Microsoft recently published an updated Services Agreement that will be in force by the end of this month on September 30, 2023. Among the several changes, some of the major ones include a new "Microsoft storage" section that entails the recent changes made to how Outlook.com attachments are handled. If you recall, this change led to several Microsoft 365 users being unable to send or receive emails as a result of their OneDrive quotas being filled up.
Aside from that, Microsoft also expanded the "Your Content" section under "Your Privacy" in its Services Agreement. This is to elaborate on the user-generated data which also includes those made using the various Microsoft AI services like Bing Chat, among others. This is in addition to a new "AI Services" section it added which has a subsection titled "Use of Your Content."
As is often the case with such services" agreements, the terms and wordings are somewhat vague most of the time, and Mozilla seems desperate to know what Microsoft"s true intentions are regarding this. The firm has been relentlessly attacking the tech giant over on X for the past few days, constantly bombarding it with sarcastic questions and statements about a petition it wants users to engage in.
Here is the list of posts it made on X:
How many experts does it take to fully unwrap @microsoft’s new service agreement? We’ll let you know when we find out All 9 of our experts were unable to determine if #microsoft plans on using your personal data to train its AI, so we need your help
#Microsoft has released a new service agreement for 130 of its products and well, we"re confused. Will @microsoft use our data to train its #AI models? It"s impossible to know if, how and when it could be used. Help us demand clarity. Sign
Hey, @microsoft! Hoping you can help us gain some clarity on your new service agreement. Are you using our personal data to train AI? Because 9 of our privacy experts can’t tell. For those also curious, help us demand clarity and sign our petition here
Here is what the full description on the petition reads:
Ask Microsoft: Are you using our personal data to train AI?
We had four lawyers, three privacy experts, and two campaigners look at Microsoft"s new Service Agreement, which will go into effect on 30 September, and none of our experts could tell if Microsoft plans on using your personal data – including audio, video, chat, and attachments from 130 products, including Office, Skype, Teams, and Xbox – to train its AI models.
If nine experts in privacy can"t understand what Microsoft does with your data, what chance does the average person have? That"s why we"re asking Microsoft to say if they"re going to use our personal data to train its AI.
You can find it on this page on Mozilla"s official website. If you feel the Firefox author has a valid point and a reason for concern, then you can support its cause and sign up for the petition.