Microsoft says user content won’t be used for targeted advertising

Microsoft has announced several changes to its Microsoft Services Agreement (MSA), and the most important one is that they have now put in writing that they are not using “people’s documents, photos or other personal files or what they say in email, chat, video calls or voice mail to target advertising to them.”

The MSA covers the following services: Bing, MSN, Outlook.com (formerly Hotmail), OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive), Microsoft account, Family Safety, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Writer, Office.com, Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium, Microsoft Office 365 University, and other Microsoft Office-branded services that link to the agreement through a supplemental agreement.

The company will also be implementing a new Windows Services Privacy Statement that defines how user information is used and protected across Microsoft account, Outlook.com and OneDrive.

The changes will take effect on July 31st, 2014, and current users will be notified about them via email.