Microsoft

​

Microsoft is another major conglomerate, and as you can see from the presence of four distinct services on this list, they are everywhere. Their overall agreement with users is composed of their Services Agreement, Privacy Statement, and Terms of Use. While the full agreement is lengthy, it is relatively easy to navigate to the applicable portions for each service. Additionally, while perhaps counterintuitive, combining all of these agreements into one set of common terms with service-specific sections makes it much easier for the typical Microsoft user to understand because of the widespread integration of their services. For instance, if you have an Xbox and you play online, it is likely that nearly all of these terms could apply to you at some point, so separating them out wouldn't help you much.

​

Representations & Warranties

 

"12. 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."

​

​

Limitations on Liability

 

"13. 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 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."

​

Indemnification

 

As of the 9.15.2016 version of the agreement, there is no specific indemnification provision.

​

Key Definitions

 

While Microsoft does not have a definitions section of their agreement, they have some defined terms listed in each agreement and specific services may have their own set of defined terms in their portion of the agreement. ​

​

• "Third-party apps and services"- Products, services, websites, links, content, material, games, or applications from third parties (companies or people who aren't Microsoft).

​

Sharing Agreements

 

We share your personal data with your consent or as necessary to complete any transaction or provide any product 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 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, transfer, 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 our products, or to help prevent the loss of life or serious injury of anyone; 

operate and maintain the security of our products, 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 microsoft.com/about/corporatecitizenship/en-us/reporting/transparency.

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

​