As Microsoft shifts their products into the “cloud” generation it seems they have decided that your data is their data. The recent release of Windows 10 has brought attention to their privacy statement which says:

Finally, we will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails, other private communications or files in private folders)[…]

As for the scope, the statement says:

It applies to Bing, Cortana, MSN, Office, OneDrive, Outlook.com, Skype, Windows, Xbox and other Microsoft services that display this statement. References to Microsoft services in this statement include Microsoft websites, apps, software and devices.

That’s Bing on the web, Cortana on your phone, Skype on your desktop, etc. Basically, if you use any Microsoft product that lives in or talks to a “cloud”, there’s no way of getting away from this; is there a rational individual on this planet who would knowingly opt in to such a massive invasion of privacy?

Run GNU/Linux. Run BSD. Hell, even run Mac OS X (as long as you don’t do any iClouding). Just do yourself and stay away from Microsoft products.

For Posterity

While I’m not sure how long this privacy statement has been public or if it has had other iterations, the site currently states that it was last updated July 2015.

As of this writing the text read: