.com, information will be sent online to Microsoft, such as information that identifies the template, but no document you create using the template will be sent. This information is used to provide you with content you request and to improve our services and software. You may choose not to use these online features and content. See the Office 2016 Privacy Statement linked at the end of this agreement for more information.
Cookies. If you choose to use online features in the service/software, such as online assistance and help, and templates, cookies may be set. To learn how to block, control and delete cookies, please read the cookies section of the Office 2016 Privacy Statement linked at the end of this agreement.
Office Roaming Service. If you choose to sign into the software/service with your Microsoft account, you turn on the Office Roaming Service. Turning on the Office Roaming Service sends certain settings (including your list of Most Recently Used Documents, your custom dictionary, and your visual themes) online to Microsoft servers, where they are stored and downloaded to your computer or device the next time you sign into the service with your Microsoft account. For more information about the Office Roaming Service, see the Office 2016 Privacy Statement linked at the end of this agreement.
Office 2016 on Windows 8. If you are running the software on a Windows 8 device and you have enabled the software’s online features and content, signing into Windows 8 with a Microsoft account will automatically sign you into the software using the same Microsoft account. This allows you to store and access online files in SkyDrive and enjoy the Office Roaming Service without being asked to reenter your Microsoft account username and password. For more information about signing into the service/software with a Microsoft account and the Office Roaming Service, see the Office 2016 Privacy Statement linked at the end of this agreement.
Digital Certificates. The software uses digital certificates. These digital certificates confirm the identity of Internet users sending X.509 standard encrypted information. They also can be used to digitally sign files and macros to verify the integrity and origin of the file contents. The software retrieves certificates and updates certificate revocation lists using the Internet, when available.
Automatic Update. Software with Click-to-Run technology may periodically check with Microsoft for updates and supplements to the software. If found, these updates and supplements might be automatically downloaded and installed on your licensed computer or licensed device.
Use of Information. Microsoft may use the computer or device information, error reports, and malware reports to improve our software and services. We may also share it with others, such as hardware and software vendors. They may use the information to improve how their products run with Microsoft software.
Misuse of Internet-Based Services. You may not use these services in any way that could harm them or impair anyone else’s use of them. You may not use the services to try to gain unauthorized access to any service, data, account or network by any means.
Information Rights Management. The software contains a feature that allows you to create content that cannot be printed, copied or sent to others without your permission. You may need to connect to Microsoft to use this feature for the first time, and you may need to reconnect to Microsoft periodically to update this feature. For more information, go to O16.officeredir.microsoft.com/r/rlidIRMHelp?clid=1033. You may choose not to use this feature.
ADDITIONAL LICENSING RESTRICTIONS, REQUIREMENTS AND/OR USE RIGHTS
Office 365 Military Subscription. You must be a “Qualified Military User” to subscribe to and use the service/software designated as “Military” subscription. To be a Qualified Military User, in the United States of America, you must be an authorized patron of the Armed Services Exchanges in accordance with applicable U.S. Federal statutes and regulations.
Canadian Forces Subscription. You must be a “CANEX Authorized Patron” to subscribe to and use the service/software designated as “Canadian Forces” subscription. To be a CANEX Authorized Patron, you must be a

Serving member of the Canadian Forces (CF) or their spouse;
Member of the Canadian Forces Reserve Force;
Retired Canadian Forces member or Department of National Defense (DND) civilian employee in receipt of a DND pension;
Permanent full-time or part-time Non-Public Fund (NPF) or DND employee or and their spouse;
CANEX Concessionaire (principals only);
Qualifying foreign military personnel;
Retired NPF employee in receipt of an NPF pension;
Full time employee of Alternative Service Delivery contractors;
Widow of CF personnel receiving a benefit under the Child Family Services Act, Defence Services Pension Contribution Act, or the Pension Act or the War Veterans Allowance Act;
Member of the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires when residing or employed on a Base/Wing; or
Member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

University Subscription. You must be a Qualified Educational User to subscribe to and use the “University” edition service and software. If you want to find out more about University subscription, or you want to find out if you are a Qualified Educational User, visit microsoft.com/education or contact the Microsoft affiliate serving your country for more information.
Not for Resale Subscription. Not for Resale subscription cards are distributed for limited purposes. You may not sell subscription cards marked as “NFR” or “Not for Resale.”
Third Party Programs. The software may include third party programs that Microsoft, not the third party, licenses to you under this agreement. Notices, if any, for the third party program are included for your information only.
Font Components. While the software is running, you may use its fonts to display and print content. You may temporarily download the fonts to a printer or other output device to print content, and you may embed fonts in content only as permitted by the embedding restrictions in the fonts.
Media Elements. Microsoft grants you a license to copy, distribute, perform and display media elements (images, clip art, animations, sounds, music, video clips, templates and other forms of content) included with the service/software in projects and documents, except that you may not: (i) sell, license or distribute copies of any media elements by themselves or as a product if the primary value of the product is the media elements; (ii) grant your customers rights to further license or distribute the media elements; (iii) license or distribute for commercial purposes media elements that include the representation of identifiable individuals, governments, logos, trademarks, or emblems or use these types of images in ways that could imply an endorsement or association with your product, entity or activity; or (iv) create obscene or scandalous works using the media elements. Other media elements, which are accessible on other websites through Office features, are governed by the terms on those websites.
Trial and Conversion. Some or all of the service/software may be licensed on a trial basis. Your rights to use trial service/software are limited to the trial period. The trial service/software and length of the trial subscription are set forth during the activation process. You may have the option to convert your trial rights to subscription or perpetual rights. Conversion options will be presented to you at the expiration of your trial period. After the expiration of any trial period without conversion, most features of the trial service/software will stop running.
GEOGRAPHIC AND EXPORT RESTRICTIONS

If there is a geographic region indicated on your subscription card packaging or the website where you sign up for the subscription service, then you may activate the service/software only in that region. Microsoft’s software and services are subject to U.S. and other jurisdictions’ export and technology laws and you agree to comply with all such applicable laws and regulations that apply to the software and/or services. U.S. government permission is required to transfer these software and services to governments of any embargoed country or certain prohibited parties. (Please see treasury.gov/resource-center/Documents/soc_net.pdf for more information). Additionally, paid services are subject to United States export laws and regulations with which you must comply. These laws include restrictions on destinations, end users and end use. For additional information, see www.microsoft.com/exporting.

SUPPORT

Limited customer support for Office 365 Consumer Subscription is available at office.com/support (help/how to) and at support.microsoft.com/ph/13615 (technical support).

ENTIRE AGREEMENT

This Supplement (together with terms accompanying any software supplements, updates, and services that are provided by Microsoft and that you use and any separate license that may be presented when installing and using the software on a licensed device), and the terms contained in web links listed in this Supplement, are the entire agreement for the service and software and any such supplements, updates, and services (unless Microsoft provides other terms with such supplements, updates, or services). You can review this Supplement after your software is running by going to the software Help screen and clicking on the Microsoft Software License Terms link. You can also review the terms at any of the links in this agreement by typing the URLs into your browser address bar, and you agree to do so. You understand that by using the service, you accept this Supplement and the linked terms. There are also informational links in this agreement. The links containing terms that bind you and us are:

r.office.microsoft.com/r/rlidOOPrivacyState15HighLight?clid=1033 (Office 2016 Privacy Statement);
go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=246338 (Microsoft Service Agreement)

EULAID:O16_RTM_SUB.1_RTM_EN

Privacy Statement

Here’s the current Microsoft Privacy statement in full (as at 1 June 2016). It clocks in at 19,819 words.

It’s NOT what you see when first visit the link provided by Microsoft http://r.office.microsoft.com/r/rlidOOPrivacyState15HighLight?clid=1033 . The page first shows only a very brief summary of the terms. Clicking on ‘Expand All’ shows a quite different and much longer privacy statement.

Microsoft Privacy Statement

Last Updated: January 2016

What’s new?

Your privacy is important to us. This privacy statement explains what personal data we collect from you and how we use it. We encourage you to read the summaries below and to click on “Learn More” if you’d like more information on a particular topic.

The service-specific details sections provide additional information relevant to particular Microsoft services. This statement applies to the Microsoft services listed below, as well as other Microsoft services that display this statement. References to Microsoft services in this statement include Microsoft websites, apps, software and devices.

The most recent version of this privacy statement can be found at aka.ms/privacy.

Personal Data We Collect

How We Use Personal Data

Reasons We Share Personal Data

How to Access & Control Your Personal Data

Cookies & Similar Technologies

Microsoft account

Other Important Privacy Information

Security of Personal Data

Where We Store and Process Personal Data

Our Retention of Personal Data

Collection of Data From Children

Enterprise Services

Preview Releases

Changes to This Privacy Statement

How to Contact Us

Service specific details:

Bing

Cortana

Groove Music/Movies & TV

Microsoft Health Services

Microsoft Health and Band

Input Personalization

Location Services & Motion Sensing

Security and Safety Features

Sync Settings

Telemetry & Error Reporting

Update Services

Web Browsers: Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer

Most Microsoft Sites use “cookies,” small text files that can be read by a web server in the domain that put the cookie on your hard drive. We may use cookies to store your preferences and settings; help with sign-in; provide targeted ads; and analyze site operations. Click here to learn more.

Privacy Tips from the FTC

We self-certify compliance with:

Personal Data We Collect

Microsoft collects data to operate effectively and provide you the best experiences with our services. You provide some of this data directly, such as when you create a Microsoft account, submit a search query to Bing, speak a voice command to Cortana, upload a document to OneDrive, or contact us for support. We get some of it by recording how you interact with our services by, for example, using technologies like cookies, and receiving error reports or usage data from software running on your device. We also obtain data from third parties (including other companies). For example, we supplement the data we collect by purchasing demographic data from other companies. We also use services from other companies to help us determine a location based on your IP address in order to customize certain services to your location.

The data we collect depends on the services and features you use, and includes the following.

Name and contact data. We collect your first and last name, email address, postal address, phone number, and other similar contact data.

Credentials. We collect passwords, password hints, and similar security information used for authentication and account access.

Demographic data. We collect data about you such as your age, gender, country and preferred language.

Interests and favorites. We collect data about your interests and favorites, such as the teams you follow in a sports app, the stocks you track in a finance app, or the favorite cities you add to a weather app. In addition to those you explicitly provide, your interests and favorites may also be inferred or derived from other data we collect.

Payment data. We collect data necessary to process your payment if you make purchases, such as your payment instrument number (such as a credit card number), and the security code associated with your payment instrument.

Usage data. We collect data about how you and your device interact with our services. This includes data, such as the features you use, the items you purchase, the web pages you visit, and the search terms you enter. This also includes data about your device and the network you use to connect to our services, including IP address, device identifiers (such as the IMEI number for phones), regional and language settings. It includes information about the operating systems and other software installed on your device, including product keys. And it includes data about the performance of the services and any problems you experience with them.

Contacts and relationships. We collect data about your contacts and relationships if you use a Microsoft service to manage contacts, or to communicate or interact with other people or organizations.

Location data. We collect data about your location, which can be either precise or imprecise. Precise location data can be Global Position System (GPS) data, as well as data identifying nearby cell towers and Wi-Fi hotspots, we collect when you enable location-based services or features. Imprecise location data includes, for example, a location derived from your IP address or data that indicates where you are located with less precision, such as at a city or postal code level.

Content. We collect content of your files and communications when necessary to provide you with the services you use. For example, if you receive an email using Outlook.com, we need to collect the content of that email in order to deliver it to your inbox, display it to you, enable you to reply to it, and store it for you until you choose to delete it. Examples of this data include: the content of your documents, photos, music or video you upload to a Microsoft service such as OneDrive, as well as the content of your communications sent or received using Microsoft services such Outlook.com or Skype, including the:

subject line and body of an email,
text or other content of an instant message,
audio and video recording of a video message, and
audio recording and transcript of a voice message you receive or a text message you dictate.

We also collect the content of messages you send to us, such as feedback and product reviews you write, or questions and information you provide for customer support. When you contact us, such as for customer support, phone conversations or chat sessions with our representatives may be monitored and recorded. If you enter our retail stores, your image may be captured by our security cameras.

You have choices about the data we collect. When you are asked to provide personal data, you may decline. But if you choose not to provide data that is necessary to provide a service, you may not be able to use some features or services.

Service-specific sections below describe data collection practices applicable to use of those services.

How We Use Personal Data

Microsoft uses the data we collect to provide you the services we offer, which includes using data to improve and personalize your experiences. We also may use the data to communicate with you, for example, informing you about your account, security updates and product information. And we use data to help make the ads we show you more relevant to you. However, we do not use what you say in email, chat, video calls or voice mail, or your documents, photos or other personal files to target ads to you.

Microsoft uses the data we collect for three basic purposes, described in more detail below: (1) to operate our business and provide (including improving and personalizing) the services we offer, (2) to send communications, including promotional communications, and (3) to display advertising.

In carrying out these purposes, we combine data we collect through the various Microsoft services you use to give you a more seamless, consistent and personalized experience. For example, Cortana can use the favorite sports teams you add to the MSN Sports app to provide information relevant to your interests, or Windows Store can use information about how you use a variety of services to make personalized app recommendations. However, to enhance privacy, we have built in technological and procedural safeguards designed to prevent certain data combinations. For example, we store data we collect from you when you are unauthenticated (not signed in) separately from any account information that directly identifies you, such as your name, email address or phone number.

Providing and improving our services. We use data to provide and improve the services we offer and perform essential business operations. This includes operating the services, maintaining and improving the performance of the services, including developing new features, research, and providing customer support. Examples of such uses include the following.

Providing the Services. We use data to carry out your transactions with us and to provide our services to you. Often, those services include personalized features and recommendations that enhance your productivity and enjoyment, and tailor your service experiences based on your activities, interests and location.

Customer support. We use data to diagnose service problems, repair customers’ devices, and provide other customer care and support services.
Product activation. We use data – including device and application type, location, and unique device, application, network and subscription identifiers – in order to activate software and devices that require activation.
Service Improvement. We use data to continually improve our services, including adding new features or capabilities, such as using search queries and clicks in Bing to improve the relevancy of the search results, or using audio recordings from voice input features to improve speech recognition accuracy.
Security, Safety and Dispute Resolution. We use data to protect the security and safety of our services and our customers, to detect and prevent fraud, to confirm the validity of software licenses, to resolve disputes and enforce our agreements. Our security features and services can disrupt the operation of malicious software and notify users if malicious software is found on their devices. Our communications and file syncing services systematically scan content in an automated manner to identify suspected spam, viruses, abusive actions, or URLs that have been flagged as fraud, phishing or malware links. We may block delivery of a communication or remove content if it violates our terms.
Business Operations. We use data to develop aggregate analysis and business intelligence that enable us to operate, protect, make informed decisions, and report on the performance of our business.

Communications. We use data we collect to deliver and personalize our communications with you. For example, we may contact you by email or other means to inform you when a subscription is ending, let you know when security updates are available, remind you about items left in your online shopping cart, update you or inquire about a service or repair request, invite you to participate in a survey, or tell you that you need to take action to keep your account active. Additionally, you can sign up for email subscriptions and choose whether you wish to receive promotional communications from Microsoft by email, SMS, physical mail, and telephone. For information about managing email subscriptions and promotional communications, please visit the Access and Controls section of this privacy statement.

Advertising. Many of our services are supported by advertising. We use the data we collect to help select the ads Microsoft delivers – whether on our own services or on services offered by third parties. The ads we select may be based on your current location, search query, or the content you are viewing. Other ads are targeted based on your likely interests or other information that we learn about you over time using demographic data, search queries, interests and favorites, usage data, and location data – which we refer to as “interest-based advertising” in this statement. Microsoft does not use what you say in email, chat, video calls or voice mail, or your documents, photos or other personal files to target ads to you. You may opt out of receiving interest-based advertising from Microsoft by visiting our opt-out page. More information about advertising controls is available in the Access and Controls section of this privacy statement. Further details regarding our advertising-related uses of data include:

Advertising Industry Best Practices and Commitments. Microsoft is a member of the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) and adheres to the NAI Code of Conduct. We also adhere to the following self-regulatory programs:
- In the US: Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA)
- In Europe: European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA)
- In Canada: Ad Choices: Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada (DAAC) / Choix de Pub: l’Alliance de la publicité numérique du Canada (DAAC)

Children and Advertising. We do not deliver interest-based advertising to children whose birthdate in their Microsoft account identifies them as under 13 years of age.
Data Retention. For interest-based advertising, we retain data for no more than 13 months, unless we obtain your consent to retain the data longer.
Data Sharing. In some cases, we share with advertisers reports about the data we have collected on their sites or ads. We may also share data directly with service providers to permit them to provide services on our behalf or to partner with us in selecting and serving ads for our advertising partners. For instance, Microsoft uses a service provider to match your Microsoft cookie ID and account data with data an advertiser may have about you (such as your recent purchases from them). This is done so the advertiser can reach you with an ad it thinks may be relevant to you. However, the service provider we use acts as a trusted third party and does not share any personal data that Microsoft or the advertiser has about you.
Data Collected by Other Advertising Companies. Advertisers sometimes include their own web beacons (or those of their other advertising partners) within their advertisements that we display, enabling them to set and read their own cookie. Additionally, Microsoft partners with third-party ad companies to help provide some of our advertising services, and we also allow other third-party ad companies to display advertisements on our sites. These third parties may place cookies on your computer and collect data about your online activities across websites or online services. These companies currently include, but are not limited to: A9, AOL Advertising, AppNexus, Criteo, MediaMath, nugg.adAG, Rocket Fuel, Yahoo!. You may find more information on each company’s practices, including the choices it offers, by clicking on the company names above. Many of them are also members of the NAI or DAA, which each provide a simple way to opt out of ad targeting from participating companies.

Reasons We Share Personal Data

We share your personal data with your consent or as necessary to complete any transaction or provide any service you have requested or authorized. We also share data with Microsoft-controlled affiliates and subsidiaries; with vendors working on our behalf; when required by law or to respond to legal process; to protect our customers; to protect lives; to maintain the security of our services; and to protect the rights or property of Microsoft.

We share your personal data with your consent or as necessary to complete any transaction or provide any service you have requested or authorized. For example, we share your content with third parties when you tell us to do so, such as when you send an email to a friend, share photos and documents on OneDrive, or link accounts with another service. When you provide payment data to make a purchase, we will share payment data with banks and other entities that process payment transactions or provide other financial services, and for fraud prevention and credit risk reduction.

In addition, we share personal data among Microsoft-controlled affiliates and subsidiaries. We also share personal data with vendors or agents working on our behalf for the purposes described in this statement. For example, companies we’ve hired to provide customer service support or assist in protecting and securing our systems and services may need access to personal data in order to provide those functions. In such cases, these companies must abide by our data privacy and security requirements and are not allowed to use personal data they receive from us for any other purpose. We may also disclose personal data as part of a corporate transaction such as a merger or sale of assets.

Finally, we will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails in Outlook.com, or files in private folders on OneDrive), when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to:

comply with applicable law or respond to valid legal process, including from law enforcement or other government agencies;
protect our customers, for example to prevent spam or attempts to defraud users of the services, or to help prevent the loss of life or serious injury of anyone;
operate and maintain the security of our services, including to prevent or stop an attack on our computer systems or networks; or
protect the rights or property of Microsoft, including enforcing the terms governing the use of the services – however, if we receive information indicating that someone is using our services to traffic in stolen intellectual or physical property of Microsoft, we will not inspect a customer’s private content ourselves, but we may refer the matter to law enforcement.

