Microsoft's File Hosting Cloud service will be heavily integrated for the new Windows 8 and Office 2013. This Policy Primer discusses Microsoft's Services Agreement and the Code of conduct outlined by the software provider. By Alex Quan for NET303 - Internet Politics and Power, Curtin University CC Attribtution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License

2. WHAT’S MICROSOFT SKYDRIVE?
Microsoft SkyDrive is a Cloud Based “freemium” file hosting service that can let
you store any file and automatically makes available for access on most
phones and computers with a web browser (Microsoft SkyDrive, 2012).
By accessing and using SkyDrive you automatically agree to Microsoft Services
Agreement that also applies to “Microsoft Hotmail, Microsoft
SkyDrive, Microsoft account, Windows Live Messenger, Windows Photo
Gallery, Windows Movie Maker, Microsoft Mail Desktop, Windows Live Writer
(the foregoing are collectively referred to as the "Microsoft branded
services"), Bing, MSN, Office.com, and any other software, website, or
service that links to this agreement (collectively the "services").” (1.1)
(Microsoft Service Agreement, 2012)
This sounds fair as using the service does entail you to agree with its terms of
use.

3. Currently Microsoft is offering new SkyDrive users free 7 GB of space
which compares favourably to other main competitors, so what’s the
catch?

4. DID YOU KNOW…
SkyDrive has one of the strictest (and somewhat vague) terms of service compared to
other providers including –
• Prohibiting the upload, post, transmit, transfer of any content it deems offensive:
• Depicts nudity of any sort including full or partial human nudity or nudity in non-
human forms such as cartoons, fantasy art or manga
• Incites, advocates, or expresses
pornography, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity, hatred, violence, bigotry, racism.
• Provides or creates links to external sites that violet this Code of Conduct
(Code of Conduct, 2009)
The code of conduct seems perfectly sound, and any reasonable person would agree
to such conditions since we believe companies should protect users against things
like child exploitation, and inciting hatred.

5. AND IF THE TERMS OF SERVICE OR CODE OF
CONDUCT IS FOUND BROKEN
For those who do not abide by the terms of service than Microsoft:
• “May take action against you including (without limitation) remove your
content from the services, suspending your access to the services, asking
you to refrain from certain activities, canceling your services, and/or referring
such activity to appropriate authorities… we may permanently delete, and you
may permanently lose, some or all of your content stored on the services
and/or we may cancel your services in their entirety (4.2) and have no
obligation to return content to you (4.4)” (Microsoft Terms of Service, 2012).
So when Microsoft finds content which it deems objectionable to its code of
conduct, it could delete your content, disable all services you register with
Microsoft, report to authorities, and have no obligation to return the content to
you.

6. WHICH BEGS THE QUESTION…
• What constitutes vulgarity, profane, or obscene and who makes the decisions with
the content in question?
• How would Microsoft be able to identify such content stored in SkyDrive?
Possibly through automated crawlers designed to identify “nudity” and read your
content in order to pick up key words. I wouldn’t want
No doubt many users will be using SkyDrive’s services to store personal content, and
these may include photos of unclothed new born babies or a holiday at the beach
with everybody smiling back at the camera. Such photos are found in family
albums, and as innocent as they are, may trigger false alarms by such web
detectors.
The problem is exasperated since SkyDrive services are linked to other services such
as accessing Hotmail, Xbox and other Microsoft products, having false triggers
suspending your account can be very problematic.

7. TAKE FOR INSTANCE…
• A Dutch SkyDrive user by the name of “WingsOfFury” lost access to his
Hotmail, Windows Live account, Xbox Live, and the 9 GB content he
uploaded to a private SkyDrive folder. Contacting Microsoft, he was told his
account was blocked as he violated the terms of service but would not explain
what he had uploaded specifically that broke the rules, just that it was related
to files that contained nudity, partial nudity, pornography or links to external
sites of similar content (McCallion, 2012).
• Another example was of a German photographer who had his account
suspended after uploading 4 partial nude photos in which he kept in private
folder and not shared to anyone else (Surur, 2012).

8. So by agreeing with Microsoft’s Terms of Service, Microsoft can block ALL your
services associated without having to explain:
• What the offending files were
• Specifically why they were found objectionable
• The files won’t even need to be in a shared folder
Thus taking away any chance for you, the user, to contest with the decision
made.
You may lose your Xbox account, email access, cloud storage, and any other
services the software giant licenses to you. As the Terms of Service you’ve
agreed to does not strictly mean SkyDrive, but all other Microsoft Services
without limitation.

9. HANG ON THERE’S MORE!
With the new Microsoft Office 2013 being released
• Will be delivering deep integration with SkyDrive and collaboration through its
recent acquisition Skype. Microsoft will give Office 2013 users a free 20 GB of
space upgrade to their SkyDrive
• “Office 2013 defaults to saving documents on SkyDrive” (Bradley & Brown,
2012)
And with Windows 8 scheduled to make its debut on October 26th, Windows 8
local user accounts can be linked to their Windows Live ID directly for seamless
interoperability.
This could mean Microsoft could decide whether or not you have access to your
own desktop login, and services attributed to Office applications if they were to
disable your SkyDrive or Windows Live account.

10. IN SUM…
Giving Microsoft such control to your access to their services can be dangerous.
What if for whatever reason Microsoft decides your files are objectionable on your
private SkyDrive, then you may be kicked out of the whole Microsoft
Ecosystem. Microsoft could suspend your account and restrict
• Your access to your SkyDrive, email, Xbox gaming console records
• Your access to Office application functionality and associated documents
• Your access to associated Live services which may be connected to your
Windows 8 desktop/laptop, Windows 8 tablet, or Windows powered mobile
phone
• All without obligation to reinstating deleted data, nor held accountable for loss
of content and cancel your services in their entirety without explaining why or
what file it was that broke the Code of Code held in your own private
SkyDrive folder.

11. REFERENCES
Bradley, T., Brown, Michael. (2012). Microsoft Office 2013 Preview: Hands On. Retreived 12th
October, 2012, from
http://www.pcworld.com/article/259260/microsoft_office_2013_customer_preview_first_impressi
ons.html
Code of Conduct. (2009). Retrieved 11th October, 2012, from http://windows.microsoft.com/en-
US/skydrive/compare
McCallion, J. (2012). Microsoft SkyDrive accounts suspended for alleged T&Cs abuse. Retrieved
12th October, 2012 from http://www.cloudpro.co.uk/cloud-essentials/public-
cloud/4137/microsoft-skydrive-accounts-suspended-alleged-tcs-abuse
Microsoft Skydrive. (2012). Retrieved 11th October, 2012, from http://windows.microsoft.com/en-
US/skydrive/home
Microsoft Skydrive comparison chart [Image]. (2012). Retrieved 11th October, 2012, from
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/skydrive/compare
Muchmore, M. (2012). Windows 8 and the Cloud: SkyDrive. Retrieved 12th October, 2012, from
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2409155,00.asp
Surer [Pseudonym]. (2012). What what you store on SkyDrive-you may lose your Microsoft life.
Retrieved 12th October, 2012, from http://wmpoweruser.com/watch-what-you-store-on-
skydriveyou-may-lose-your-microsoft-life/