New Terms & Services for May 1, 2018

So apparently Microsoft can now ban your account for ‘offensive language’ even on privately held Skype chats, private XBox messaging, privately held(non-shared) Office documents, etc… So don’t dare use the f-word in a novel you’re writing and storing on OneDrive, because Microsoft will now ban your account.

Also if you and your buddy have a Skype chat and use f-bombs or racial slurs that are perfectly fine with each other, MS will ban BOTH your accounts.

Thought police is so 2018.

Conversation 10 comments

  • offTheRecord

    29 March, 2018 - 3:40 pm

    <p>Almost certainly, this is being driven by increasing regulatory crackdown on "hate speech." Many countries are starting to require online service providers to actively police content, unlike in the past. It will be interesting to see how much of this is for real and how much is for show. I know Germany has a new law that is being aggressively enforced this year and even some politicians have been flagged on Twitter for hate speech. The fines are pretty hefty and I'm sure companies are taking notice.</p><p><br></p><h3><a href="Germany starts enforcing hate speech law – BBC News" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 153);">Germany starts enforcing hate speech law – BBC News</a></h3><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 33);">www.bbc.com/news/technology-42510868</span></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

  • TheJoeFin

    Premium Member
    29 March, 2018 - 4:02 pm

    <p>Let's wait and see if people get banned, then freak out about it. Terms of Service always have a bunch of crazy stuff to protect companies from liability. I really would like to see someone put this to the test and try to get banned. Maybe this is an experiment readers of Thurrott.com could try. How could we test this?</p>

    • skane2600

      29 March, 2018 - 4:16 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#257552"><em>In reply to TheJoeFin:</em></a></blockquote><p>If you know any online abusers, you could recommend it to them. It might end up being a public service.</p>

      • TheJoeFin

        Premium Member
        29 March, 2018 - 4:41 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#257558"><em>In reply to skane2600:</em></a></blockquote><p>Could we set up new Microsoft accounts and share/communicate content which would be inappropriate but not law-breaking and see if you get banned.</p>

        • skane2600

          29 March, 2018 - 4:47 pm

          <blockquote><a href="#257563"><em>In reply to TheJoeFin:</em></a></blockquote><p>I'm not really into inappropriate communications, besides I'd have to dig out my Skype password that I haven't used in years.</p>

  • skane2600

    29 March, 2018 - 4:14 pm

    <p>I doubt that Microsoft is going scan every document or monitor every Skype chat looking for f-bombs. Unless your brain is permanently wired to OneDrive you needn't worry about "thought police". </p>

  • Bob Nelson

    29 March, 2018 - 5:27 pm

    <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">&nbsp;"privately held(non-shared) Office documents"</span></p><p><br></p><p>I password protect every word document I upload to onedrive. Are you saying MS has the ability to "break into" my docs and scan the content?</p><p><br></p><p>If that's true, I'm done with the cloud. It's local backup only for me at that point. </p><p><br></p>

  • tdemerse

    29 March, 2018 - 5:37 pm

    <p>When you read the new terms, the only time that this comes up is as follows:</p><p><br></p><p class="ql-indent-1">iv. Don’t publicly display or use the Services to share any inappropriate content or other material (involving, for example, nudity, bestiality, pornography, offensive language, graphic violence or criminal activity).</p><p class="ql-indent-1"><br></p><p>With the context of the section that the new wording applies to, it very much appears to apply to publicly shared content. I think they worded the change-log poorly, but I think there has been an overreaction to this change.</p>

  • hrlngrv

    Premium Member
    29 March, 2018 - 5:45 pm

    <p>Re offensive language, would that mean literary discussion of <em>Huckleberry Finn</em> would trigger this?</p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Could any fans of Cleveland's baseball team or DC's football team be able to mention those teams' names?</span></p><p>AI may be able to manage fine distinctions, but something tells me MSFT would be using simplistic literal text matching against a list of naughty words.</p><p>Where's George Carlin when we need him?!</p>

  • Paul Thurrott

    Premium Member
    29 March, 2018 - 6:00 pm

    <p>There is no chance I dont get kicked off Skype. You think I'm bad in public…</p>

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