For more information about data we disclose in response to requests from law enforcement and other government agencies, please see our Law Enforcement Transparency Report, available at http://microsoft.com/about/corporatecitizenship/en-us/reporting/transparency.

Please note that some of our services include links to services of third parties whose privacy practices differ from Microsoft’s. If you provide personal data to any of those services, your data is governed by their privacy statements.

How to Access & Control Your Personal Data

You can view or edit your personal data online for many Microsoft services. You can also make choices about Microsoft’s collection and use of your data. How you can access or control your personal data will depend on which services you use.

You can always choose whether you wish to receive promotional email, SMS messages, telephone calls and postal mail from Microsoft. You can also opt out from receiving interest-based advertising from Microsoft by visiting our opt-out page.

Microsoft account. If you wish to access or edit the profile information and payment information in your Microsoft account, change your password, add security information or close your account, you can do so by visiting https://account.microsoft.com. From here, you can also access controls for other Microsoft services.
Bing and Cortana. You can access or clear your Bing search history, redeem Bing Rewards, view and modify interests, and manage other Cortana data at https://www.bing.com/account/general.
Skype. If you wish to access or edit the profile information and payment information in your Skype account or change your password, you can sign into your account at https://login.skype.com/login.
Xbox. If you use Xbox Live or Xbox.com, you can view or edit your personal data, including billing and account information, privacy settings, online safety and data sharing preferences by accessing My Xbox on the Xbox console or on the Xbox.com website.
Microsoft Store. You can access your Microsoft Store profile and account information by visiting https://www.microsoftstore.com/ and clicking on “View account” or “Order history.”
Microsoft.com. You can access and update your profile on microsoft.com by visiting the Microsoft.com Profile Center. If you have a Microsoft Developer Network public profile, you can access and edit it at https://connect.microsoft.com/profile.aspx.

If you cannot access personal data collected by Microsoft services via the links above or directly through the services, you can always contact Microsoft by using our web form. We will respond to requests to access or delete your personal data within 30 days.

Your Communications Preferences

You can choose whether you wish to receive promotional communications from Microsoft by email, SMS, physical mail, and telephone. If you receive promotional email or SMS messages from us and would like to opt out, you can do so by following the directions in that message. You can also make choices about the receipt of promotional email, telephone calls, and postal mail by visiting and signing into Microsoft’s Promotional Communications Manager with your personal Microsoft account, which allows you to update contact information, manage Microsoft-wide contact preferences, opt out of email subscriptions, and choose whether to share your contact information with Microsoft partners. If you do not have a personal Microsoft account, you can manage your Microsoft email contact preferences by using this web form. These choices do not apply to mandatory service communications that are part of certain Microsoft services, or to surveys or other informational communications that have their own unsubscribe method.

Your Advertising Choices

You may opt out of receiving interest-based advertising from Microsoft by visiting our opt-out page.When you opt out, your selection will be stored in a cookie that is specific to the web browser you are using. The opt-out cookie has an expiration date of five years. If you delete the cookies on your device, you will need to opt out again.

You can also link your opt-out choice with your personal Microsoft account. It will then apply on any device where you use that account, and will continue to apply until someone signs in with a different personal Microsoft account on that device. If you delete the cookies on your device, you will need to sign in again for the settings to apply.

For advertising that appears in apps on Windows, you may use the opt-out linked to your personal Microsoft account, or opt out of interest-based advertising by turning off the advertising ID in Windows Settings.

Because the data used for interest-based advertising is also used for other necessary purposes (including providing our services, analytics and fraud detection), opting out of interest-based advertising does not stop that data from being collected. Nor does it mean you will stop getting ads or see fewer ads. However, if you do opt out, the ads you receive will no longer be interest-based and may be less relevant to your interests.

Browser-Based Controls

Cookie Controls. Relevant browser-based cookie controls are described in the Cookies section of this privacy statement.
Tracking Protection. Internet Explorer (versions 9 and up) has a feature called Tracking Protection that will block third-party content, including cookies, from any site that is listed in a Tracking Protection List you add. By limiting calls to these sites, the browser will limit the information these third-party sites can collect about you.
Browser Controls for “Do Not Track.” Some browsers have incorporated “Do Not Track” (DNT) features that can send a signal to the websites you visit indicating you do not wish to be tracked. Because there is not yet a common understanding of how to interpret the DNT signal, Microsoft services do not currently respond to browser DNT signals. We continue to work with the online industry to define a common understanding of how to treat DNT signals. In the meantime, you can use the range of other tools we provide to control data collection and use, including the ability to opt out of receiving interest-based advertising from Microsoft as described above.

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Cookies & Similar TechnologiesCookies & Similar Technologies

Microsoft uses cookies (small text files placed on your device) and similar technologies to provide our services and help collect data. Cookies allow us, among other things, to store your preferences and settings; enable you to sign-in; provide interest-based advertising; combat fraud; and analyze how our services are performing. Microsoft apps use other identifiers, such as the advertising ID in Windows, for similar purposes.

We also use web beacons to help deliver cookies and gather usage and performance data about our services. Our services may include web beacons and cookies from third-party service providers.

You have a variety of tools to control cookies, web beacons and similar technologies, including browser controls to block and delete cookies and controls from some third-party analytics service providers to opt out of data collection through web beacons. Your browser and other choices may impact your experiences with our services.

Microsoft uses cookies (small text files placed on your device) and similar technologies to provide our services and help collect data. The text in a cookie often consists of a string of numbers and letters that uniquely identifies your computer, but it can contain other information as well. Microsoft apps use other identifiers, such as the advertising ID in Windows, for similar purposes, and many of our websites and applications also contain web beacons or other similar technologies, as described below.

Our Use of Cookies and Similar Technologies

Microsoft uses cookies and similar technologies for several purposes, including:

Storing your Preferences and Settings. Settings that enable our services to operate correctly or that maintain your preferences over time may be stored on your device. For example, if you enter your city or postal code to get local news or weather information on a Microsoft site, we may store that data in a cookie so that you will see the relevant local information when you return to the site. If you opt out of interest-based advertising, we store your opt-out preference in a cookie on your device.
Sign-in and Authentication. When you sign into a site using your personal Microsoft account, we store a unique ID number, and the time you signed in, in an encrypted cookie on your device. This cookie allows you to move from page to page within the site without having to sign in again on each page.
Interest-Based Advertising. Microsoft uses cookies to collect data about your online activity and identify your interests so that we can provide advertising that is most relevant to you. You can opt out of receiving interest-based advertising from Microsoft as described in the Access and Control section of this privacy statement.
Analytics. In order to provide our services, we use cookies and other identifiers to gather usage and performance data. For example, we use cookies to count the number of unique visitors to a web page or service and to develop other statistics about the operations of our services.

Some of the cookies we commonly use are listed in the following chart. This list is not exhaustive, but it is intended to illustrate the main reasons we typically set cookies. If you visit one of our websites, the site may set some or all of the following cookies:

Cookie name	Description
MUID	Identifies unique web browsers visiting Microsoft sites. It is used for advertising, site analytics and other operational purposes.
ANON	Contains the ANID, a unique identifier derived from your Microsoft account, which is used for advertising, personalization, and operational purposes. It is also used to preserve your choice to opt out of interest-based advertising from Microsoft, if you have chosen to associate the opt-out with your Microsoft account.
CC	Contains a country code as determined from your IP address.
RPSTAuth, MSNRPSAuth, KievRPSAuth	Helps to authenticate you when you sign in with your Microsoft account.
NAP	Contains an encrypted version of your country, postal code, age, gender, language and occupation, if known, based on your Microsoft account profile.
MH	Appears on co-branded sites where Microsoft is partnering with an advertiser. This cookie identifies the advertiser so the right ad is selected.
ACH01	Maintains information about which ads you clicked on and where you clicked on the ad.
TOptOut	Records your decision not to receive interest-based advertising delivered by Microsoft.

In addition to the cookies Microsoft sets when you visit our websites, third parties may also set cookies when you visit Microsoft sites. In some cases, that is because we have hired the third party to provide services on our behalf, such as site analytics. In other cases, it is because our web pages contain content or ads from third parties, such as videos, news content or ads delivered by other ad networks. Because your browser connects to those third parties’ web servers to retrieve that content, those third parties are able to set or read their own cookies on your device and may collect information about your online activities across websites or online services.

How to Control Cookies

Most web browsers automatically accept cookies but provide controls that allow you to block or delete them. For example, in Microsoft Edge, you can block or delete cookies by clicking Settings > Privacy > Cookies. Instructions for blocking or deleting cookies in other browsers may be available in each browser’s privacy or help documentation.

Certain features of Microsoft services depend on cookies. Please be aware that if you choose to block cookies, you may not be able to sign in or use those features, and preferences that are dependent on cookies may be lost. If you choose to delete cookies, settings and preferences controlled by those cookies, including advertising preferences, may be deleted and may need to be recreated.

Additional privacy controls that can impact cookies, including the Tracking Protection feature of Microsoft browsers, are described in the Access and Control section of this privacy statement.

Our Use of Web Beacons and Analytics Services

Microsoft web pages may contain electronic images known as web beacons (also called single-pixel gifs) that we use to help deliver cookies on our sites, count users who have visited those sites and deliver co-branded services. We also include web beacons in our promotional email messages or newsletters to determine whether you open and act on them.

In addition to placing web beacons on our own sites, we sometimes work with other companies to place our web beacons on their sites or in their advertisements. This helps us develop statistics on how often clicking on an advertisement on a Microsoft site results in a purchase or other action on the advertiser’s site.

Finally, Microsoft services often contain web beacons or similar technologies from third-party analytics providers, which help us compile aggregated statistics about the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns or other operations. These technologies enable the analytics providers to set or read their own cookies or other identifiers on your device, through which they can collect information about your online activities across applications, websites or other services. However, we prohibit these analytics providers from using web beacons on our sites to collect or access information that directly identifies you (such as your name or email address). You can opt out of data collection or use by some of these analytics providers by clicking the following links:

Flurry Analytics: http://flurry.com/legal-privacy/end-user-opt-out
Google Analytics: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout (requires you to install a browser add-on)
Kissmetrics: https://kissmetrics.com/user-privacy
Mixpanel: https://mixpanel.com/optout
Nielsen: http://www.nielsen-online.com/corp.jsp?section=leg_prs&nav=1#Optoutchoices
Omniture (Adobe): http://www.d1.sc.omtrdc.net/optout.html
Visible Measures: http://corp.visiblemeasures.com/viewer-settings
WebTrends: https://ondemand.webtrends.com/support/optout.asp

Other Similar Technologies

Local Shared Objects or “Flash cookies.” Web sites that use Adobe Flash technologies may use Local Shared Objects or “Flash cookies” to store data on your computer. To manage or block Flash cookies, go to http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager.html.

Silverlight Application Storage. Web sites or applications that use Microsoft Silverlight technology also have the ability to store data by using Silverlight Application Storage. To learn how to manage or block such storage, see the Silverlight section of this statement.

Microsoft account

With a Microsoft account, you can sign into Microsoft services, as well as third-party services. Signing into your account can enable improved personalization, provide seamless and consistent experiences across services and devices, and help you access and use cloud data storage and other enhanced features and settings.

When you sign into your account to access a service, we create a record of that sign in. If you sign into a third-party service with your Microsoft account, you will be asked to consent to share the account data required by that service.

With a Microsoft account, you can sign into Microsoft services, as well as those of select Microsoft partners. When you create your own Microsoft account, we refer to that account as a personal Microsoft account. When your account is created and provided to you by your organization, such as your school or employer, using Microsoft’s Azure Active Directory (AAD), we refer to that account as a work or school account.

Creating and using your personal Microsoft account. When you create a personal Microsoft account, you will be asked for certain personal data and we will assign a unique ID number to identify your account and associated information. While some services, such as those involving payment, require a real name, you can sign into and use some Microsoft services without providing your real name. Some data you provide, such as your display name, email address and phone number, can be used to help others find and connect with you within Microsoft services. For example, people who know your display name, email address or phone number can use it to search for you on Skype and send you an invite to connect with them.

Signing in. When you sign into your Microsoft account, we create a record of your sign-in, which includes the date and time, information about the service you signed into, your sign-in name, the unique number assigned to your account, a unique identifier assigned to your device, your IP address, and your operating system and browser version.

Signing into Microsoft. Signing into your account enables improved personalization, provides seamless and consistent experiences across services and devices, and allows you to access and use cloud data storage and other enhanced features and settings. When you sign into your account, you will stay signed in until you sign out. If you add your Microsoft account to a Windows device (version 8 or higher), Windows will automatically sign you into services that use Microsoft account that you access on that device. When you are signed in, some services will display your name or username and your profile photo (if you have added one to your profile) as part of your use of Microsoft services, including in your communications, social interactions and public posts.

Signing into third-party services. If you sign into a third-party service with your Microsoft account, you will be asked to consent to share the account data required by that service. The service will also receive the version number assigned to your account (a new version number is assigned each time you change your sign-in data); and whether your account has been deactivated. The third party can use or share your data according to its own practices and policies. You should carefully review the privacy statement for each service you sign into in order to determine how it will use the data it collects.

Personal Microsoft accounts received from third parties. If you received your personal Microsoft account from a third party, like an Internet service provider, that third party may have rights over your account, including the ability to access or delete your Microsoft account. You should carefully review any additional terms the third party provided you to understand what it can do with your account.

Connecting your personal Microsoft account to your social network accounts. You may connect your personal Microsoft account to your accounts on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn in order to access data from those social networks from within Microsoft services. If you choose to do so, we will store data about your social network accounts on our servers so that we can display updated data from your social network account. You can disconnect a social network account from your personal Microsoft account at any time at https://profile.live.com/services.

Using work or school accounts. You can sign into certain Microsoft services with a work or school Microsoft account. If required by your organization, you will also be asked to provide a phone number or an alternative email address for additional security verification. If you sign in to Microsoft services with a work or school account, the owner of the domain associated with your email address may control and administer your account, and access and process your data, including the contents of your communications and files. Your use of the services may be subject to your organization’s policies, if any. Microsoft is not responsible for the privacy or security practices of these organizations, which may differ from those of Microsoft.

Other Important Privacy Information

Below you will find additional privacy information you may find important. You can also find more information on Microsoft’s commitment to protecting your privacy at http://www.microsoft.com/privacy.

Security of Personal Data

Microsoft is committed to protecting the security of your personal data. We use a variety of security technologies and procedures to help protect your personal data from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. For example, we store the personal data you provide on computer systems that have limited access and are in controlled facilities. When we transmit highly confidential data (such as a credit card number or password) over the Internet, we protect it through the use of encryption.

Where We Store and Process Personal Data

Personal data collected by Microsoft may be stored and processed in your region, in the United States or in any other country where Microsoft or its affiliates, subsidiaries or service providers maintain facilities. We take steps to ensure that the data we collect under this privacy statement is processed according to the provisions of this statement and the requirements of applicable law wherever the data is located.

When we transfer personal data from the European Economic Area to other countries, we use a variety of legal mechanisms, including contracts, to help ensure your rights and protections travel with your data. Microsoft also adheres to the principles of the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework and the U.S.-Swiss Safe Harbor Framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use and retention of data from the European Economic Area and Switzerland. To learn more about the Safe Harbor program, and to view our certification, please visit http://www.export.gov/safeharbor.

Our Retention of Personal Data

Microsoft retains personal data for as long as necessary to provide the services and fulfill the transactions you have requested, or for other essential purposes such as complying with our legal obligations, resolving disputes, and enforcing our agreements. For example:

For Bing search queries, we de-identify stored queries by removing the entirety of the IP address after 6 months, and cookie IDs and other cross-session identifiers after 18 months.
In Outlook.com, when your Deleted Items folder is emptied, those emptied items remain in our system for up to 30 days before final deletion.
If you remove a credit card from your account, Microsoft will retain transaction records containing your credit card number for as long as reasonably necessary to complete any existing transactions, to comply with Microsoft’s legal and reporting requirements, and for the detection and prevention of fraud.

Collection of Data From Children

When a Microsoft service collects age it will either block users under 13 or will ask them to provide consent from a parent or guardian before they can use it. We will not knowingly ask children under 13 to provide more data than is necessary to provide the service.

Once parental consent is granted, the child’s account is treated much like any other account. The child may have access to communication services like email, instant messaging and online message boards and may be able to communicate freely with other users of all ages.

Parents can change or revoke the consent choices previously made, and review, edit or request the deletion of their children’s personal data. For example, parents can access their personal Microsoft account and click on “Permissions.” For users of Minecraft and other Mojang games, parents can contact us at https://account.mojang.com/terms#contact.

Enterprise Services

Enterprise Services are those Microsoft services and related offerings that that are offered or designed primarily for use within an enterprise, including Office 365, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, Microsoft Intune and Yammer, for which an organization (our “customer”) contracts with Microsoft for the services. In the event of a conflict between a Microsoft privacy statement and the terms of any agreement(s) between a customer and Microsoft, the terms of those agreement(s) will control.

Our customers, in turn, may administer the Enterprise Services to end users. If you use a work or school Microsoft account(i.e. an email address provided by your organization, such as your employer or school) to sign into Enterprise Services, the owner of the domain associated with your email address may: (i) control and administer your account and (ii) access and process your data, including the contents of your communications and files. Microsoft is not responsible for the privacy or security policies or practices of our customers, which may differ from those of Microsoft. If your organization is administering your use of the Enterprise Services, please direct your privacy inquiries to your administrator.

Preview Releases

Microsoft offers preview, insider, beta or other pre-release features and services (“previews”) to enable you to evaluate them while providing feedback, including performance and usage data, to Microsoft. As a result, previews can automatically collect additional data, provide fewer controls, and otherwise employ different privacy and security measures than those typically present in our services. If you participate in previews, we may contact you about your feedback or your interest in continuing to use the service after general release.

Changes to This Privacy Statement

We will update this privacy statement when necessary to reflect customer feedback and changes in our services. When we post changes to this statement, we will revise the “last updated” date at the top of the statement. If there are material changes to the statement or in how Microsoft will use your personal data, we will notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes before they take effect or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to periodically review this privacy statement to learn how Microsoft is protecting your information.

How to Contact Us

If you have a technical or support question, please visit http://support.microsoft.com to learn more about Microsoft Support offerings. If you have a personal Microsoft account password question, please visit Microsoft account support.

If you have a privacy question or a question for the Chief Privacy Officer of Microsoft, please contact us by using our Web form. We will respond to questions within 30 days. You can reach our Grievance officer on privrcind@microsoft.com for any grievance on privacy-related matters.

Unless otherwise stated, Microsoft Corporation is a data controller for personal data we collect through the services subject to this statement. Our address is Microsoft Privacy, Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washington 98052, USA. Telephone: (+1) 425-882-8080. In India, our address is Microsoft, 10th Floor, Tower C, DLF Epitome (Building 5), DLF City II, Sector 24, Gurgaon, Haryana 122002, India.

Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited is our data protection representative for the European Economic Area and Switzerland. The data protection officer of Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited can be reached at the following address: Microsoft Ireland Operations, Ltd., Attn: Data Protection, Carmenhall Road, Sandyford, Dublin 18, Ireland.

Skype Communications S.à.r.l. 23-29 Rives de Clausen L-2165 Luxembourg, Luxembourg are data controllers for Skype. To contact us in relation to Skype software or products, please submit a support request to the Skype customer support team.

To find the Microsoft subsidiary in your country or region, see http://www.microsoft.com/worldwide/.

