Updates to our terms of use and privacy statement

Your Services Agreement and Privacy Statement made clearer

As part of our effort to improve your experience across our consumer services, we're updating the Microsoft Services Agreement and the Microsoft Privacy Statement. We want to take this opportunity to notify you about these updates. The Microsoft Services Agreement will cover most of Microsoft's consumer online services, including Xbox Live, Bing, MSN, Skype, OneDrive, Outlook.com and Microsoft account. You can see the full list here. The Microsoft Privacy Statement also covers most of Microsoft's consumer products and services.

Simplicity – Many of our customers use more than one Microsoft service, and have agreed to many sets of terms and privacy policies. To make it easier to use multiple services, we've brought together these documents into a single agreement and a consolidated privacy statement that cover most of our consumer services.

Privacy – Our longstanding commitment to privacy has not changed. We remain committed to protecting your data, being clear about how we use it and putting you in control. For example, we do not use the contents of your email, chat, video calls, documents, photos or voicemail to target advertising to you. And as you'll see when you read the Microsoft Privacy Statement, we offer a range of tools that enable you to make decisions about what data we collect. Additionally, we have launched a new privacy dashboard that makes it easier for you to make choices about how we use your data.

Transparency – We are using straightforward language so our terms of use and Microsoft Privacy Statement are easier to understand. In addition, we've put key privacy information all in one place, so that you no longer have to cross-reference several documents to understand the big picture. While this consolidation eliminates redundancies and simplifies the structure of the information, we continue to provide service-specific details to allow you to make informed choices about how you use our services. We've also added some additional privacy information about new features and functionality we'll soon roll out, like those you'll see on Windows 10.

The updates will take effect on 1 August 2015. If you continue to use our services after 1 August 2015, you agree to the updated terms. If you do not agree, you can choose to discontinue use of the services and close your Microsoft account before 1 August. If you are an Xbox Live subscriber, you will be prompted soon to accept the terms when you log in to Xbox Live on your Xbox One, Xbox 360 or at Xbox.com. If you are a parent or guardian, you are responsible for your child or teenager's use of Microsoft services, including purchases. Thank you for using Microsoft services.

Microsoft respects your privacy. To learn more, please read our Privacy Statement. Microsoft Corporation One Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052