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Microsoft To Ban 'Offensive Language' From Skype, Xbox, Office and Other Services (csoonline.com)
According to Microsoft's new Terms of Services agreement, you could get banned for "offensive language," resulting in the termination of your Gold Membership and/or any Microsoft account balances. The changes go into effect on May 1. CSO Online reports: [I]f you and a significant other are getting hot and heavy via Skype, you better watch your language and any nudity because that, too, can get you banned. The ban hammer could also fall if Cortana is listening at the wrong moment or if documents and files hosted on Microsoft services violate Microsoft's amended terms. But how would Microsoft even know if you had truly been "offensive?" Well, that part falls under Code of Conduct Enforcement, which states, "When investigating alleged violations of these Terms, Microsoft reserves the right to review Your Content in order to resolve the issue." Microsoft did add, "However, we cannot monitor the entire Services and make no attempt to do so." I'm not sure that will make you feel better, as another portion states that Microsoft "may also block delivery of a communication (like email, file sharing or instant message) to or from the Services in an effort to enforce these Terms or we may remove or refuse to publish Your Content for any reason."
Really, who uses offensive language on Skype?
The web was built on porn; remove it at your peril. :)
Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
What is offensive is subjective... and some times culture based.
To me the word Microsoft is extremely offensive. So they should block that one right away!
What business would risk putting their documents on One Drive / Office with these terms?
No sane business would.
Between Windows 10 and now this, Microsoft is over for the business world. Over.
Please define "Offensive".
Audience matters. What offends one audience, won't offend another.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
So, Microsoft is admitting that they can read or watch and listen to encrypted connections. Well, with "Legal Intercept" we knew that for some time. I banned Microsoft from my PC years ago in favor of Linux (KDE Neon on Btrfs). If you don't want MS to be your nanny then its time you moved to Linux as well.
Running with Linux for over 20 years!
"Cortana listening at the wrong moment"?? That's so wrong on several levels.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
to not use Microsoft product.
I remember when folks on Slashdot weren't convinced that every phone conversation in the US was recorded, translated to text, and the text indexed and searched for keywords in real-time. Snowden settled that argument. Seems a bit naive to assume that skype conversations don't get the same treatment - heck, if MS is doing it, it would just be part of the servers.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
the "sex trafficking" laws. There are cam girls and whatnot that sell private shows, guess what some of them use? Yea. Microsoft's enemies (Facebook/Google/Apple) helped back this bill.
There's a lot of "OMG THINK OF THE CHILDREN@)(*#)$*" bullshit with this. This is how free speech dies, passing laws based on knee jerks that make people, or in this instance, platforms self-censor rather than repealing the 1st amendment.
And that's why they've been unsuccessful so far, only succeeding in pissing off customers.
English isn't the only language in the world, you know.
In Romanian, "cum" is a very common set of letters and has absolutely no offensive meaning. Alone, those letters mean "how". There's also the word "precum" meaning "just like" or "similarly to".
In the Philippines, "porn" is a common part of the name. There are people called "Wanaporn", "Siriporn", "Pornsak", etc.
India has lots of names containing "Shit" in them, I had a colleague called "Sumana Shit".
I'm currently playing a mobile game which replaces "cum" in chat by stars, it's very difficult to talk to another Romanian player because of the constant "***" showing up instead of words.
Furthermore, people always find new and creative ways of slightly changing words so that a human can understand what's being said but automatic matching has no chance. "Fkc y00" or "Sk me ck" for example.
So yeah, I could say it IS rocket science. Actually, rocket science is more likely to succeed.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
If you use any offensive language anywhere on or near your computer, or store files that have offensive contents, or do anything that's offensive to someone somewhere without even using a computer, Microsoft will withdraw your Windows 10 license and erase all your... I mean _their_, who are we kidding after all... files.
Yeah, this AI revolution will be so great... Only yesterday having automated nannies watching over everyone's shoulders and approving, or disapproving, their behaviour seemed like a dystopian future. Now it seems like it has become a dystopian _now_...