Service specific details:

Bing

Bing services include search and mapping services, as well as the Bing Toolbar and Bing Desktop apps. Bing services are also included within other Microsoft services, such as MSN Apps and Cortana, and Windows (which we refer to as Bing-powered experiences). When you use Bing services, we collect your search queries, location and other information about your interaction with our services.

Bing services include search and mapping services, as well as the Bing Toolbar and Bing Desktop apps. Bing services are also included within other Microsoft services, such as MSN Apps and Cortana, and certain features in Windows (which we refer to as Bing-powered experiences).

When you conduct a search, or use a feature of a Bing-powered experience that involves conducting a search or entering a command on your behalf, Microsoft will collect the search or command terms you provide, along with your IP address, location, the unique identifiers contained in our cookies, the time and date of your search, and your browser configuration. If you use Bing voice-enabled services, additionally your voice input and performance data associated with the speech functionality will be sent to Microsoft. When you use Bing-powered experiences, such as Ask Cortana or Bing Lookup, to search a particular word or phrase within a web page or document, that word or phrase is sent to Bing along with some surrounding content in order to provide contextually relevant search results.

Search Suggestions. For the Search Suggestions feature, the characters that you type into a Bing-powered experience to conduct a search will be sent to Microsoft. This allows us to provide you with suggestions as you type your searches. To turn this feature on or off, go to Bing settings.

Bing Rewards Program. When you are signed in with your Microsoft account, we use data about your interactions with Bing services to provide rewards credits. To opt out of this feature, go here.

Bing Experience Improvement Program for Bing Desktop and Bing Toolbar. If you are using Bing Desktop or Bing Toolbar and choose to participate in the Bing Experience Improvement Program, we also collect additional data about how you use these specific Bing apps, such as the addresses of the websites you visit, to help improve search ranking and relevance. To help protect your privacy, we do not use the data collected through the Bing Experience Improvement Program to identify or contact you, or target advertising to you. You can turn off the Bing Experience Improvement Program at any time in the Bing Desktop or Bing Toolbar settings. Finally, we delete the information collected through the Bing Experience Improvement Program after 18 months.

Retention and de-identification. We de-identify stored search queries by removing the entirety of the IP address after 6 months, and cookie IDs and other cross-session identifiers after 18 months.

Personalization through Microsoft account. Some Bing services provide you with an enhanced experience when you sign in with your personal Microsoft account, for example, syncing your search history across devices. You can use these personalization features to customize your interests, favorites, and settings, and to connect your account with third-party services. Visit the Bing Settings page to manage your personalization settings.

Managing Search History. Bing’s Search History service provides an easy way to revisit the search terms you’ve entered and results you’ve clicked when using Bing search through your browser. You may clear your search history in Bing Settings. Clearing your history removes it from the Search History service and prevents that history from being displayed on the site, but does not delete information from our search logs, which are retained and de-identified as described above.

Non-Microsoft services that use Bing. You may access Bing-powered experiences when using other non-Microsoft services, such as those from Yahoo!. In order to provide these services, Bing receives data from these and other partners that may include date, time, IP address, a unique identifier and other search-related data. This data will be sent to Microsoft in order to provide the search service. Microsoft will use this data as described in this statement or as further limited by our contractual obligations with our partners. You should refer to the privacy policies of the non-Microsoft services for any questions about how they collect and use data.

Search query passed in referral URL. When you click on a search result or advertisement from a Bing search results page and go to the destination website, the destination website will receive the standard data your browser sends to every web site you visit – such as your IP address, browser type and language, and the URL of the site you came from (in this case, the Bing search results page). Because the URL of the Bing search results page contains the text of the search query you entered (which could include names, addresses, or other identifying information), the destination website will be able to determine the search term you entered.

If your browser is enabled to allow pages to pre-load in the background for faster performance, when your browser loads a page in the background, it will have the same effect as if you visited that page, including sending the Bing search results page URL (containing your search query) and downloading any cookies that page sets.

Sharing search data for research and development purposes. We share some de-identified search query data with selected third parties for research and development purposes. Before we do so, we remove all unique identifiers such as IP addresses and cookie IDs from the data. We also run the data through a process designed to remove certain sensitive data that users may have included in the search terms themselves (such as social security numbers or credit card numbers). Additionally, we require these third parties to keep the data secure and to not use the data for other purposes.

Cortana

Cortana is your personal assistant. Cortana works best when it can learn about you and your activities by using data from your device, your personal Microsoft account, third-party services and other Microsoft services. To enable Cortana to provide personalized experiences and relevant suggestions, Microsoft collects and uses various types of data, such as your device location, data from your calendar, the apps you use, data from your emails and text messages, who you call, your contacts and who you interact with on your device. Cortana also learns about you by collecting data about how you use your device and other Microsoft services, such as your music, alarm settings, whether the lock screen is on, what you view and purchase, your browse and Bing search history, and more. You can manage what data Cortana uses, and what it knows about you in Cortana Settings and Notebook. More about the individual features, and how to manage them can be found at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=522360.

Location services. Cortana regularly collects and uses your current location, location history, and other location signals (such as locations tagged on photos you upload to OneDrive). This location data is used to give you the most relevant notices and results and to make suggestions that help save you time, such as traffic and location based reminders. Cortana can only work if location services are on, so if you turn them off, Cortana will be disabled.

Text messages and email. Cortana accesses your messages to do a variety of things such as: allowing you to add events to your calendar, apprising you of important messages, and keeping you up to date on events or other things that are important to you, like package or flight tracking. Cortana also uses your messages to help you with planning around your events and offers other helpful suggestions and recommendations.

Communications History. Cortana learns who is most important to you from your call, text message, and email history. This is used to keep track of people most relevant to you and your preferred methods of communication, flag important messages for you and improve other Cortana services such as speech recognition.

Speech and Input Personalization. To help Cortana better understand the way you speak and your voice commands, speech data is sent to Microsoft to build personalized speech models and improve speech recognition and user intent understanding. On Windows devices, Cortana can only work if Input Personalization is on, so if you turn it off, Cortana will be disabled. See the Windows Input Personalization section for more information.

Microsoft apps and services. Cortana uses data collected through other Microsoft services to provide personalized suggestions. For example, Cortana uses data collected by the MSN Sports app so it can automatically display information about the teams you follow. It also learns your favorite places from Microsoft’s Maps app so it can offer better suggestions. Your interests in Cortana’s Notebook can be used by other Microsoft services, such as Bing or MSN, to customize your interests, preferences, and favorites in those experiences as well.

Third-party services. Cortana also allows you to connect to third-party services for additional personalized experiences based upon data from the third-party service. For example, choosing to sign into Facebook or LinkedIn within Cortana allows Microsoft to access certain Facebook or LinkedIn data so that Cortana and Bing can give you more personalized recommendations. You can manage Cortana’s connections to third-party services in the Cortana Notebook.

Browsing history. If you choose to send your full browsing history to Microsoft in Microsoft Edge (see the Microsoft Edge description in the Windows section of this statement), Cortana can provide suggestions based on the sites you visit in Microsoft Edge. Cortana won’t collect information about sites you visit in InPrivate tabs.

Search history. Your Bing search queries – even if Cortana does the searching for you – are treated like any other Bing search queries and are used as described in the Bing section.

Groove Music/Movies & TV

Groove Music lets you easily play your music collection, make playlists, buy music and stream custom radio stations. Microsoft Movies & TV allows you to play your video collection, and rent or buy movies and TV episodes. Microsoft will use data about the content you play in order to help you discover content that may interest you.

Groove Music lets you easily play your music collection, make playlists, buy music and stream custom radio stations. Microsoft Movies & TV allows you to play your video collection, and rent or buy movies and TV episodes. These services were formerly offered as Xbox Music and Video.

To help you discover content that may interest you, Microsoft will collect data about what content you play, the length of play, and the rating you give it. If you enable Cortana on your device, Microsoft will collect and use data related to the music you play via Groove Music to provide personalized experiences and relevant suggestions.

To enrich your experience when playing content, Groove Music and Movies & TV will display related information about the content you play and the content in your music and video libraries, such as the album title, cover art, song or video title, and other information, where available. To provide this information, Groove Music and Movies & TV send an information request to Microsoft containing standard device data, such as your device IP address, device software version, your regional and language settings, and an identifier for the content.

If you use Groove Music or Movies & TV to access content that has been protected with Microsoft Digital Rights Management (DRM), it may automatically request media usage rights from an online rights server and download and install DRM updates in order to let you play the content. See the DRM information in the Silverlight section of this privacy statement for more information.

Microsoft Health Services

Microsoft Health services include the Microsoft Band devices, Microsoft Health apps, HealthVault, and other related services. The Band helps you keep track of data like heart rate and steps taken. The Band can also use Cortana to take notes and receive notifications from your phone. The Microsoft Health app sends data to Microsoft’s servers and allows you to manage and control the data. The app provides a channel for other apps on your phone to send notifications to the Band. HealthVault is a personal health platform that lets you gather, edit, add to, and store health data online. With HealthVault, you can also choose to share your health data with family, caregivers, and health care professionals.

Microsoft Health apps and devices collect and store your data to provide and improve the services. Health data you provide through Microsoft Health services or store in HealthVault is not combined with data from other Microsoft services, or used for other purposes without your explicit consent. For example, Microsoft does not use your health record data to market or advertise to you without your opt-in consent.

Microsoft Health and Band

Microsoft Health includes the Microsoft Band devices, the Microsoft Health apps, Microsoft Band Sync app, and other related services. For more information about the data collection and privacy in Microsoft Health apps and devices, go here

Activity and Profile Data. Microsoft Band sensors help you keep track of data like your heart rate, steps, calories burned, and sleep. Examples of types of activities you can choose to track are runs, workouts, and sleep. When you create a new profile, the data you provide for your profile is used to calculate your activity results. Other data used to create your profile comes from your personal Microsoft account.

Performance and Usage Data. To provide you the best service, we collect and automatically upload statistics about the performance and your use of the Microsoft Health apps and devices.

Access and Control. You can visit the Microsoft Health app and the Microsoft Health web dashboard to view and manage your data. In the Microsoft Health app, you can view and update your profile data, remove any service you do not wish to use, and view past activities. You can delete specific activity details in the Microsoft Health app. When you delete a specific activity, the event is deleted from the Microsoft Health service; however, the basic sensor data captured by the devices remain in the Microsoft Health service. You can cancel your Microsoft Health account at any time by contacting Customer Support here.

Third-Party Apps. If you connect a third-party application to Microsoft Health, the use of your activity information is subject to the privacy practices and terms of use for the third-party service. We strongly encourage you to review the privacy statement and terms of use for any third-party service before you connect.

Notifications on the Band. When you enable notifications on your phone, the notifications you select through the Microsoft Health will display on the Band. Microsoft Health provides a channel for other apps on your phone to send notifications to the Band, but does not retain data about the content contained within the notifications. Examples of the types of notifications you can choose to receive on the Band are email messages, calendar reminders, phone calls received, text messages, social updates (such as Facebook and Twitter), weather and finance. To find a more detailed list, click here. There are a limited number of messages the Band will display for each notification, and when more messages appear, older messages are removed from the Band. In your Microsoft Health app, you can choose which notifications show up on the Band. To clear current notifications from your Band, turn the Band off.

Cortana. The Band allows you to take notes, perform queries, and set reminders with your voice, if Cortana is enabled on your phone. To learn more about how Cortana manages your data, see the Cortana section of this privacy statement.

Location Services. Microsoft Band has built-in Global Positioning System (GPS) capabilities, which let you map your run or bike ride without having to carry your phone with you. You can choose whether GPS is enabled for each activity. If you enable GPS for an activity, you can view the activity map in the Microsoft Health app. When you start Golf mode on the Band, we automatically turn on GPS. It turns off when you end golf mode.

HealthVault

HealthVault is a personal health platform that lets you gather, edit, store, and share health data online. With HealthVault, you can control your own health records. You can also choose to share your health data with family, caregivers, health care professionals, mobile apps, health-related devices, and online tools. For more information about the data collection and privacy in HealthVault, go to here.

Signing into HealthVault. To sign into HealthVault, you can use Microsoft account credentials or sign-in credentials from certain other providers. If you close your Microsoft account or lose your account credentials, you may not be able to access your data. You can use more than one credential with HealthVault to help ensure continued access. Before using non-Microsoft credentials with HealthVault, we recommend you review the security and privacy commitments offered by the issuer.

HealthVault Account and Health Records. To create a new HealthVault account, you must provide personal data such as name, date of birth, e-mail address, postal code and country/region. Depending on which features you use, you may be asked for additional information. A HealthVault account allows you to manage one or more health records, such as the ones you create for yourself and your family members. You can add or remove data to a health record you manage at any time.

In the U.S., HealthVault assigns each health record an email address. When a message is received at that email address, the message and attachments are automatically added to the HealthVault record, and a notification email is sent to the custodians of that record. The email service in HealthVault uses “Direct,” a protocol designed specifically to communicate with health care providers. For that reason, HealthVault email can only be sent and received with providers that use a system that’s set up to do that. Custodians can add or disable record email addresses.

Sharing Health Data. A key value of HealthVault is the ability you have to share your health data with people and services that can help you meet your health-related goals. By default, you are the custodian of any records you create. Custodians have the highest level of access to a health record. As a custodian, you can share data in a health record with another person by sending an e-mail invitation through HealthVault. You can specify what type of access they have (including custodian access), how long they have access, and whether they can modify the data in the record. When you grant someone access, that person can grant the same level of access to services (for example, someone with view-only access can grant a service view-only access). Because inappropriate granting of access could allow someone to violate your privacy or even revoke your access to your own records, you should be cautious about granting access to your records.

You can choose to share specific data (or all of the data) in a health record with other services. No service has access to your data through HealthVault unless an authorized user grants it access through HealthVault. HealthVault allows you to control access by accepting or denying requests. For each service granted access, you choose what health information in a specific health record to share and what actions each service may perform on the health information.

A service you authorize for a record will get the full name associated with your HealthVault account, the nickname of the authorized record(s), and your relationship to that record. If the service would like the email address created by HealthVault for the specific record, the service may request this when you grant them access to the record. The service will continue to have access through HealthVault until you revoke the permission. Microsoft can revoke a service’s access to HealthVault if it does not meet its privacy commitments to Microsoft. However, except for restricting the access they have to your HealthVault data, we do not control or monitor those services, and their privacy practices will vary.

Reports to U.S. Providers. In the United States, we enable participating providers to obtain reports about whether the information they send to a record is used. This feature supports the “meaningful use” objective of the HITECH Act, which provides incentives for health care providers to send their patients copies of their medical information electronically. Providers that participate can get reports that include a number the provider uses to identify the patient within its system, and whether the user took one of the “qualifying actions” in HealthVault (but no information about which action). “Qualifying action” currently includes activities such as viewing, downloading, or transmitting health information via email. You can turn off reporting for your records.

Access and controls. You can review, edit or delete your HealthVault account data, or close your HealthVault account at any time. Only custodians can permanently delete an item. When you delete a heath record, it is deleted from all users who had access to it.

When you close your HealthVault account, we delete all records for which you are the sole custodian. If you share custodian access for a record, you can decide whether to delete the record. Microsoft will wait a limited amount of time before permanently deleting your data in order to help avoid accidental or malicious removal of your health data.

HealthVault maintains a full history of each access, change or deletion by users and services, which includes the date, action and name of the person or service. Custodians of records can examine the history of those records.

Email Communications. We will use the email address you provide when you create your HealthVault account to send you an email requesting that you validate your email address, to include in sharing invitations you send through HealthVault, and to send you service notifications, such as email notifications that information is available to add to your HealthVault records.

HealthVault periodically sends newsletters to help keep you informed of the latest improvements. HealthVault will also periodically send you an email summarizing recent account activity. You can unsubscribe from these emails at any time.

MSN

MSN services include websites and a suite of apps. We collect information about the installation of MSN Apps and the devices on which they are installed. We also collect data about how you interact with MSN services, such as usage frequency and content viewed.

MSN services include websites and a suite of apps, including MSN News, Weather, Sports, and Money, and previous versions of the apps branded as Bing (together, “MSN Apps”). The MSN Apps are available on various platforms, including Windows, iOS, and Android. MSN services are also included within other Microsoft services, including the Microsoft Edge browser.

When you install MSN Apps, we collect data that tells us if the app was installed properly, the installation date, the app version, and other data about your device such as the operating system and browser. This data is collected on a regular basis to help us determine the number of MSN App users and identify performance issues associated with different app versions, operating systems, and browsers.

We also collect data about how you interact with MSN services, such as usage frequency and content viewed. Some MSN services provide an enhanced experience when you sign in with your Microsoft account, including allowing you to customize your interests and favorites. You can manage personalization through MSN and Bing settings, as well as through settings in other Microsoft services that include MSN services. We also use the data we collect to provide you with advertisements that may be of interest to you. You can opt out of interest-based advertising through the advertising links within MSN services, or by visiting Microsoft’s opt-out page.

Previous versions of MSN Money allow you to access personal finance information from third-party financial institutions. MSN Money only displays this information and does not store it on our servers. Your log-in credentials used to access your financial information from third parties are encrypted on your device and are not sent to Microsoft. These financial institutions, as well as any other third-party services you access through MSN services, are subject to their own terms and privacy policies.

Office

Office is a collection of productivity applications including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook among others. Various Office applications enable you to use content and functionality from other Microsoft and third-party connected services such as Bing. For detailed information about how to manage your privacy options, please see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=624445. If you work in an organization, your administrator can turn off connected services via Group Policy.

Office Services

Office Roaming Service. The Office Roaming Service helps keep your Office settings up-to-date across your devices running Office. When you sign into Office with your Microsoft account, the Office Roaming Service is turned on and syncs some of your customized Office settings to Microsoft servers (such as a list of most recently used documents and the last location viewed within a document). When you sign into Office on another device with the same account, the Office Roaming Service downloads your settings from Microsoft servers and applies them to the additional device. The Office Roaming Service also applies some of your customized Office settings when you sign into Office.com. When you sign out of Office, the Office Roaming Service removes your Office settings from your device. Any changes you made to your customized Office settings are sent to Microsoft servers.

Microsoft Updates. Office uses the Microsoft Update service to provide you with security and other important updates. See the Update Services section of this privacy statement for more information.

Online Help, templates, fonts, and other content. Office uses other Microsoft or third-party services to give you the latest online content when you are connected to the Internet such as Help articles, templates, and fonts. For example, when you use the Help feature in Office applications, Office sends your search query to Office.com to provide you with online Help articles. These features are turned on by default, but you can turn them off using privacy settings. You can access privacy settings in Office 2013 by clicking File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Privacy Options.

Click-to-Run Update Service. The Click-to-Run Update Service allows you to install certain Microsoft Office products over the Internet so you can start using them before they are completely downloaded. By default, the Click-to-Run Update Service also automatically detects online updates to Click-to-Run-enabled products on your device and downloads and installs them automatically. The service is turned on by default, but you can turn it off by using privacy settings.

Search services. Office-supported search services such as Insights allow you to request information from Microsoft or third-party services from within an Office application. For example, in Word, you can highlight a word or phrase and retrieve relevant information from Bing search. When you search on a particular word or phrase, Office sends to the service the encrypted text you requested (and when using Insights, in order to provide you with contextually relevant search results, Office will send your requested word or phrase and some surrounding content from your document). In Excel, you can send categories of data to Microsoft in order to receive recommendations for other sets of similar data that might interest you, but the actual content from your workbook isn’t sent to Microsoft. In addition, Office will send data about the software you’re using and the locale to which your system is set. If required by a third-party content provider, it will also send authorization data indicating you have the right to download the relevant content. Frequently, the information you receive includes a link to additional information from the content provider’s website. If you click the link, the content provider may place a cookie on your device to identify you for future transactions.

Translation service. Some Office applications allow you to translate some or all of your document by using a bilingual dictionary or a machine translation. If a word or phrase you want to translate isn’t in the bilingual dictionary included with your application software, the word or phrase is sent unencrypted to a Microsoft or a third-party translation service. If you choose to translate your entire document, the entire document is sent unencrypted to a Microsoft or a third-party translation service. In addition to the word or phrase you want to translate, Office sends information about the Office software you are using, including the version, operating system, and locale and language to which your system is set. For third-party translation services, Office might also send previously stored authentication information indicating that you previously signed up for access to the website.

Outlook

Outlook automatic account configuration. Outlook provides you with an option to automatically configure your mailbox with some email providers to send and receive email messages to and from their servers. To automatically configure your Exchange account, you must provide your email address. Your user name and password will be requested and sent over the Internet to the email provider’s server. Outlook will first attempt to use a secure (SSL) connection to configure your Exchange account but will send this information unencrypted if your email provider does not support SSL.

Multiple accounts. You can use multiple accounts with Outlook by clicking “Add Account” from the File tab. These accounts store your email separately.

Outlook Search. Outlook Search provides you with the ability to quickly search through items in your mailbox. Outlook creates a file that includes some of your Outlook data, such as email, folders, and address book contacts. The search function uses the operating system to index this file for searching.

OneDrive

OneDrive lets you store and access your files on virtually any device. You can also share and collaborate on your files with others. Some versions of the OneDrive application enable you to access both your personal OneDrive by signing in with your personal Microsoft account and your OneDrive for Business by signing in with your work or school Microsoft account as part of your organization’s use of Office 365.

When you store content in OneDrive, that content will inherit the sharing permissions of the folder in which you store it. For example, if you store content in a public folder, the content will be public and available to anyone on the Internet who can find the folder.

When you use OneDrive, we collect data about your usage of the service, as well as the content you store in order to provide, improve and protect the services. Examples include, indexing the contents of your OneDrive documents so that you can search for them later and using location information to enable you to search for photos based on where the photo was taken. We also collect device information so we can deliver personalized experiences, such as enabling you to sync content across devices and roam customized settings.

When you store content in OneDrive, that content will inherit the sharing permissions of the folder in which you store it. For example, if you store content in the public folder, the content will be public and available to anyone on the Internet who can find the folder. If you store content in a private folder, the content will be private.

When you share content to a social network like Facebook from a phone that you have synced with your OneDrive account, your content is either uploaded to that network or a link to that content is posted to that network. Content posted to social networks and hosted on OneDrive is accessible to anyone on that social network. To delete the content, you need to delete it from the social network and from OneDrive.

When you share your OneDrive content with your friends via a link, an email with the link is sent to those friends. The link contains an authorization code that allows anyone with the link to access your content. If one of your friends sends the link to other people, they will also be able to access your content, even if you did not choose to share the content with them. To revoke permissions for your content on OneDrive, sign into your account and then select the specific content to manage the permission levels. Revoking permissions for a link effectively deactivates the link. No one will be able to use the link to access the content unless you decide to share the link again.

Files managed with OneDrive for Business are stored separately from files stored with your personal OneDrive. OneDrive for Business collects and transmits personal data for authentication, such as your email address and password, which will be transmitted to Microsoft and/or to the provider of your Office 365 service.

Outlook.com

Outlook.com is Microsoft’s primary consumer email service, and includes email accounts with addresses that end in outlook.com, live.com, hotmail.com, and msn.com. Outlook.com provides features that let you connect with your friends on social networks. You will need to create a Microsoft account to use Outlook.com.

Deleting Email and other items. When you delete an email or item from a mailbox in the Outlook.com web service, the item generally goes into your Deleted Items folder where it remains for approximately 7 days unless you move it back to your inbox, you empty the folder, or the service empties the folder automatically, whichever comes first. When the Deleted Items folder is emptied, those emptied items remain in our system for up to 30 days before final deletion.

Silverlight

Microsoft Silverlight helps you to access and enjoy rich content on the Web. Silverlight enables websites and services to store data on your device. Other Silverlight features involve connecting to Microsoft to obtain updates, or to Microsoft or third-party servers to play protected digital content.

Silverlight Configuration tool. You can make choices about these features in the Silverlight Configuration tool. To access the Silverlight Configuration tool, right click on content that is currently being displayed by Silverlight and select Silverlight. You can also run the Silverlight Configuration tool directly. In Windows 10, for example, you can access the tool by searching for “Microsoft Silverlight.”

Silverlight application storage. Silverlight-based applications can store data files locally on your computer for a variety of purposes, including saving your custom settings, storing large files for graphically intensive features (such as games, maps, and images), and storing content that you create within certain applications. You can turn off or configure application storage in the Silverlight Configuration tool.

Silverlight updates. Silverlight will periodically check a Microsoft server for updates to provide you with the latest features and improvements. A small file containing information about the latest Silverlight version will be downloaded to your computer and compared to your currently installed version. If a newer version is available, it will be downloaded and installed on your computer. You can turn off or configure updates in the Silverlight Configuration tool.

Digital Rights Management. Silverlight uses Microsoft Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology to help protect the rights of content owners. If you access DRM-protected content (such as music or video) with Silverlight, it will request media usage rights from a rights server on the Internet. In order to provide a seamless playback experience, you will not be prompted before Silverlight sends the request to the rights server. When requesting media usage rights, Silverlight will provide the rights server with an ID for the DRM-protected content file and basic data about your device, including data about the DRM components on your device such as their revision and security levels, and a unique identifier for your device.

DRM updates. In some cases, accessing DRM-protected content will require an update to Silverlight or to the DRM components on your device. When you attempt to play content that requires a DRM update, Silverlight will send a request to a Microsoft server containing basic data about your device, including information about the DRM components on your computer such as their revision and security levels, troubleshooting data, and a unique identifier for your device. The Microsoft server uses this identifier to return a unique DRM update for your device, which will then be installed by Silverlight. You can turn off or configure DRM component updates on the Playback tab in the Silverlight Configuration tool.

Skype

Skype lets you send and receive voice, video and instant message communications. As part of providing these features, Microsoft collects, uses and shares personal data, including data about your communications, as described in more detail in Learn More.

Skype lets you send and receive voice, video and instant message communications. Both Microsoft Corporation and Skype Communications S.à.r.l. (a wholly-owned Microsoft subsidiary based in Luxembourg) are data controllers for Skype, and references to Microsoft in this section refer to both legal entities.

As part of providing these features, Microsoft collects usage data about your communications that includes the time and date of the communication and the numbers or usernames that are part of the communication.

Skype profile. To enable other people to find you on Skype (or products that interact with Skype, such as Skype for Business), depending on your profile settings, your Skype profile is included in the search directory. Your profile includes your username, avatar, and any other data you choose to add to your profile or display to others.

Partner companies. To make Skype available to more people, we partner with other companies to allow Skype to be offered via those companies’ services. If you use Skype through a company other than Microsoft, that company’s privacy policy governs how it handles your data. To comply with applicable law or respond to valid legal process, or to help our partner company or local operator comply or respond, we may access, disclose and preserve your data. That data could include, for example, your private content, such as the content of your instant messages, stored video messages, voicemails or file transfers.

Skype Manager. Skype Manager lets you manage a group’s (such as your family’s) Skype usage from one central place. When you set up a group, you will be the Skype Manager Administrator and can see the patterns of usage, including detailed information, like traffic data and details of purchases, of other members of the group who have consented to such access. If you add information like your name, other people in the group will be able to see it. Members of the group can withdraw consent for Skype Manager on their account page at www.skype.com.

Skype marketing affiliate program. So that more people can learn about Skype, we encourage other companies and organizations to sign up as marketing affiliates to refer people to Skype. When the people they refer do things like buy Skype Credit, we pay them. We partner with another company, Conversant Media, to operate our affiliate network. Microsoft, our network partner, and the marketing affiliates use cookies and web beacons so we can know which marketing affiliate made a successful referral and earned a payment. Microsoft doesn’t control the cookies that the marketing affiliates set. For more information on the privacy practices of our network partner, visit http://www.conversantmedia.com/legal/privacy.

Push notifications. To let you know of incoming calls, chats and other messages, Skype apps use the notification service on your device. For many devices, these services are provided by a another company. To tell you who is calling, for example, or to give you the first few words of the new chat, Skype has to tell the notification service so that they can provide the notification to you. The company providing the notification service on your device will use this information in accordance with their own terms and privacy policy. Microsoft is not responsible for the data collected by company providing the notification service. If you don’t want to use the notification services for incoming Skype calls and messages, turn it off in the settings found in the Skype application or your device.

Skype advertising. Some Skype software includes interest-based advertising, so that you’re more likely to see ads you’ll like. In some versions of the software, you can opt out of interest-based advertising in the privacy options or account settings menu. If you sign in to Skype with a Microsoft account, you can opt out of interest-based advertising at http://choice.microsoft.com. If you opt out, you’ll still see ads displayed in the Skype software based on your country of residence, language preference, and IP address location, but other data is not used for ad targeting.

Translation features. To help you communicate with people in different languages, some Skype apps offer audio and/or text translation features. When you use translation features, your voice and text data are used to provide and improve Microsoft speech recognition and translation services.

Windows

Windows 10 (“Windows”) is a personalized computing environment that enables you to seamlessly roam and access services, preferences and content across your computing devices from phones to tablets to the Surface Hub. Rather than residing as a static software program on your device, key components of Windows are cloud-based, and both cloud and local elements of Windows are updated regularly, providing you with the latest improvements and features. In order to provide this computing experience, we collect data about you, your device, and the way you use Windows. And because Windows is personal to you, we give you choices about the personal data we collect and how we use it. Note that if your Windows device is managed by your organization (such as your employer or school), your organization may use centralized management tools provided by Microsoft or others to control device settings, device policies, software updates, data collection by us or the organization, or other aspects of your device. For more information about data collection and privacy in Windows, go to http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=529552.

Activation

When you activate Windows, a specific product key is associated with the device on which your software is installed. The product key and data about the software and your device is sent to Microsoft to confirm your valid license to the software. This data may be sent again if there is a need to re-activate or validate your license. On phones running Windows, device and network identifiers, as well as device location at the time of the first power up of the device, are also sent to Microsoft for the purpose of warranty registration, stock replenishment, and fraud prevention.

Advertising ID

Windows generates a unique advertising ID for each user on a device. Your advertising ID can be used by app developers and advertising networks to provide more relevant advertising. You can turn off access to this identifier at any time in the device Settings. If you choose to turn it on again, a new identifier will be generated. For more information on our use of data for advertising, see the How We Use Data section of this statement.

Input Personalization

Microsoft collects and uses data about your speech, inking (handwriting), and typing on Windows devices to help improve and personalize our ability to correctly recognize your input.

For example, to provide personalized speech recognition, we collect your voice input, as well your name and nickname, your recent calendar events and the names of the people in your appointments, and information about your contacts including names and nicknames. This additional data enables us to better recognize people and events when you dictate messages or documents.

Additionally, your typed and handwritten words are collected to provide you a personalized user dictionary, help you type and write on your device with better character recognition, and provide you with text suggestions as you type or write. Typing data includes a sample of characters and words you type, which we scrub to remove IDs, IP addresses, and other potential identifiers. It also includes associated performance data, such as changes you manually make to text as well as words you’ve added to the dictionary.

You can turn off Input Personalization at any time. This will stop the data collection for this feature and will delete associated data stored on your device, such as your local user dictionary and your input history. As Cortana uses this data to help understand your input, turning off Input Personalization will also disable Cortana on your device. At https://www.bing.com/account/personalization, you can also sign in with your personal Microsoft account and clear data sent to Microsoft, such as your contacts and calendar data, user dictionary, as well as search and browsing history if your device also had Cortana enabled.

Location Services & Motion Sensing

Windows location service. Microsoft operates a location service that helps determine the precise geographic location of a specific Windows device. Depending on the capabilities of the device, location is determined using satellite global positioning service (GPS), detecting nearby cell towers and/or Wi-Fi access points and comparing that information against a database that Microsoft maintains of cell towers and Wi-Fi access points whose location is known, or deriving location from your IP address. When the location service is active on a Windows device, data about cell towers and Wi-Fi access points and their locations is collected by Microsoft and added to the location database after removing any data identifying the person or device from which it was collected. Microsoft may also share de-identified location data with third parties to provide and improve location and mapping services.

Windows services and features (such as browsers and Cortana), applications running on Windows, and websites opened in Windows browsers can access the Windows location service to determine location if you allow them to do so. Some features and apps request location permission when you first install Windows, some ask the first time you use the app, and others ask every time you access the location service. For information about certain Windows apps that use the location service, see the Windows Apps section below.

Data about a Windows device’s recent location history is stored on the device, and certain apps and Windows features can access this location history. You can clear your device’s location history at any time in the device’s Settings menu.

In Settings, you can also view which applications have access to the location service or your device’s location history, turn off or on access to the location service for particular applications, or turn off the location service. Note that on mobile devices, your mobile operator will have access to your location even if you turn off the location service.

Find My Phone. The Find My Phone feature allows you to find the location of your Windows phone from https://account.microsoft.com, even if you have turned off all access to the location service on the phone. If you have turned on the “save my location every few hours” feature in the Find My Phone settings on your phone, the Find My Phone feature will periodically send and store a single last known location of your phone, even if you have turned off location services on your phone. Each time a new location is sent, it replaces the previously-stored location.

Find My Device. The Find My Device feature allows an administrator of a Windows PC or tablet to find the location of that device if the administrator has enabled the location service for the device, even if other users have disabled location for themselves. When the administrator attempts to locate the device, users will see a notification in the notification center.

Windows Motion Sensing. Windows devices with motion activity detection can collect motion activity. This data can enable features such as a pedometer to count the number of steps you take, so a fitness application can estimate how many calories you burn. This data and history is stored on your device and can be accessed by applications you give permission to access and use that data.

Recording. Some Windows devices have a recording feature that allows you to capture audio and video clips of your activity on the device, including your communications with others. If you choose to record a session, the recording will be saved locally on your device. You should understand your legal responsibilities before recording any communication. This includes whether you need to get consent from all parties to the communication in advance. Microsoft is not responsible for how you use recording features or your recordings.

Security and Safety Features

Device encryption. Device encryption helps protect the data stored on your device by encrypting it using BitLocker Drive Encryption technology. When device encryption is on, Windows automatically encrypts the drive Windows is installed on and generates a recovery key. The BitLocker recovery key for your personal device is automatically backed up online in your personal Microsoft OneDrive account. Microsoft doesn’t use your individual recovery keys for any purpose.

Malicious Software Removal Tool. The Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) runs on your device at least once per month as part of Windows Update. MSRT checks devices for infections by specific, prevalent malicious software (“malware”) and helps remove any infections found. When the MSRT runs, it will remove the malware listed on the Microsoft Support website if the malware is on your device. During a malware check, a report will be sent to Microsoft with specific data about malware detected, errors, and other data about your device. If you do not want MSRT to send this data to Microsoft, you can disable MSRT’s reporting component.

Microsoft Family. Parents can use Microsoft Family to understand and set boundaries on how their child is using their device. There are many features available to Family members, so please carefully review the information provided when you create or join a Family. When Family activity reporting is turned on for a child, Microsoft will collect details about how the child uses their device and provide parents with reports of that child’s activities. Activity reports are routinely deleted from Microsoft servers after a short period of time.

SmartScreen. SmartScreen helps protect you when using our services by checking downloaded files and web content for malicious software, potentially unsafe web content, and other threats to you or your device. When checking a file, data about that file is sent to Microsoft, including the file name, a hash of the file’s contents, and the file’s digital certificates. If SmartScreen identifies the file as unknown or potentially unsafe, you will see a warning prior to opening the file. When checking web content, data about the content is sent to Microsoft, including the full web address of the content. If SmartScreen detects that content is potentially unsafe, you will see a warning in place of the content. SmartScreen can be turned on or off in Settings.

Windows Defender. Windows Defender looks for malware and other unwanted software on your device. Windows Defender is automatically turned on to help protect your device if no other antimalware software is actively protecting your device. If Windows Defender is turned on, it will monitor the security status of your device and will automatically send reports to Microsoft that contain data about suspected malware and other unwanted software, and it may also send files that could contain malware. If a report is likely to contain personal data, the report is not sent automatically and you’ll be prompted before it is sent. You can configure Windows Defender not to send reports and suspected malware to Microsoft.

Sync Settings

When you sign into Windows with a Microsoft account, Windows syncs some of your settings and data with Microsoft servers to make it easier to have personalized experiences across multiple devices. After you’ve signed into one or more devices with a Microsoft account, when you sign into another with the same Microsoft account for the first time, Windows will download and apply the settings and data you choose to sync from your other devices. Settings you choose to sync will automatically update on Microsoft servers and your other devices as you use them.

Some of the settings that are synced include:

Apps you’ve installed from the Windows Store
Language preferences
Ease of Access preferences
Personalization settings such as your account picture, background, and mouse settings
Settings for Windows Store apps
Spell checker dictionaries, input method editor (IME) dictionaries, and personal dictionaries
Internet Explorer browser history, favorites, and websites you have open
Saved app, website, mobile hotspot, and Wi-Fi network names and passwords
Addresses of shared network printers that you’ve connected to

You can choose whether to sync your settings, and control what is synced, by going to Sync Settings in the Accounts section of Windows Settings. Some apps have their own, separate sync controls. If you sign into Windows with a work account and you choose to connect that account to your personal Microsoft account, Windows will ask which settings you want to sync before connecting your Microsoft account.

Telemetry & Error Reporting

As you use Windows, we collect diagnostic and usage data that helps us identify and troubleshoot problems, improve our products and services, and provide you with personalized experiences. This data is transmitted to Microsoft and stored with one or more unique identifiers that can help us recognize an individual user on an individual device and understand the device’s service issues and use patterns. There are three levels of diagnostic and usage data: Full, Enhanced and Basic. You can select which level of diagnostic and usage data to provide, but some diagnostic data is vital to the operation of Windows and cannot be turned off.

During Windows setup, opting to “Send full error and diagnostic reporting to Microsoft” sets your Diagnostic and usage data setting to Full. If you don’t choose to “Send full error and diagnostic reporting to Microsoft,” Diagnostic and usage data collection will be set to Enhanced. You can adjust your Diagnostic and usage data collection level at any time in Settings. We recommend that you select Full for the best Windows experience and the most effective troubleshooting.

Basic data is data that is vital to the operation of Windows. This data helps keep Windows and apps secure, up-to-date, and running properly by letting Microsoft know the capabilities of your device, what is installed, and whether Windows is operating correctly. This option also includes basic error reporting back to Microsoft. Basic data includes:

Configuration data, including the manufacturer of your device, model, number of processors, display size and resolution, date, region and language settings, and other data about the capabilities of the device.
The software (including drivers and firmware supplied by device manufacturers), installed on the device.
Performance and reliability data, such as how quickly programs respond to input, how many problems you experience with an app or device, or how quickly information is sent or received over a network connection.
Network and connection data, such as the device’s IP address, number of network connections in use, and data about the networks you connect to, such as mobile networks, Bluetooth, and identifiers (BSSID and SSID), connection requirements and speed of Wi-Fi networks you connect to.
Other hardware devices connected to the device.

Enhanced data includes all Basic data plus data about how you use Windows, including Microsoft and third party software (apps, drivers, etc.) that runs on Windows. This data includes frequently or how long you use certain features or apps, which apps and features you use most often, how often you use Windows Help and Support, and which services you use to sign into apps. This option also lets us collect diagnostic data that includes the memory state of your device when a system or app crash occurs, which may unintentionally include parts of a document you were working on when a problem occurred. If you select this option, we’ll also be able to provide you with an enhanced and more personalized Windows experience.

Full data includes all Basic and Enhanced data. It also turns on advanced diagnostic features that can collect additional data from your device, which helps us further troubleshoot and fix problems. When devices experience problems that are difficult to diagnose or replicate with Microsoft’s internal testing, Microsoft will randomly select a small number of devices, from those at the Full level and exhibiting the problem, from which to gather all of the data needed to diagnose and fix the problem (including user content that may have triggered the issue). If an error report contains personal data, we won’t use that information to identify, contact, or target advertising to you.

Windows error reports help Microsoft and Microsoft partners diagnose problems in the software you use and provide solutions. We provide limited portions of error report information to partners (such as OEMs) to help them troubleshoot products and services which work with Windows and other Microsoft product and services. They are only permitted to use this information to repair or improve those products and services.

Update Services

Update Services for Windows includes Windows Update and Microsoft Update. Windows Update is a service that provides you with software updates for Windows software and other supporting software, such as drivers and firmware supplied by device manufacturers. Microsoft Update is a service that provides you with software updates for other Microsoft software such as Office.

Windows Update automatically downloads Windows software updates to your device. You can configure Windows Update to automatically install these updates as they become available (recommended) or have Windows notify you when a restart is required to finish installing updates. Apps available through the Windows Store are automatically updated through the Store, as described in the Windows Store section below.

Web Browsers: Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer

Microsoft Edge is Microsoft’s new web browser for Windows 10. Internet Explorer, Microsoft’s legacy browser, is also available in Windows 10. Whenever you use a web browser to access the Internet, data about your device (“standard device data”) is sent to the websites you visit and online services you use. Standard device data includes your device’s IP address, browser type and language, access times, and referring website addresses. This data might be logged on those websites’ web servers. Which data is logged and how that data is used depends on the privacy practices of the websites you visit and web services you use.

Additionally, data about how you use your browser, such as your browsing history, web form data, temporary Internet files, and cookies, is stored on your device. You can delete this data from your device using Delete Browsing History.

New features in Microsoft Edge allow you to capture and save content on your device, such as:

Web Note: which allows you to create ink and text annotations on the web pages you visit, and clip, save or share them;
Active Reading: which allows you to create and manage reading lists including websites or documents; and
Hub: which allows you to easily manage your reading lists, favorites, downloads, and history all in one area.

Some Microsoft browser information saved on your device will be synced across other devices when you sign in with your Microsoft account. For instance, in Internet Explorer, this information includes your browsing history and favorites; and in Microsoft Edge, it includes your favorites and reading lists. As an example, if you sync your Microsoft Edge reading list across devices, copies of the content you choose to save to your reading list will be sent to each synced device for later viewing. You can disable syncing in Internet Explorer by going to Sync Settings in the Accounts section of Windows Settings (see Sync Settings). You can also disable syncing of Microsoft Edge browser information by turning off the sync option in Microsoft Edge Settings.

Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer use your search queries and browsing history to provide you with faster browsing and more relevant search results. These features include:

AutoSearch and Search Suggestions in Internet Explorer automatically sends the information you type into the browser address bar to your default search provider (such as Bing) and offer search recommendations as you type each character. In Microsoft Edge, this feature automatically sends this information to Bing even if you have selected another default search provider.
Page Prediction sends your browsing history to Microsoft and uses aggregated browsing history data to predict which pages you are likely to browse to next and proactively loads those pages in the background for a faster browsing experience.
Suggested Sites recommends web contents that you might be interested in based on your search and browsing history.

Browsing data collected in connection with these features is used in the aggregate and you can turn off any of these features at any time. These features will not collect browsing history while you have InPrivate Browsing enabled.

In order to provide search results, Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer send your search queries, standard device information, and location (if you have location enabled) to your default search provider. If Bing is your default search provider, we use this data as described in the Bing section of this privacy statement.

Cortana can assist you with your web browsing in Microsoft Edge. If enabled, Cortana will collect your search queries and full browsing history, associated with a user ID. Cortana and related Microsoft services will use this data to learn about you and provide you with timely and intelligent answers and proactive personalized suggestions, or to complete web tasks for you. You can disable Cortana for Microsoft Edge web browsing at any time in Microsoft Edge Settings. To learn more about how Cortana uses data and how you can control that, go to the Cortana section of this privacy statement.

Wi-Fi Sense

Wi-Fi Sense allows you to automatically connect to Wi-Fi networks around you to help you save cellular data and give you more connection options. If you turn it on, you will automatically connect to open Wi-Fi networks. You will also be able to exchange access to password-protected Wi-Fi networks with your contacts. Please note that not all open networks are secure – be careful using an open network to do something online that requires sensitive or personal data, such as making a banking transaction or a purchase.

Windows Apps

A number of Microsoft apps are included with Windows and others are available in the Windows Store. Some of those apps include:

Maps app. The Maps app provides location-based services and uses Bing services to process your searches within the Maps app. Please see the Bing section of this privacy statement to learn more about these Bing-powered experiences. When the Maps app has access to your location, even when the app is not in use, Microsoft may collect de-identified location data from your device to improve Microsoft’s services. You can disable the Maps app’s access to your location by turning off the location service or turning off the Maps app’s access to the location service.

You can keep track of your favorite places and recent map searches in the Maps app. Your favorite places and search history will be included as search suggestions. If you’re signed in with your Microsoft account, your favorite places, search history, and certain app settings will be synced across other devices and services (for example, Cortana). See Sync Settings above for more information.

Camera and Photo apps. If you allow the Camera app to use your location, location data is embedded in the photos you take with your device. Other descriptive data, such as camera model and the date that the picture was taken, is also embedded in photos and videos. If you choose to share a photo or video, any embedded data will be accessible to the people and services you share with. You can disable the Camera app’s access to your location by turning off all access to the location service in your device’s Settings menu or turning off the Camera app’s access to the location service.

Your photos, videos, as well as screenshots, saved in your camera roll automatically upload to OneDrive. You can manage your photos and/or videos in OneDrive, and you can disable the automatic upload in Settings.

When you take photos embedded with your location, the Photos app can group your photos by time and location. To group your photos, the Photos app sends location data in your photos to Microsoft to determine the names of locations, such as “Seattle, Washington”. When you are using the Photo app while signed into your Microsoft account, your photos and videos from OneDrive will be automatically sorted in into albums in the Photo app, and will also appear on the Photo app’s live tile. Your photos and/or videos will only be shared with others if you choose to do so.

People app. The People app lets you see and interact with all your contacts in one place. When you add your Microsoft account to a Windows device, your contacts from your account will be automatically added to the People app. You can add other accounts to the People app, including your social networks (such as Facebook and Twitter) and email accounts. When you add an account, we tell you what data the People app can import or sync with the particular service and let you choose what you want to add. Other apps you install may also sync data to the People app, including providing additional details to existing contacts. You can remove an account from the People app at any time.

Messaging app. When you sign in with a Microsoft account on your device, you can choose to back up your information, which will sync your SMS and MMS messages and store them in your Microsoft account. This allows you to retrieve the messages if you lose or change phones. After your initial device set-up, you can manage your messaging settings at any time. Turning off your SMS/MMS backup will not delete messages that have been previously backed up to your Microsoft account. To delete such messages from storage, you must delete them from your device prior to turning off backup. If you allow the Messaging app to use your location, you can attach a link to your current location to an outgoing message. Location information will be collected by Microsoft as described in the Windows Location Services section.

Wallet. Wallet can hold information such as coupons, loyalty cards, tickets, and other digital content. Apps on your mobile device can automatically save information to your Wallet, and you can also add details from an email or web link. Wallet will only share data with the third parties you choose, such as when you make a purchase or submit feedback, but it does not share your location with any third party. Some items in your Wallet can be updated over time, and Wallet will periodically download updates to those items when they’re available.

Windows Hello

Windows Hello provides instant access to your devices through biometric authentication. If you turn it on, Windows Hello uses your face, fingerprint or iris to identify you based on a set of unique points or features that are extracted from the image and stored on your device as a template – but it does not store the actual picture or image of your face or iris. Biometric verification data that’s used when you sign in doesn’t leave your device. You can delete your biometric verification data from within Settings.

Windows Search

Windows Search lets you search your stuff and the web from one place. If you choose to use Windows Search to search “your stuff”, it will provide results for items on your OneDrive as well as on your device. If you choose to use Windows Search to search the web, or get search suggestions with Windows Search or Cortana, your search results will be powered by Bing and we will use your search query as described in the Bing section of this privacy statement.

Windows Store

The Windows Store lets you find, purchase, install, and review apps, music, video, and other content for your Windows devices. You must sign in with a Microsoft account to use the Store. In addition to telemetry data we collect about how you access and use the Store, we collect data about the apps you’ve viewed and installed, the preferences you set for viewing apps in the Store, and any ratings, reviews or problem reports you submit. Your Microsoft account is associated with your ratings and reviews; if you write a review, the name and picture from your Microsoft account will be published with your review.

Permission for Store apps. Many apps you install from the Windows Store are designed to take advantage of specific hardware and software features of your device. An app’s use of certain hardware and software features may give the app or its related service access to your data. For example, a photo editing app might access your device’s camera to let you take a new photo or access photos or videos stored on your device for editing, and a restaurant guide might use your location to provide nearby recommendations. Information about the features that an app uses is provided on the app’s product description page in the Store. You can review a list of features that apps may use, along with information about which features will prompt for your consent before an app can access them and which features can be turned on and off (either for specific Store apps or all Store apps) through your device’s Settings, at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=529552.

App updates. Unless you have turned off automatic app updates in the Windows Store Settings, the Windows Store will automatically check for, download, and install app updates to ensure that you have the latest versions. Updated apps might use different Windows hardware and software features from the previous versions, which could give them access to different data on your device. You will be prompted for consent if an updated app accesses certain features, such as location. You can also review the hardware and software features an app uses by viewing its product description page in the Windows Store; and you can control the use of certain features by Store apps through your device’s Settings, as described at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=529552.

Each app’s use of your data collected through any of these features is subject to the app developer’s privacy policies. If an app available through the Windows Store collects and uses any of your personal data, the app developer is required to provide a privacy policy, and a link to the privacy policy is available on the app’s product description page in the Store.

Sideloaded apps and developer mode. Developer features such as the “developer mode” setting are intended for development use only. If you enable developer features, your device may become unreliable or unusable, and expose you to security risks. Downloading or otherwise acquiring apps from sources other than the Store, also known as “sideloading” apps, may make your device and personal data more vulnerable to attack or unexpected use by apps. Windows 10 policies, notifications, permissions and other features intended to help protect your privacy when apps access your data may not function as described in this statement for sideloaded apps or when developer features are enabled.

Xbox

Xbox Live is Microsoft’s online gaming and entertainment service and social network. Xbox services can be accessed from a variety of devices, including Xbox consoles, PCs (including via xbox.com and the Xbox app), and mobile devices. Microsoft collects data about your use of Xbox services, which can include information collected by the Kinect sensor. Some data, such as your gamertag and game scores, can be seen by other users.

Xbox consoles are hardware devices that you can use to access and play games, movies, music, and other forms of digital entertainment. Xbox Live (including Games for Windows Live) is Microsoft’s online gaming and entertainment service and social network. It provides ways for you to connect with your friends on Xbox Live and other gaming and social networks. Xbox services can be accessed from a variety of devices, including Xbox consoles, PCs (including via xbox.com and the Xbox app), and mobile devices.

We collect data about your use of Xbox services, such as:

When you sign in and sign out, the games you play, your game and score statistics, and the purchases you make and content you obtain.
Performance data about the Xbox services, your device and your network connection, including any hardware or software errors that occur.
If you use the Xbox console with Kinect, data about how you use Kinect. See below for more information about Kinect data collection.

All such data is stored with the Xbox console’s unique identifier and associated with your personal data. When your Xbox is connected to the Internet, we identify which console and which version of the Xbox operating system you are currently using.

With your consent, we will collect information about videos you purchase or view through third-party apps on your Xbox console. If you use the Xbox TV app, we collect TV viewing history from your console in a way that doesn’t identify you or others.

If you use an Xbox console that includes a storage device (hard drive or memory unit), and if you play offline or have never signed into the services on the console, usage data will be stored on the storage device and sent to Microsoft the next time you sign into the services.

Xbox Live data viewable by other users. Your gamertag (Xbox live nickname), game and score statistics, achievements, presence (whether you’re signed into Xbox Live), and other data about your activity on Xbox Live can be seen by other users on Xbox Live or other properties associated with Xbox Live (including those of partner companies). For example, your gamertag and scores that show on game leaderboards are considered public and can’t be hidden. For other types of data, you can adjust your privacy settings on the console or at xbox.com to limit or block the sharing with other users.

Xbox Live data shared with game or app publishers. When you use an Xbox Live-enabled game or app, the publisher or service provider for that game or app has access to data about your usage of Xbox Live and that game or app, and may disclose or display (such as on leaderboards) such data. This data includes, for example, your game scores, data about your game play sessions (for example, types of vehicles used in the game), your presence on Xbox Live, the time you spend playing the game or app, rankings, statistics, gamer profiles, avatars, and other content that you may create or submit within the game or app.

Linking your Xbox Live account to non-Microsoft accounts. Some of the games or apps found on Xbox Live are delivered by partner companies, which may require that you create a non-Microsoft account and sign-in credentials to use that game or app. If you choose to link your Microsoft account with your account with a partner company, Microsoft will share limited account information with that company. Such account information can include name, address, email and date of birth but will not include any credit card or other payment information. For games that enable in-game communications, the game publisher will also have access to the content of in-game communications when you are signed into your account with the publisher.

Kinect. The Kinect sensor is a combination of camera, microphone, and infrared sensor that can enable motions and voice to be used to control gameplay and to navigate through the service. For example:

If you choose, the camera can be used to sign you into the service automatically using facial recognition. To do this it takes an image of your face and measures distances between key points to create and store a numeric value that represents only you. This data stays on the console and is not shared with anyone, and you can choose to delete this data from your console at any time.
For gameplay, Kinect will map distances between your body’s joints to create a stick figure representation of you that helps Kinect enable gameplay. If you are playing online, we collect those numeric values to enable and improve gameplay and the gaming experience. Kinect also detects specific hand gestures intended to do simple system interactions (such as menu navigation, pan/zoom and scroll).
For some fitness games, Xbox can use the Kinect sensor to estimate your exercise data, including estimates such as your heart rate during a certain activity or the number of calories burned during a workout.
Kinect’s microphones enable voice chat between players during gameplay. They also enable voice commands for control of the console, game or app, or to enter search terms. See below for additional details on voice data collection.
The Kinect sensor can also be used for audio and video communications through services such as Skype.

To learn more about Kinect, please visit the Kinect FAQ.

Communications monitoring. Xbox Live includes communications features such as text-based messaging and online voice chat between players during gameplay. In order to help provide a safe gaming environment and enforce the Microsoft Code of Conduct, we will collect, review, and monitor a sample of these communications, including Xbox Live game chats and party chat communications in live-hosted multiplayer gameplay sessions offered through the services.

Voice data for service improvement. We collect, and use for service improvement, voice search requests or samples of voice commands occurring while using Kinect. These data are stored separately from your Xbox profile.

GameDVR. Any player in a multiplayer game session can use GameDVR to record their view of the gameplay taking place in that session. The recording can capture your in-game character and gamertag in the game clips created by other players in the gameplay session. Note that if a player uses GameDVR on a PC, audio chat may also be captured in a game clip. Microsoft can review game clips for violations of the Microsoft Code of Conduct, even if your game clip sharing setting is set to Block.

Xbox Live Rewards. Xbox Live Rewards, available at rewards.xbox.com, is a program you can join to receive Xbox credits for being active on the services. You must agree to receive promotional communications from the Rewards program as a condition of joining. You sign into Rewards using your Microsoft account, and the program collects personal data including first name, last name, gamertag, and demographic information. The program is hosted and operated by HelloWorld, a Microsoft vendor. The data collected is stored by the vendor on behalf of Microsoft. You can review and edit the personal data you provided to the Rewards program by contacting privacy@helloworld.com.

Children and online safety. If you have children who use Xbox services, you can set up child accounts for them. Children 17 and younger cannot create an account on Xbox Live without parental consent. Adults in the family can change consent choices and online safety settings for child accounts on xbox.com.

We also use web beacons to help deliver cookies and gather usage and performance data about our services. Our services may include web beacons and cookies from third-party service providers.

Our Use of Cookies and Similar Technologies

Microsoft uses cookies and similar technologies for several purposes, including:

Storing your Preferences and Settings. Settings that enable our services to operate correctly or that maintain your preferences over time may be stored on your device. For example, if you enter your city or postal code to get local news or weather information on a Microsoft site, we may store that data in a cookie so that you will see the relevant local information when you return to the site. If you opt out of interest-based advertising, we store your opt-out preference in a cookie on your device.
Sign-in and Authentication. When you sign into a site using your personal Microsoft account, we store a unique ID number, and the time you signed in, in an encrypted cookie on your device. This cookie allows you to move from page to page within the site without having to sign in again on each page.
Interest-Based Advertising. Microsoft uses cookies to collect data about your online activity and identify your interests so that we can provide advertising that is most relevant to you. You can opt out of receiving interest-based advertising from Microsoft as described in the Access and Control section of this privacy statement.
Analytics. In order to provide our services, we use cookies and other identifiers to gather usage and performance data. For example, we use cookies to count the number of unique visitors to a web page or service and to develop other statistics about the operations of our services.

Cookie name	Description
MUID	Identifies unique web browsers visiting Microsoft sites. It is used for advertising, site analytics and other operational purposes.
ANON	Contains the ANID, a unique identifier derived from your Microsoft account, which is used for advertising, personalization, and operational purposes. It is also used to preserve your choice to opt out of interest-based advertising from Microsoft, if you have chosen to associate the opt-out with your Microsoft account.
CC	Contains a country code as determined from your IP address.
RPSTAuth, MSNRPSAuth, KievRPSAuth	Helps to authenticate you when you sign in with your Microsoft account.
NAP	Contains an encrypted version of your country, postal code, age, gender, language and occupation, if known, based on your Microsoft account profile.
MH	Appears on co-branded sites where Microsoft is partnering with an advertiser. This cookie identifies the advertiser so the right ad is selected.
ACH01	Maintains information about which ads you clicked on and where you clicked on the ad.
TOptOut	Records your decision not to receive interest-based advertising delivered by Microsoft.

In addition to standard cookies and web beacons, our services can also use other similar technologies to store and read data files on your computer. This is typically done to maintain your preferences or to improve speed and performance by storing certain files locally. But, like standard cookies, these technologies can also be used to store a unique identifier for your computer, which can then be used to track behavior. These technologies include Local Shared Objects (or “Flash cookies”) and Silverlight Application Storage. Local Shared Objects or “Flash cookies.” Web sites that use Adobe Flash technologies may use Local Shared Objects or “Flash cookies” to store data on your computer. To manage or block Flash cookies, go to http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager.html. Silverlight Application Storage. Web sites or applications that use Microsoft Silverlight technology also have the ability to store data by using Silverlight Application Storage. To learn how to manage or block such storage, see the Silverlight section of this statement.

Microsoft accountMicrosoft accountmainmicrosoftaccountmodule

OfficeOfficemainofficemodule

Microsoft collects and uses data about your speech, inking (handwriting), and typing on Windows devices to help improve and personalize our ability to correctly recognize your input.

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Privacy Tips from the FTC

We self-certify compliance with:

English (United States)‎

Microsoft Service Agreement

The US version of the Microsoft Service Agreement is here, it covers a wide range of Microsoft products and services including Microsoft Office.

This is the Microsoft Service Agreement as at 1 June 2016, all 12,137 words of it:

IF YOU LIVE IN (OR YOUR PRINCIPAL PLACE OF BUSINESS IS IN) THE UNITED STATES, PLEASE READ THE BINDING ARBITRATION CLAUSE AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER IN SECTION 15. IT AFFECTS HOW DISPUTES ARE RESOLVED.

These terms (“Terms“) cover the use of those Microsoft’s consumer products, websites, and services listed here (the “Services“). Many of these products previously had separate terms that were called different names, such as “Xbox Live Terms of Use” or “Skype Terms of Use,” and these Terms replace those separate terms. You accept these Terms by creating a Microsoft account or Skype account, through your use of the Services, or by continuing to use the Services after being notified of a change to these Terms.

Your Privacy

Your Privacy. Your privacy is important to us. Please read the Microsoft Privacy Statement, the Microsoft Health Privacy Statement, and the HealthVault Privacy Statement (collectively “Privacy Statements“) as they describe the types of data we collect from you and your devices (“Data“) and how we use your Data. The Privacy Statements also describe how Microsoft uses your content, which is your communications with others; postings or feedback submitted by you to Microsoft via the Services; and the files, photos, documents, audio, digital works, and videos that you upload, store or share through the Services (“Your Content“). By using the Services or agreeing to these Terms, you consent to Microsoft’s collection, use and disclosure of Your Content and Data as described in the Privacy Statements.

Your Content

Your Content. Many of our Services allow you to store or share Your Content or receive material from others. We don’t claim ownership of Your Content. Your Content remains Your Content and you are responsible for it.

a. When you share Your Content with other people, you understand that they may be able to, on a worldwide basis, use, save, record, reproduce, transmit, display (and on HealthVault delete) Your Content without compensating you. If you do not want others to have that ability, do not use the Services to share Your Content. You represent and warrant that for the duration of these Terms, you have (and will have) all the rights necessary for Your Content that is uploaded, stored or shared on or through the Services and that the collection, use, and retention of Your Content will not violate any law or rights of others. Microsoft cannot be held responsible for Your Content or the material others upload, store or share using the Services.
b. To the extent necessary to provide the Services to you and others, to protect you and the Services, and to improve Microsoft products and services, you grant to Microsoft a worldwide and royalty-free intellectual property license to use Your Content, for example, to make copies of, retain, transmit, reformat, display, and distribute via communication tools Your Content on the Services. If you publish Your Content in areas of the Service where it is available broadly online without restrictions, Your Content may appear in demonstrations or materials that promote the Service. Controls for how Microsoft personalizes advertising are available on the Security & privacy page of the Microsoft account management website. We do not use what you say in email, chat, video calls or voice mail, or your documents, photos or other personal files to target advertising to you. Our advertising policies are covered in detail in the Privacy Statements.

Code of Conduct

Code of Conduct.

a. By agreeing to these Terms, you’re agreeing that, when using the Services, you will follow these rules:
- i. Don’t do anything illegal.
- ii. Don’t engage in any activity that exploits, harms, or threatens to harm children.
- iii. Don’t send spam. Spam is unwanted or unsolicited bulk email, postings, contact requests, SMS (text messages), or instant messages.
- iv. Don’t publicly display or use the Services to share inappropriate Content or material (involving, for example, nudity, bestiality, pornography, graphic violence, or criminal activity).
- v. Don’t engage in activity that is false or misleading (e.g., asking for money under false pretenses, impersonating someone else, manipulating the Services to increase play count, or affect rankings, ratings, or comments).
- vi. Don’t circumvent any restrictions on access to or availability of the Services.
- vii. Don’t engage in activity that is harmful to you, the Services, or others (e.g., transmitting viruses, stalking, communicating hate speech, or advocating violence against others).
- viii. Don’t infringe upon the rights of others (e.g., unauthorized sharing of copyrighted music or other copyrighted material, resale or other distribution of Bing maps, or photographs).
- ix. Don’t engage in activity that violates the privacy of others.
- x. Don’t help others break these rules.
b. Enforcement. If you violate these Terms, we may stop providing Services to you or we may close your Microsoft account or Skype account. We may also block delivery of a communication (like email or instant message) to or from the Services in an effort to enforce these Terms or we may remove or refuse to publish Your Content for any reason. When investigating alleged violations of these Terms, Microsoft reserves the right to review Your Content in order to resolve the issue. However, we cannot monitor the entire Services and make no attempt to do so.

Using the Services & Support

Using the Services & Support.

a. Microsoft account or Skype account. You’ll need a Microsoft account to access many of the Services. Your Microsoft account lets you sign in to products, websites and services provided by Microsoft and some Microsoft partners. To access Skype on certain platforms, you have the option of using a Skype account or a Microsoft account.
- i. Creating an Account. You can create a Microsoft account or a Skype account by signing up online. You agree not to use any false, inaccurate or misleading information when signing up for your Microsoft account or Skype account. In some cases, a third party, like your Internet service provider, may have assigned a Microsoft account to you. If you received your Microsoft account from a third party, the third party may have additional rights over your account, like the ability to access or delete your Microsoft account. Please review any additional terms the third party provided you, as Microsoft has no responsibility regarding these additional terms. If you create a Microsoft account on behalf of an entity, such as your business or employer, you represent that you have the legal authority to bind that entity to these Terms. You cannot transfer your Microsoft account or Skype account to another user or entity. To protect your account, keep your account details and password confidential. You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your Microsoft account or Skype account.
- ii. Account Use. You must use your Microsoft account to keep it active. This means you must sign in at least once in a five-year period to keep your Microsoft account, and associated Services, active, unless provided otherwise in an offer for a paid portion of the Services. If you don’t sign in during this time, we will assume your Microsoft account is inactive and will close it for you. Please see section 4(a)(iv)(2) for the consequences of a closed Microsoft account. You must sign into your Outlook.com inbox and your OneDrive (separately) at least once in a one-year period, otherwise we will close your Outlook.com inbox and your OneDrive for you. If we reasonably suspect that your Microsoft account or Skype account is being used by a third party fraudulently (for example, as a result of an account compromise), Microsoft may suspend your account until you can reclaim ownership. If you are having trouble accessing your Microsoft account, please visit this website: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=238656. To manage your Skype account, you must “Sign In” at www.skype.com.
- iii. Kids and Accounts. By using the Services, you represent that you have either reached the age of “majority” where you live or have valid parent or legal guardian consent to be bound by these Terms. If you do not know whether you have reached the age of majority where you live, or do not understand this section, please ask your parent or legal guardian for help before you create a Microsoft account or Skype account. If you are the parent or legal guardian of a minor that creates a Microsoft account or Skype account, you accept these Terms on the minor’s behalf and are responsible for all use of the Microsoft account, Skype account, or Services, including purchases, whether the minor’s account is now open or created later.
- iv. Closing Your Account.
  - 1. You can cancel specific Services or close your Microsoft account or Skype account at any time and for any reason. To close your Microsoft account, please visit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkid=618278. When you ask us to close your Microsoft account, we will put it in a suspended state for 60 days just in case you change your mind. After that 60 day period, your Microsoft account will be closed. See section 4(a)(iv)(2) below for a detailed explanation as to what happens when your Microsoft account is closed. Logging back in during that 60 day period will reactivate your Microsoft account. To cancel your Skype account please submit a support request to http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkid=618280.
  - 2. If your Services are canceled or your Microsoft account or Skype account is closed (whether by you or us), a few things happen. First, your right to use the Services stops immediately and your license to use the software related to the Services ends. Second, we’ll delete Data or Your Content associated with your Microsoft account or Skype account or will otherwise disassociate it from you and your Microsoft account or Skype account (unless we are required by law to keep it). You should have a regular backup plan as Microsoft won’t be able to retrieve Your Content or Data once your account is closed. Third, you may lose access to material or products you’ve acquired.
b. Additional Equipment/Data Plans. To use many of the Services, you’ll need an internet connection and/or data/cellular plan. You might also need additional equipment, like a headset, camera or microphone. You are responsible for providing all connections, plans, and/or equipment needed to use the Services and for paying the fees charged by the provider(s) of your connections, plans, and equipment. Those fees are in addition to any fees you pay us for the Services and we will not reimburse you for such fees. Check with your provider(s) to determine if there are any such fees that may apply to you.
c. Service Notifications. When there’s something important to tell you about a Service you use, we’ll send you Service notifications to the email associated with your Microsoft account or, for Skype notifications, your Skype account. If you authorized use of your phone number for your Microsoft account or Skype account, then we may send Service notifications to you via SMS (text message). Data or messaging rates may apply when receiving notifications via SMS.
d. Support. Customer support for the Services is available at http://support.microsoft.com.

Using Third-Party Apps and Services

Using Third-Party Apps and Services. Our Services may allow you to access or acquire products, services, websites, links, content, material, games or applications from third parties (companies or people who aren’t Microsoft) (“Third-Party Apps and Services”). Many of our Services also help you find Third-Party Apps and Services, and you understand that you are directing our Services to provide Third-Party Apps and Services to you. The Third-Party Apps and Services may also allow you to store Your Content or Data with the publisher, provider, or operator of the Third-Party Apps and Services. The Third-Party Apps and Services may present you with a privacy policy or require you to accept additional terms of use before you can install or use the Third-Party App or Service. See section 14(b) for additional terms for applications acquired through the Office Store, the Xbox Store or the Windows Store. You should review any additional terms and privacy policies before acquiring or using any Third-Party Apps and Services. Any additional terms do not modify any of these Terms. You are responsible for your dealings with third parties. Microsoft does not license any intellectual property to you as part of any Third-Party Apps and Services and is not responsible for information provided by third parties.

Service Availability

Service Availability.

a. The Services, Third-Party Apps and Services, or material or products offered through the Services may be unavailable from time to time, may be offered for a limited time, or may vary depending on your region or device. If you change the location associated with your Microsoft account, you may need to re-acquire the material or applications that were available to you and paid for in your previous region.
b. We strive to keep the Services up and running; however, all online services suffer occasional disruptions and outages, and Microsoft is not liable for any disruption or loss you may suffer as a result. In the event of an outage, you may not be able to retrieve Your Content or Data that you’ve stored. We recommend that you regularly backup Your Content that you store on the Services or store using Third-Party Apps and Services.

Updates to the Services or Software, and Changes to These Terms

Updates to the Services or Software, and Changes to These Terms.

a. We may change these Terms at any time, and we’ll tell you when we do. Using the Services after the changes become effective means you agree to the new terms. If you don’t agree to the new terms, you must stop using the Services, close your Microsoft account and/or Skype account and, if you are a parent or guardian, help your minor child close his or her Microsoft account or Skype account.
b. Sometimes you’ll need software updates to keep using the Services. We may automatically check your version of the software and download software updates or configuration changes, including those that prevent you from accessing the Services, playing counterfeit games, or using unauthorized hardware peripheral devices. You may also be required to update the software to continue using the Services. Such updates are subject to these Terms unless other terms accompany the updates, in which case, those other terms apply. Microsoft isn’t obligated to make any updates available and we don’t guarantee that we will support the version of the system for which you licensed the software.
c. Additionally, there may be times when we need to remove or change features or functionality of the Service or stop providing a Service or access to Third-Party Apps and Services altogether. Except to the extent required by applicable law, we have no obligation to provide a re-download or replacement of any material, Digital Goods (defined in section 14(b)(v)), or applications previously purchased. We may release the Services or their features in a beta version, which may not work correctly or in the same way the final version may work.
d. So that you can use material protected with digital rights management (DRM), like some music, games, movies and more, DRM software may automatically contact an online rights server and download and install DRM updates.

Software License

Software License. Unless accompanied by a separate Microsoft license agreement (for example, if you are using a Microsoft application that is included with and a part of Windows, then the Windows Software License Terms govern such software), and except as provided in section 14(b)(i) below for applications available through the Office Store, the Windows Store or the Xbox Store, any software provided by us to you as part of the Services is subject to these Terms.

a. If you comply with these Terms, we grant you the right to install and use one copy of the software per device on a worldwide basis for use by only one person at a time as part of your use of the Services. The software or website that is part of the Services may include third-party code. Any third-party scripts or code, linked to or referenced from the software or website, are licensed to you by the third parties that own such code, not by Microsoft. Notices, if any, for the third-party code are included for your information only.
b. The software is licensed, not sold, and Microsoft reserves all rights to the software not expressly granted by Microsoft, whether by implication, estoppel, or otherwise. This license does not give you any right to, and you may not:
- i. circumvent or bypass any technological protection measures in or relating to the software or Services;
- ii. disassemble, decompile, decrypt, hack, emulate, exploit, or reverse engineer any software or other aspect of the Services that is included in or accessible through the Services, except and only to the extent that the applicable copyright law expressly permits doing so;
- iii. separate components of the software or Services for use on different devices;
- iv. publish, copy, rent, lease, sell, export, import, distribute, or lend the software or the Services, unless Microsoft expressly authorizes you to do so;
- v. transfer the software, any software licenses, or any rights to access or use the Services;
- vi. use the Services in any unauthorized way that could interfere with anyone else’s use of them or gain access to any service, data, account, or network;
- vii. enable access to the Services or modify any Microsoft-authorized device (e.g., Xbox One, Xbox 360, Microsoft Surface, etc.) by unauthorized third-party applications.

Payment Terms

Payment Terms. If you purchase a Service, then these payment terms apply to your purchase and you agree to them.

a. Charges. If there is a charge associated with a portion of the Services, you agree to pay that charge. The price stated for the Services excludes all applicable taxes and currency exchange settlements, unless stated otherwise. The price for Skype paid products includes a charge for the product and a charge for taxes. You are solely responsible for paying such taxes or other charges. Taxes are calculated based on your location at the time your Microsoft or Skype account was registered. We may suspend or cancel the Services if we do not receive an on time, full payment from you. Suspension or cancellation of the Services for non-payment could result in a loss of access to and use of your account and its content. Connecting to the Internet via a corporate or other private network which masks your location may cause charges to be different from those displayed for your actual location.
b. Your Billing Account. To pay the charges for a Service, you will be asked to provide a payment method at the time you sign up for that Service. You can access and change your billing information and payment method on the Microsoft account management website and for your Skype billing account by signing into your account at www.skype.com. Additionally, you agree to permit Microsoft to use any updated account information regarding your selected payment method provided by your issuing bank or the applicable payment network. You agree to keep your billing account and contact information current at all times. Changes made to your billing account will not affect charges we submit to your billing account before we could reasonably act on your changes to your billing account.
c. Billing. By providing Microsoft with a payment method, you (i) represent that you are authorized to use the payment method that you provided and that any payment information you provide is true and accurate; (ii) authorize Microsoft to charge you for the Services or available content using your payment method; and (iii) authorize Microsoft to charge you for any paid feature of the Services that you choose to sign up for or use while these Terms are in force. We may bill you (a) in advance; (b) at the time of purchase; (c) shortly after purchase; or (d) on a recurring basis for subscription Services. Also, we may charge you up to the amount you have approved, and we will notify you in advance of any change in the amount to be charged for recurring subscription Services. We may bill you at the same time for more than one of your prior billing periods for amounts that haven’t previously been processed.
d. Recurring Payments. When you purchase the Services on a subscription basis (e.g., monthly, every 3 months or annually (as applicable)), you acknowledge and agree that you are authorizing recurring payment, and payments shall be made to Microsoft by the method you have chosen at the recurring intervals chosen by you, until the subscription for that Service is terminated by you or by Microsoft. By authorizing recurring payments, you are authorizing Microsoft to process such payments as either electronic debits or fund transfers, or as electronic drafts from your designated account (in the case of Automated Clearing House or similar payments), or as charges to your designated account (in the case of credit card or similar payments) (collectively, “Electronic Payments”). Subscription fees are generally billed or charged in advance of the applicable subscription period. If any payment is returned unpaid or if any credit card or similar transaction is rejected or denied, Microsoft or its service providers reserve the right to collect any applicable return item, rejection or insufficient funds fee and to process any such payment as an Electronic Payment.
e. Automatic Renewal. Provided that automatic renewals are allowed in your state, we will inform you by email before automatically renewing your Services, unless purchased on a subscription basis. Once we have informed you that the Services will be automatically renewed, we may automatically renew your Services and charge you the then current price for the renewal term. We will also remind you that we will bill your chosen payment method for the Services renewal, whether it was on file on the renewal date or provided later. We will also provide you with instructions on how you may cancel the Services. You must cancel the Services before the renewal date to avoid being billed for the renewal.
f. Online Statement and Errors. Microsoft will provide you with an online billing statement on the Microsoft account management website, where you can view and print your statement. For Skype accounts you can access your online statement by signing into your account at www.skype.com. This is the only billing statement that we provide. If we make an error on your bill, you must tell us within 90 days after the error first appears on your bill. We will then promptly investigate the charge. If you do not tell us within that time, you release us from all liability and claims of loss resulting from the error and we won’t be required to correct the error or provide a refund. If Microsoft has identified a billing error, we will correct that error within 90 days.
g. Refund Policy. Unless otherwise provided by law or by a particular Service offer, all purchases are final and non-refundable. If you believe that Microsoft has charged you in error, you must contact us within 90 days of such charge. No refunds will be given for any charges more than 90 days old. We reserve the right to issue refunds or credits at our sole discretion. If we issue a refund or credit, we are under no obligation to issue the same or similar refund in the future. This refund policy does not affect any statutory rights that may apply. For more refund information, please visit our help topic.
h. Canceling the Services. You may cancel a Service at any time, with or without cause. To cancel a Service and request a refund, if you are entitled to one, visit the Microsoft account management website. You can request a refund from Skype using the Cancellation and Refund form. You should refer back to the offer describing the Services as (i) you may not receive a refund at the time of cancellation; (ii) you may be obligated to pay cancellation charges; (iii) you may be obligated to pay all charges made to your billing account for the Services before the date of cancellation; or (iv) you may lose access to and use of your account when you cancel the Services. If you cancel, your access to the Services ends at the end of your current Service period or, if we bill your account on a periodic basis, at the end of the period in which you canceled.
i. Trial-Period Offers. If you are taking part in any trial-period offer, you must cancel the trial Service(s) by the end of the trial period to avoid incurring new charges, unless we notify you otherwise. If you do not cancel the trial Service(s) by the end of the trial period, we may charge you for the Service(s).
j. Promotional Offers. From time to time, Microsoft may offer Services for a trial period during which Microsoft will not charge you for the Services. Microsoft reserves the right to charge you for such Services (at the normal rate) in the event that Microsoft determines (in its reasonable discretion) that you are breaching the terms and conditions of the offer.
k. Price Changes. We may change the price of the Services at any time and if you have a recurring purchase, we will notify you by email at least 15 days before the price change. If you do not agree to the price change, you must cancel and stop using the Services before the price change takes effect. If there is a fixed term and price for your Service offer, that price will remain in force for the fixed term.
l. Payments to You. If we owe you a payment, then you agree to timely and accurately provide us with any information we need to get that payment to you. You are responsible for any taxes and charges you may incur as a result of this payment to you. You must also comply with any other conditions we place on your right to any payment. If you receive a payment in error, we may reverse or require return of the payment. You agree to cooperate with us in our efforts to do this. We may also reduce the payment to you without notice to adjust for any previous overpayment.
m. Gift Cards. Redemption and use of gift cards (other than Skype gift cards) are governed by the Microsoft Gift Card Terms and Conditions. Information on Skype gift cards is available on Skype’s Help page.

Contracting entity, choice of law, jurisdiction

Contracting Entity. For use of free, consumer Skype-branded Services, you’re contracting with, and all references to “Microsoft” in these Terms shall mean, Skype Software S.à.r.l, 23 – 29 Rives de Clausen, L-2165 Luxembourg, and for paid, consumer Skype-branded Services, you’re contracting with, and all references to “Microsoft” in these Terms shall mean, Skype Communications S.à.r.l, 23 – 29 Rives de Clausen, L-2165 Luxembourg. For all other Services, you’re contracting with Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052, U.S.A.
Choice of Law and Place to Resolve Disputes. If you live in (or, if a business, your principal place of business is in) the United States, the laws of the state where you live govern all claims, regardless of conflict of law principles, except that the Federal Arbitration Act governs all provisions relating to arbitration. You and we irrevocably consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the state or federal courts in King County, Washington, for all disputes arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Services that are heard in court (excluding arbitration and small claims court).

Warranties

Warranties. MICROSOFT, AND OUR AFFILIATES, RESELLERS, DISTRIBUTORS, AND VENDORS, MAKE NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, GUARANTEES OR CONDITIONS WITH RESPECT TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES. YOU UNDERSTAND THAT USE OF THE SERVICES IS AT YOUR OWN RISK AND THAT WE PROVIDE THE SERVICES ON AN “AS IS” BASIS “WITH ALL FAULTS” AND “AS AVAILABLE.” YOU BEAR THE ENTIRE RISK OF USING THE SERVICES. MICROSOFT DOESN’T GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY OR TIMELINESS OF INFORMATION AVAILABLE FROM THE SERVICES. TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER YOUR LOCAL LAW, WE EXCLUDE ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING FOR MERCHANTABILITY, SATISFACTORY QUALITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WORKMANLIKE EFFORT, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. YOU MAY HAVE CERTAIN RIGHTS UNDER YOUR LOCAL LAW. NOTHING IN THESE TERMS IS INTENDED TO AFFECT THOSE RIGHTS, IF THEY ARE APPLICABLE. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT COMPUTER AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS ARE NOT FAULT-FREE AND OCCASIONAL PERIODS OF DOWNTIME OCCUR. WE DO NOT GUARANTEE THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE OR THAT CONTENT LOSS WON’T OCCUR, NOR DO WE GUARANTEE ANY CONNECTION TO OR TRANSMISSION FROM THE COMPUTER NETWORKS.

Limitation of Liability

Limitation of Liability. If you have any basis for recovering damages (including breach of these Terms), you agree that your exclusive remedy is to recover, from Microsoft or any affiliates, resellers, distributors, Third-Party Apps and Services providers, and vendors, direct damages up to an amount equal to your Services fee for the month during which the breach occurred (or up to $10.00 if the Services are free). You can’t recover any other damages or losses, including, without limitation, direct, consequential, lost profits, special, indirect, incidental, or punitive. These limitations and exclusions apply even if this remedy doesn’t fully compensate you for any losses or fails of its essential purpose or if we knew or should have known about the possibility of the damages. To the maximum extent permitted by law, these limitations and exclusions apply to anything or any claims related to these Terms, the Services, or the software related to the Services.

Service-Specific Terms

Service-Specific Terms. The terms before and after section 14 apply generally to all Services. This section contains service-specific terms that are in addition to the general terms.

Xbox Live and Microsoft Studios Games and Applications

Xbox Live and Microsoft Studios Games and Applications.

i. Personal Noncommercial Use. Xbox Live, Games for Windows Live and Microsoft Studios games, applications, services and content provided by Microsoft (collectively, the “Xbox Services“) are only for your personal and noncommercial use.
ii. Sharing Limited Account Information. As part of delivering the Xbox Services, we make information pertaining to your gamertag, gameplay, Your Content that you make public, and activity on and usage of any Xbox Service available for the operation and delivery of (a) other Xbox Services and (b) third-party games that use Xbox Services. If you choose to link your Microsoft Xbox Services account with your account on a non-Microsoft service (for example, a non-Microsoft game publisher of Third-Party Apps and Services), you agree that: (a) Microsoft may share limited account information (including without limitation gamertag, gamerscore, game score, game history, and friends list), with that non-Microsoft party as stated in the Microsoft Privacy Statement, and (b) if allowed by your Xbox privacy settings, the non-Microsoft party may also have access to Your Content from in-game communications when you are signed into your account with that non-Microsoft party. Also, if allowed by your Xbox privacy settings, Microsoft can publish your gamertag and games that you’ve played in email to people on your Xbox friends list.
iii. Your Content. As part of building the Xbox Services community, you grant to Microsoft, its affiliates and sublicensees the right to use, modify, reproduce, distribute, and display Your Content or your name, gamertag, motto, or avatar that you posted for any Xbox Services.
iv. Game Managers. Some games may use game managers and hosts. Game managers and hosts are not authorized Microsoft spokespersons. Their views do not necessarily reflect those of Microsoft.
v. Kids on Xbox. If you are a minor using Xbox Live, your parent or guardian may have control over many aspects of your account and may receive reports about your use of Xbox Live.
vi. Game Currency or Virtual Goods. The Services may include a virtual, game currency (like gold, coins or points) that may be purchased from Microsoft using actual monetary instruments if you have reached the age of “majority” where you live. The Services may also include virtual, digital items or goods that may be purchased from Microsoft using actual monetary instruments or using game currency. Game currency and virtual goods may never be redeemed for actual monetary instruments, goods or other items of monetary value from Microsoft or any other party. Other than a limited, personal, revocable, non-transferable, non-sublicensable license to use the game currency and virtual goods in the Services only, you have no right or title in or to any such game currency or virtual goods appearing or originating in the Services, or any other attributes associated with use of the Services or stored within the Services. Microsoft may at any time regulate, control, modify and/or eliminate the game currency and/or virtual goods as it sees fit in its sole discretion.

Store

b. Store. “Store” refers to a Service that allows you to browse, download, purchase, and rate and review applications (the term “application” includes games) and other digital content. These Terms cover use of Office Store, Xbox Store and Windows Store. “Office Store” means a Store for Office products and apps for Office, SharePoint, Exchange, Access and Project (2013 versions or later). “Windows Store” means a Store for Windows devices such as phone, PC and tablet, or any other experience that is branded Windows Store. “Xbox Store” means a Store for Xbox ONE and Xbox 360 consoles, or any other experience that is branded Xbox Store.
- i. License Terms. We will identify the publisher of each application available in the relevant Store. The Standard Application License Terms (“SALT”) at the end of these Terms are an agreement between you and the application publisher setting forth the license terms that apply to your use of an application you download through the Windows Store or the Xbox Store, unless different license terms are provided with the application. Applications downloaded through the Office Store are not governed by the SALT and have separate license terms that apply. Section 5 of these Terms applies to any Third-Party Apps and Services acquired through a Store.
- ii. Updates. Microsoft will automatically check for and download updates to your applications, even if you’re not signed into the relevant Store. You can change your Store or system settings if you prefer not to receive automatic updates to Store apps. However, certain Office Store apps that are entirely or partly hosted online may be updated at any time by the app developer and may not require your permission to update.
- iii. Private Store Experiences. Some business organizations may provide access to a “private store” experience for their employees, contractors, and agents. These Terms do not cover use of a private store (if any); these Terms only cover your personal, noncommercial use of the Stores.
- iv. Ratings and Reviews.If you rate or review an application in a Store, you may receive email from Microsoft containing content from the publisher of the application. Any such email comes from Microsoft; we do not share your email address with any publishers of applications you acquire through the Store.
- v. When you obtain music, video or books directly from Microsoft, the following terms apply: Through the Windows Store and/or the Xbox Store, Microsoft may enable you to obtain, listen to, view, and/or read (as the case may be) music, images, video, text, or other material (“Digital Goods”) that you may get in digital form. The Digital Goods are only for your personal, noncommercial entertainment use. You agree not to redistribute, broadcast, publicly perform or publicly display or transfer any copies of the Digital Goods obtained through any of the Stores. Digital Goods may be owned by Microsoft or by third parties. However, in all circumstances, you understand and acknowledge that your rights with respect to Digital Goods are limited by these Terms, copyright law, and the usage rules located at http://www.xbox.com/usagerules. You agree that you will not attempt to modify any Digital Goods obtained through any of the Stores for any reason whatsoever, including for the purpose of disguising or changing ownership or source of the Digital Goods. Microsoft and/or the owners of the Digital Goods may, from time to time, remove Digital Goods from the Stores without notice.
- vi. Safety Warning. To avoid possible injury or eye strain, you should take periodic breaks from use of applications available through a Store, especially if you feel any pain or fatigue resulting from usage. A very small percentage of people may experience seizures when exposed to certain visual images like flashing lights or patterns that may appear in applications. Even people with no history of seizures may have an undiagnosed condition that can cause these seizures. Symptoms may include lightheadedness, altered vision, twitching, jerking or shaking of limbs, disorientation, confusion, loss of consciousness, or convulsions. Immediately stop using and consult a doctor if you experience any of these symptoms, or consult a doctor before using the applications if you’ve ever suffered symptoms linked to seizures. Parents should monitor their children’s use of applications for signs of symptoms.

Microsoft Family

c. Microsoft Family. Parents and kids can use Microsoft Family to build trust based on a shared understanding of what behaviors, websites, apps, games, physical locations, and spending is right in their family. Parents can create a “Family” by going to https://account.microsoft.com/family (or by following the instructions on their Windows device or Xbox console) and inviting kids or other parents to join. There are many features available to Family members, so please carefully review the information provided when you agree to create or join a “Family.” By creating or joining a “Family,” you represent that you will use the “Family” in accordance with its purpose and won’t use it in an unauthorized way to unlawfully gain access to another person’s information.

Skype

d. Skype.
- i. No Access to Emergency Services. There are important differences between traditional telephone services and Skype. Skype is not required to offer access to Emergency Services under any applicable local and/or national rules, regulations, or law. Skype’s software and products are not intended to support or carry emergency calls to any type of hospitals, law enforcement agencies, medical care units or any other kind of services that connect a user to emergency services personnel or public safety answering points (“Emergency Services”). You acknowledge and agree that: (i) it is your responsibility to purchase traditional wireless (mobile) or fixed-line telephone services that offer access to Emergency Services, and (ii) Skype is not a replacement for your primary telephone service.
- ii. APIs or Broadcasting. If you want to use Skype in connection with any broadcast, you must comply with the “Broadcast TOS” at http://www.skype.com/go/legal.broadcast. If you want to use any application program interface (“API”) exposed or made available by Skype you must comply with the applicable licensing terms, which are available at www.skype.com/go/legal.
- iii. Fair Use Policies. Fair usage policies may apply to your use of Skype. Please review these policies which are designed to protect against fraud and abuse and may place limits on the type, duration or volume of calls or messages that you are able to make. These policies are incorporated in these Terms by reference. You can find these policies at: http://www.skype.com/go/terms.fairusage/
- iv. Mapping. Skype contains features that allow you to submit information to, or plot yourself on a map using, a mapping service. By using those features, you agree to these Terms and the Google Maps terms available at http://www.google.com/intl/en_ALL/help/terms_maps.html.
- v. Government Users. If you wish to use a business account and/or Skype Manager on behalf of the U.S. Government or an agency of the U.S. Government, these Terms do not apply to that use. For applicable terms and/or further information, please contact usgovusers@skype.net.
- vi. Personal/Noncommercial Use. The use of Skype is for your personal and noncommercial use. You are permitted to use your personal Skype account at work for your own business communications.
- vii. Skype Number/Skype To Go. If Skype provides you with a Skype Number or Skype To Go number, you agree that you do not own the number or have a right to retain that number forever.
- viii. Skype Manager. A “Managed Account” is a Skype account that is created and managed by you, acting as an individual administrator of your Skype Manager and not as a business entity. You may appoint additional administrators to your Skype Manager subject to their acceptance of these Terms. You are responsible for all use of your Managed Accounts. Managed Accounts are for individual use only and may not be shared. If you allocate Skype Numbers to a Managed Account, you are responsible for compliance with any requirements related to the residency or location of your Managed Account users. If you choose to delete a Managed Account, any allocated subscriptions or unclaimed Skype Credit or Skype Numbers may be lost and Your Content or material associated with the deleted Managed Account will no longer be accessible by you. Skype reserves the right to cancel Managed Accounts that have been inactive for more than one year. You agree to process any personal information of your Managed Account users in accordance with all applicable data protection laws.
- ix. Skype Charges. Skype paid products are sold to you by Skype Communications S.à.r.l, however the seller-of-record accountable for taxes is Skype Communications US Corporation. Taxes means the amount of taxes, regulatory fees, surcharges or other fees that we are required to collect from you and must pay to any United States (federal, state or local) or foreign government, agency, commission or quasi-governmental body as a result of our provision of Skype paid products to you. These taxes are listed at www.skype.com/go/ustax. All prices for Skype paid products are inclusive of a charge for your product and a charge for taxes, unless otherwise stated. The charges payable for calling phones outside of a subscription consist of a connection fee (charged once per call) and a per-minute rate as set out at www.skype.com/go/allrates. Call charges will be deducted from your Skype Credit balance. Skype may change its calling rates at any time without notice to you by posting such change at www.skype.com/go/allrates. The new rate will apply to your next call after publication of the new rates. Please check the latest rates before you make your call. Fractional call minutes and fractional cent charges will be rounded up to the next whole unit.
- x. Skype Credit. Skype does not guarantee that you will be able to use your Skype Credit balance to purchase all Skype paid products. If you do not use your Skype Credit for a period of 180 days, Skype will place your Skype Credit on inactive status. You can reactivate the Skype Credit by following the reactivation link at http://www.skype.com/go/store.reactivate.credit. You can enable the Auto Recharge feature when you buy Skype Credit by ticking the appropriate box. If enabled, your Skype Credit balance will be recharged with the same amount and by your chosen payment method every time your Skype account balance goes below the threshold set by Skype from time to time. If you purchased a subscription with a payment method other than credit card, PayPal or Moneybookers (Skrill), and you have enabled Auto-Recharge, your Skype Credit balance will be recharged with the amount necessary to purchase your next recurring subscription. You can disable Auto-Recharge at any time by accessing and changing your settings in your Skype account.

Bing and MSN

e. Bing and MSN.
- i. Bing and MSN Materials. The articles, text, photos, maps, videos, video players, and third-party material available on Bing and MSN are for your noncommercial, personal use only. Other uses, including downloading, copying, or redistributing these materials, are permitted only to the extent specifically authorized by Microsoft or rights holders, or allowed by applicable copyright law. Microsoft or other rights holders reserve all rights to the material not expressly granted by Microsoft under the license terms, whether by implication, estoppel, or otherwise.
- ii. Bing Maps. You may not use Bird’s eye imagery of the United States, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia or Japan for governmental use without our separate written approval.

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Bing RewardsBing Rewards

iii. Bing Rewards. Bing Rewards (the “Program”) enables you to earn redeemable credits for your searches as well as through offers from other Microsoft services. A search is the act of an individual user manually entering text for the good faith purpose of obtaining Bing search results for such user’s own research purposes and does not include any query entered by a bot, macro, or other automated or fraudulent means of any kind (“Search”). Microsoft in its sole discretion determines what constitutes a Search that qualifies for credits. Your earned credits, whether through Search or other offers, can be redeemed for items, discounts, or donations to nonprofit organizations (“Rewards”) in the redemption center. For more information see the Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQ”).
- 1. Program Requirements. You need a valid Microsoft account and your devices must meet the minimum system requirements. The Program is open to users who reside in the 50 United States or the District of Columbia and who are at least 13 years of age. Individuals can have no more than one Program account and households are limited to five accounts.
- 2. Credits. Except for donating your credits to a nonprofit organization listed in the redemption center, you cannot transfer credits. Credits are not your personal property, and you may not obtain any cash or money in exchange for them. Microsoft may limit the quantity of credits or Rewards per person, per household, or over a set period (e.g., a day). You may redeem no more than 55,000 credits per calendar year in the Program. Credits earned in the Program are not valid in, and may not be used in combination with, any other program offered by Microsoft or third parties. Unredeemed credits expire if you do not earn any credits for 180 days.
- 3. Rewards. You may redeem your credits by visiting the redemption center or you may contribute credits to a listed nonprofit organization. There may be a limited number of a particular Reward available, and those Rewards will be delivered on a first-come, first-served basis. You may be required to provide additional information, like your mailing address and a telephone number (other than a VOIP or toll-free number), and you may also be asked to enter a fraud-prevention code or sign additional legal documents in order to redeem credits for Rewards. Once you order a Reward, you cannot cancel it or return it for a refund of credits. If you order a Reward that is out of stock or unavailable for other reasons Microsoft determines in its sole discretion, we may substitute a Reward of comparable value or refund your credits. Some Rewards may have age eligibility requirements. You are responsible for all federal, state, and local taxes and any other costs of accepting and using the Reward. Rewards will be emailed to the email address you provide when ordering your Reward, so keep your email address up to date. Rewards that are undeliverable will not be reissued and are therefore forfeited. Rewards are not for resale.
- 4. Cancelling Your Participation in the Program. Microsoft reserves the right to cancel the Program account of a specific user at our discretion. Such cancellation or suspension may be without cause and we are under no obligation to provide a reason. Upon Program cancellation (by you or us) or if the Program is suspended, you will have 90 days to redeem your credits; otherwise, those credits will be forfeited. At the point of cancellation, your right to use the Program and accrue future credits ends.
- 5. Other Conditions. Microsoft reserves the right to disqualify you; disable your access to the Program or your Rewards account; and/or withhold credits, Rewards and charitable contributions, if Microsoft believes you are tampering with or abusing any aspect of the Program or may be engaging in activities that violate these Terms.

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CortanaCortana

f. Cortana. Cortana is Microsoft’s personal assistant Service. Cortana provides information for your planning purposes only and you should exercise your own independent judgment when reviewing and relying on this information. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, reliability, availability or timeliness of inferences and personalized experiences provided by Cortana. Microsoft is not responsible if a Cortana communication management feature delays or prevents you from reviewing or sending a communication.

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Outlook.comOutlook.com

g. Outlook.com. The Outlook.com (or @msn, @hotmail, or @live) email address that you use to create your Microsoft account will be unique to you for as long as your Outlook.com inbox or Microsoft account is still active. In the event your Outlook.com inbox or Microsoft account is closed either by you or by Microsoft pursuant to these Terms, the email address or username may be recycled into our system and assigned to another user.

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Office-based ServicesOffice-based Services

h. Office-based Services. Office consumer-based services, applications, or products (including Sway and OneNote) are for your personal, noncommercial use, unless you have commercial use rights under a separate agreement with Microsoft.

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HealthVaultHealthVault

i. HealthVault. HealthVault is intended for you to store your personal health-related information and information about other people (such as your family) with their consent. HealthVault accounts are not for use by healthcare providers or for any other commercial or non-personal purpose. The information in your account may not always be accurate or up-to-date and should be viewed by any health care provider as informational only. The HealthVault Service does not hold records for healthcare providers or other medical or case management purposes. For example, HealthVault records are not designated record sets as defined under U.S. regulations. If a healthcare provider decides to include any data made available from HealthVault in its records, it should store a copy in its own system. If there is a co-custodian of a record in your account (because one of you invited the other), you acknowledge that the co-custodian has full control over that record and may cancel your access to the record, manage other peoples’ access to the record, and view the record’s data including how and when the record is used. Microsoft does not support non-Microsoft credentials (such as Facebook and OpenID), so HealthVault customer support will not be able to help with sign-in issues for those. If you lose your sign-in credentials, or if the account where you got your credentials closes, you will not be able to recover your stored data. To help maintain continued access, we suggest you use more than one sign-in credential with your HealthVault account. Microsoft does not endorse or control, and is not responsible for, the operation, support, or security of non-Microsoft credentials you may use.

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Binding Arbitration and Class Action WaiverBinding Arbitration and Class Action Waiver

Binding Arbitration and Class Action Waiver If You Live In (or If a Business Your Principal Place of Business Is In) the United States. We hope we never have a dispute, but if we do, you and we agree to try for 60 days to resolve it informally. If we can’t, you and we agree to binding individual arbitration before the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) under the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), and not to sue in court in front of a judge or jury. Instead, a neutral arbitrator will decide and the arbitrator’s decision will be final except for a limited right of appeal under the FAA. Class action lawsuits, class-wide arbitrations, private attorney-general actions, and any other proceeding where someone acts in a representative capacity aren’t allowed. Nor is combining individual proceedings without the consent of all parties.“We,” “our,” and “us” includes Microsoft, Skype (see section 10) and Microsoft’s affiliates and, if you use Skype Pay by Mobile, your mobile phone carrier.

a. Disputes Covered–Everything Except IP. The term “dispute” is as broad is it can be. It includes any claim or controversy between you and us concerning the Services, the software related to the Services, the Services’ or software’s price, your Microsoft account, your Skype account, or these Terms, under any legal theory including contract, warranty, tort, statute, or regulation, except disputes relating to the enforcement or validity of your, your licensors’, our, or our licensors’ intellectual property rights.
b. Mail a Notice of Dispute First. If you have a dispute and our customer service representatives can’t resolve it, send a Notice of Dispute by U.S. Mail to Microsoft Corporation, ATTN: LCA ARBITRATION, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399, U.S.A. (or to your mobile phone carrier at its principal place of business in the United States marked ATTN: Legal Department). Tell us your name, address, how to contact you, what the problem is, and what you want. A form is available at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=245499. We’ll do the same if we have a dispute with you. After 60 days, you or we may start an arbitration if the dispute is unresolved.
c. Small Claims Court Option. Instead of mailing a Notice of Dispute, you may sue us in small claims court in your county of residence (or if a business your principal place of business) or King County, Washington, U.S.A. if you meet the court’s requirements. We hope you’ll mail a Notice of Dispute and give us 60 days to try to work it out, but you don’t have to before going to small claims court.
d. Arbitration Procedure. The AAA will conduct any arbitration under its Commercial Arbitration Rules (or if you are an individual and use the Services for personal or household use, or if the value of the dispute is $75,000 or less whether or not you are an individual or how you use the Services, its Consumer Arbitration Rules). For more information, see www.adr.org or call 1-800-778-7879. To start an arbitration, submit the form available at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=245497 to the AAA and mail a copy to us. In a dispute involving $25,000 or less, any hearing will be telephonic unless the arbitrator finds good cause to hold an in-person hearing instead. Any in-person hearing will take place in your county of residence (or if a business your principal place of business) or our principal place of business–King County, Washington if your dispute is with Microsoft. You choose. The arbitrator may award the same damages to you individually as a court could. The arbitrator may award declaratory or injunctive relief only to you individually to satisfy your individual claim.
e. Arbitration Fees and Payments.
- i. Disputes Involving $75,000 or Less. We will promptly reimburse your filing fees and pay the AAA’s and arbitrator’s fees and expenses. If you reject our last written settlement offer made before the arbitrator was appointed, your dispute goes all the way to an arbitrator’s decision (called an “award”), and the arbitrator awards you more than this last written offer, we will: (i) pay the greater of the award or $1,000; (ii) pay your reasonable attorney’s fees, if any; and (iii) reimburse any expenses (including expert witness fees and costs) that your attorney reasonably accrues for investigating, preparing, and pursuing your claim in arbitration. The arbitrator will determine the amount of fees, costs, and expenses unless you and we agree on them.
- ii. Disputes Involving More than $75,000. The AAA rules will govern payment of filing fees and the AAA’s and arbitrator’s fees and expenses.
- iii. Disputes Involving Any Amount. If you start an arbitration, we won’t seek our AAA or arbitrator’s fees and expenses, or your filing fees we reimbursed, unless the arbitrator finds the arbitration frivolous or brought for an improper purpose. If we start an arbitration, we will pay all filing, AAA, and arbitrator’s fees and expenses. We won’t seek our attorney’s fees or expenses from you in any arbitration. Fees and expenses are not counted in determining how much a dispute involves.
f. Conflict with AAA Rules. These Terms govern to the extent they conflict with the AAA’s Commercial Arbitration Rules or Consumer Arbitration Rules.
g. Must File Within One Year. You and we must file in small claims court or arbitration any claim or dispute (except intellectual property disputes–see section 15.a) within one year from when it first could be filed. Otherwise, it’s permanently barred.
h. Rejecting Future Arbitration Changes. You may reject any change we make to section 15 (except address changes) by sending us notice within 30 days of the change by U.S. Mail to the address in section 15.b. If you do, the most recent version of section 15 before the change you rejected will apply.
i. Severability. If the class action waiver is found to be illegal or unenforceable as to all or some parts of a dispute, then those parts won’t be arbitrated but will proceed in court, with the rest proceeding in arbitration. If any other provision of section 15 is found to be illegal or unenforceable, that provision will be severed but the rest of section 15 still applies.
j. Mobile Phone Carrier as Third-Party Beneficiary. If you use Skype Pay by Mobile, your mobile phone carrier is a third-party beneficiary of your agreement with Microsoft and Skype to resolve disputes through informal negotiation and arbitration. Your mobile phone carrier agrees to do everything Microsoft and Skype agree to do in section 15.

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MiscellaneousMiscellaneous

Miscellaneous. This section, and sections 1, 9 (for amounts incurred before the end of these Terms), 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, and those that by their terms apply after the Terms end will survive any termination or cancellation of these Terms. We may assign these Terms, in whole or in part, at any time without notice to you. You may not assign your rights or obligations under these Terms or transfer any rights to use the Services. This is the entire agreement between you and Microsoft for your use of the Services. It supersedes any prior agreements between you and Microsoft regarding your use of the Services. All parts of these Terms apply to the maximum extent permitted by relevant law. If a court or arbitrator holds that we can’t enforce a part of these Terms as written, we may replace those terms with similar terms to the extent enforceable under the relevant law, but the rest of these Terms won’t change. Section 15(i) says what happens if parts of section 15 (arbitration and class action waiver) are found to be illegal or unenforceable. Section 15(i) prevails over this section if inconsistent with it. Except for Section 15 (arbitration and class action waiver) these Terms are solely for your and our benefit; they aren’t for the benefit of any other person, except for Microsoft’s successors and assigns.
Export Laws. You must comply with all domestic and international export laws and regulations that apply to the software and/or Services, which include restrictions on destinations, end users, and end use. For further information on geographic and export restrictions, visit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=141397 and http://www.microsoft.com/exporting.
Unsolicited Ideas. Microsoft does not consider or accept unsolicited proposals or ideas, including without limitation ideas for new products, technologies, promotions, product names, product feedback and product improvements (“Unsolicited Feedback”). If you send any Unsolicited Feedback to Microsoft through the Services or otherwise, you acknowledge and agree that Microsoft shall not be under any obligation of confidentiality with respect to the Unsolicited Feedback.

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NOTICESNOTICES

Notices and procedure for making claims of intellectual property infringement. Microsoft respects the intellectual property rights of third parties. If you wish to send a notice of intellectual property infringement, including claims of copyright infringement, please use our procedures for submitting Notices of Infringement. ALL INQUIRIES NOT RELEVANT TO THIS PROCEDURE WILL NOT RECEIVE A RESPONSE.

Microsoft uses the processes set out in Title 17, United States Code, Section 512 to respond to notices of copyright infringement. In appropriate circumstances, Microsoft may also disable or terminate accounts of users of Microsoft services who may be repeat infringers.

Notices and procedures regarding intellectual property concerns in advertising. Please review our Intellectual Property Guidelines regarding intellectual property concerns on our advertising network.

Copyright and trademark notices. The Services are copyright © 2015 Microsoft Corporation and/or its suppliers, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052, U.S.A. All rights reserved. Microsoft and the names, logos, and icons of all Microsoft products, software, and services may be either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Any rights not expressly granted in these Terms are reserved. Certain software used in certain Microsoft website servers is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group. Copyright © 1991-1996 Thomas G. Lane. All rights reserved. “gnuplot” software used in certain Microsoft website servers is copyright © 1986-1993 Thomas Williams, Colin Kelley. All rights reserved.

Medical notice. Microsoft does not provide medical or any other health care advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, diet, fitness, or wellness program. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of information you accessed on or through the Services.

Stock quotes and index data (including index values). © 2013 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

You may not use any of the Dow Jones Indexes^SM, index data, or the Dow Jones marks in connection with the issuance, creation, sponsorship, trading, marketing, or promotion of any financial instruments or investment products (for example, derivatives, structured products, investment funds, exchange-traded funds, investment portfolios, etc., where the price, return and/or performance of the instrument or investment product is based on, related to, or intended to track any of the Indexes or a proxy for any of the Indexes) without a separate written agreement with Dow Jones.

Financial notice. Microsoft isn’t a broker/dealer or registered investment advisor under United States federal securities law or securities laws of other jurisdictions and doesn’t advise individuals as to the advisability of investing in, purchasing, or selling securities or other financial products or services. Nothing contained in the Services is an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security. Neither Microsoft nor its licensors of stock quotes or index data endorse or recommend any particular financial products or services. Nothing in the Services is intended to be professional advice, including but not limited to, investment or tax advice.

Notice about the H.264/AVC, MPEG-4 Visual, and VC-1 Video Standards. The software may include H.264/AVC, MPEG-4 Visual and/or VC-1 codec technology that may be licensed by MPEG LA, L.L.C. This technology is a format for data compression of video information. MPEG LA, L.L.C. requires this notice:

THIS PRODUCT IS LICENSED UNDER THE H.264/AVC, MPEG-4 VISUAL, AND THE VC-1 PATENT PORTFOLIO LICENSES FOR THE PERSONAL AND NONCOMMERCIAL USE OF A CONSUMER TO (A) ENCODE VIDEO IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE STANDARDS (“VIDEO STANDARDS”) AND/OR (B) DECODE H.264/AVC, MPEG-4 VISUAL, AND VC-1 VIDEO THAT WAS ENCODED BY A CONSUMER ENGAGED IN A PERSONAL AND NONCOMMERCIAL ACTIVITY AND/OR WAS OBTAINED FROM A VIDEO PROVIDER LICENSED TO PROVIDE SUCH VIDEO. NONE OF THE LICENSES EXTEND TO ANY OTHER PRODUCT REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SUCH PRODUCT IS INCLUDED WITH THIS SOFTWARE IN A SINGLE ARTICLE. NO LICENSE IS GRANTED OR SHALL BE IMPLIED FOR ANY OTHER USE. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM MPEG LA, L.L.C. SEE THE MPEG LA WEBSITE.

For clarification purposes only, this notice does not limit or inhibit the use of the software provided under these Terms for normal business uses that are personal to that business which do not include (i) redistribution of the software to third parties, or (ii) creation of material with the VIDEO STANDARDS compliant technologies for distribution to third parties.

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STANDARD APPLICATION LICENSE TERMSSTANDARD APPLICATION LICENSE TERMS

STANDARD APPLICATION LICENSE TERMS

WINDOWS STORE AND XBOX STORE

These license terms are an agreement between you and the application publisher. Please read them. They apply to the software applications you download from the Windows Store or the Xbox Store, including any updates or supplements for the application, unless the application comes with separate terms, in which case those terms apply.

BY DOWNLOADING OR USING THE APPLICATION, OR ATTEMPTING TO DO ANY OF THESE, YOU ACCEPT THESE TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT THEM, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO AND MUST NOT DOWNLOAD OR USE THE APPLICATION.

The application publisher means the entity licensing the application to you, as identified in the Windows Store or Xbox Store.

If you comply with these license terms, you have the rights below.

1. INSTALLATION AND USE RIGHTS; EXPIRATION. For applications you download from the Windows Store: (a) you may install and use the application on a Windows device or devices that are affiliated with the Microsoft account that you use to access the Windows Store; and (b) the device limit for the application is displayed in the Store or, for some applications downloaded on the Xbox console, the Xbox Live Usage Rules. For applications you download from the Xbox Store, you may install and use the application on Xbox consoles as described in the Xbox Live Usage Rules. Microsoft reserves the right to modify the Xbox Live Usage Rules at any time.
2. INTERNET-BASED SERVICES.
- a. Consent for Internet-based or wireless services. If the application connects to computer systems over the Internet, which may include via a wireless network, using the application operates as your consent to the transmission of standard device information (including but not limited to technical information about your device, system, and application software, and peripherals) for Internet-based or wireless services. If other terms are presented in connection with your use of services accessed using the application, those terms also apply.
- b. Misuse of Internet-based services. You may not use any Internet-based service in any way that could harm it or impair anyone else’s use of it or the wireless network. You may not use the service to try to gain unauthorized access to any service, data, account, or network by any means.
3. SCOPE OF LICENSE. The application is licensed, not sold. This agreement only gives you some rights to use the application. If Microsoft disables the ability to use the applications on your devices pursuant to your agreement with Microsoft, any associated license rights will terminate. Application publisher reserves all other rights. Unless applicable law gives you more rights despite this limitation, you may use the application only as expressly permitted in this agreement. In doing so, you must comply with any technical limitations in the application that only allow you to use it in certain ways. You may not:
- a. Work around any technical limitations in the application.
- b. Reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the application, except and only to the extent that applicable law expressly permits, despite this limitation.
- c. Make more copies of the application than specified in this agreement or allowed by applicable law, despite this limitation.
- d. Publish or otherwise make the application available for others to copy.
- e. Rent, lease, or lend the application.
- f. Transfer the application or this agreement to any third party.
4. DOCUMENTATION. If documentation is provided with the application, you may copy and use the documentation for personal reference purposes.
5. TECHNOLOGY AND EXPORT RESTRICTIONS. The application may be subject to United States or international technology control or export laws and regulations. You must comply with all domestic and international export laws and regulations that apply to the technology used or supported by the application. These laws include restrictions on destinations, end users, and end use. For information on Microsoft branded products, go to the Microsoft exporting website.
6. SUPPORT SERVICES. Contact the application publisher to determine if any support services are available. Microsoft, your hardware manufacturer and your wireless carrier (unless one of them is the application publisher) aren’t responsible for providing support services for the application.
7. ENTIRE AGREEMENT. This agreement, any applicable privacy policy, and the terms for supplements and updates are the entire license agreement between you and application publisher for the application.
8. APPLICABLE LAW.
- a. United States and Canada. If you acquired the application in the United States or Canada, the laws of the state or province where you live (or, if a business, where your principal place of business is located) govern the interpretation of these terms, claims for breach of them, and all other claims (including consumer protection, unfair competition, and tort claims), regardless of conflict of law principles.
- b. Outside the United States and Canada. If you acquired the application in any other country, the laws of that country apply.
9. LEGAL EFFECT. This agreement describes certain legal rights. You may have other rights under the laws of your state or country. This agreement doesn’t change your rights under the laws of your state or country if the laws of your state or country don’t permit it to do so.
10. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY. The application is licensed “as is,” “with all faults,” and “as available.” You bear the entire risk as to its quality and performance. Should it prove defective, you assume the entire cost of all necessary servicing or repair. The application publisher, on behalf of itself, Microsoft, wireless carriers over whose network the application is provided, and each of our respective affiliates, vendors, agents, and suppliers (“Covered Parties”), gives no express warranties, guarantees, or conditions in relation to the application. You may have additional consumer rights under your local laws that this agreement can’t change. To the extent permitted under your local laws, Covered Parties exclude any implied warranties or conditions, including those of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. If your local laws impose a warranty, guarantee or condition even though these terms do not, its duration is limited to 90 days from when you download the application.
11. LIMITATION ON AND EXCLUSION OF REMEDIES AND DAMAGES. To the extent not prohibited by law, if you have any basis for recovering damages, you can recover from the application publisher only direct damages up to the amount you paid for the application or $1.00, whichever is greater. You will not, and waive any right to, seek to recover any other damages, including lost profits and consequential, special, direct, indirect, or incidental damages, from the application publisher.

This limitation applies to:

Anything related to the application or services made available through the application; and
Claims for breach of contract, warranty, guarantee or condition; strict liability, negligence, or other tort; violation of a statute or regulation; unjust enrichment; or under any other theory; all to the extent permitted by applicable law.

It also applies even if:

This remedy doesn’t fully compensate you for any losses; or
The application publisher knew or should have known about the possibility of the damages.

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Covered ServicesCovered Services

The following products, apps and services are covered by the Microsoft Services Agreement, but may not be available in your market.

Account.microsoft.com
Advertising.microsoft.com
Arrow Launcher
Bing
Bing Apps
Bing Desktop
Bing Dictionary
Bing in the Classroom
Bing Input
Bing Maps
Bing Navigation
Bing Reader
Bing Rewards
Bing Search app
Bing Toolbar
Bing Torque
Bing Translator
Bing Webmaster
Bing Wikipedia Browser
Bing.com
Bingplaces.com
Choice.microsoft.com
Citizen Next
Cortana
Default Homepage and New Tab Page on Microsoft Edge
Dev Center App
Device Health App
Groove
Groove Music Pass
HealthVault
Home
Maps App
Microsoft account
Microsoft Family
Microsoft Health
Microsoft Movies & TV
Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant for Office 365
Microsoft Translator
Microsoft Wallpaper
Microsoft XiaoIce
MSN Dial Up
MSN Explorer
MSN Food & Drink
MSN Health & Fitness
MSN Money
MSN News
MSN Premium
MSN Sports
MSN Travel
MSN Weather
MSN.com
Next Lock Screen
Office 365 Consumer
Office 365 Home
Office 365 Personal
Office 365 University
Office Online
Office Store
Office Sway
Office.com
OneDrive
OneDrive.com
OneNote
Onenote.com
Outlook.com
Picturesque Lock Screen
Pix Lock
Send
Skype
Skype in the Classroom
Skype Manager
Skype Qik
Skype WiFi
Skype.com
Smart Search
Snipp3t
Spreadsheet Keyboard
Store
Sway.com
Tossup
Translator
UrWeather
Windows Live Mail
Windows Live Writer
Windows Movie Maker
Windows Photo Gallery
Windows Store
Xbox and Windows Games published by Microsoft
Xbox Live
Xbox Live Gold
Xbox Music
Xbox Store

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Office 2016 licence - all 35,000+ words of it

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