Microsoft bans Offensive Language; Effective 1st May 2018

[Ink]

Pick a Source:

• Microsoft to ban 'offensive language' from Skype, Xbox, Office
• Microsoft can ban you for using offensive language
• https://gizmodo.com/microsoft-comes-for-the-trolls-with-offensive-language-1824107108
• Microsoft Can Now Ban Xbox Accounts for 'Offensive Language' - IGN *Updated statement*
  
• Microsoft Bans “Offensive Language” from Skype

Summary of Changes

• Updates

Full Microsoft Service Agreement (Updated)

• Microsoft Services Agreement

 

[upnorth]

IMO this will be one of the most interesting updates to follow after 1st May. Thanks for the share.

 

[bribon77]

In that I agree that no one should offend any person. Thanks for sharing.

 

[illumination]

This could be a good thing as long as their perception of what is offensive does not become carried away.

 

[ForgottenSeer 58943]

Who determines what is offensive? Where does it end? They've really gone full on 1984 these days, haven't they? Perhaps some desperation is evident? Glad I do not use any Microsoft services and 'barely' even use Windblows anymore. I certainly wouldn't use NSA backdoored Skype or OneDrive.

Thankfully in the USA we have the constitution, or we'd be in big trouble right now. I do not want this country to become like some countries where you can't even open your mouth anymore without getting arrested.. For example Sweden have ideologically painted themselves into a totally insane corner where it is illegal and criminal to say that there is a problem, let alone state its cause. Swedish law on "racism" is not much different to Pakistani law on "blasphemy".

Corporations can become thought police and suffer the consequences since it's a free market, and there are CERTAINLY better solutions to anything Microsoft can offer without the added baggage and spying.

 

[Arequire]

Before this spirals out of control:

Microsoft has added some clarification to its recent Skype rule changes, confirming that agents from the company will not be watching or listening to your Skype chats, and that infractions will instead be monitored via user reporting.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/microsoft-skype-offensive-language-ban-user-reporting-3435045

 

[ForgottenSeer 58943]

Before this spirals out of control:


http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/microsoft-skype-offensive-language-ban-user-reporting-3435045

This is a clever play on words... Agents 'aren't watching or listening to you', what it cleverly doesn't deny is that your stuff isn't being recorded. Only that when you are reported are you flagged and they review your conversations.

See what they did there?

 

[Deleted member 65228]

It's a good idea for reported messages only, not otherwise in my opinion. If people want to swear in private then they will, as long as it isn't public or directed at the other person in the convo then why care?

 

[Kubla]

In that I agree that no one should offend any person. Thanks for sharing.

Then you might as well ban words altogether because anyone can claim to be offended by any word in any language.

 

[bribon77]

Then you might as well ban words altogether because anyone can claim to be offended by any word in any language.

It's not the words, but the intention to offend
You have to see the context of a writing and you realize if you want to offend or you're just wrong. let's say Hermeneutica.

 

[DavidLMO]

PC BS. Spot on ForgottenSeer 58943 and Kubla.

 

[Arequire]

This is a clever play on words... Agents 'aren't watching or listening to you', what it cleverly doesn't deny is that your stuff isn't being recorded. Only that when you are reported are you flagged and they review your conversations.

See what they did there?

I figured it was common knowledge that Microsoft keeps a record of your Skype chat history. Back when Skype had its own individual privacy policy it clearly stated that all messages were stored for up to 30 days. Don't remember anything in there about about calls being recorded though.

 

[upnorth]

For example Sweden have ideologically painted themselves into a totally insane corner where it is illegal and criminal to say that there is a problem, let alone state its cause. Swedish law on "racism" is not much different to Pakistani law on "blasphemy".

As actually from Sweden and not living under a rock I heard someone else sayed something similar and I asked but never got an answer. It's illegal and criminal to say that there is a problem, let alone state it's cause? And the Swedish law on racism is not much different to Pakistani laws on "blasphemy"? Please share those sources because I'm very curious where this comes from.

 

[conceptualclarity]

Before this spirals out of control:


http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/microsoft-skype-offensive-language-ban-user-reporting-3435045

Oh, how comforting! So Microsoft will empower users to go after each other like sharks with accusations of "offensiveness"? (I was on a once-great website, the Experience Project, that was ruined when they empowered users to remove other users' content. Naturally the vicious were the prime beneficiaries of that change.) When I first saw this I thought it was just talking about use of profanity. But now I think it's about banning widely held political and cultural views that the very politicized West Coast tech culture elite regards as not in line with their norms. Like YouTube banning Dennis Prager videos and using the ultra-partisan Southern Poverty Law Center to screen speech for acceptability, Twitter making invisible the tweets of persons whose politics they dislike, and Facebook changing its algorithm to favor its preferred side in American political debates.

They stink! And alternatives are badly needed.

 

[tim one]

Simply a revaluation of the old and genuine values, too often forgotten in web-social-frenzy.

 

[shmu26]

On forums, you can usually report trolling to the mod. It sounds like this is basically the same idea. You can report trolling. Of course, people tend to feel stifled by the mods, but at the end of the day, their job is necessary, and is appreciated when you really needed help, and got it.

 

[Prorootect]

Yes all this is about politics, sadly!
Orwell described well what is now not only under communist governments, sadly sadly
conceptualclarity wrote:
"When I first saw this I thought it was just talking about use of profanity. But now I think it's about banning widely held political and cultural views that the very politicized West Coast tech culture elite regards as not in line with their norms."

 

[TairikuOkami]

In that I agree that no one should offend any person

That is PR headline for public, the devil is hidden in details. That change applies to all inappropriate stuff ("involving, for example" - so it does not describe everything, MS decides, what is inappropriate, like weed). What is inappropriate changes all the time. People are being jailed for free speech in EU, because it is inappropriate.

“Don’t publicly display or use the Services to share inappropriate content or material (involving, for example, nudity, bestiality, pornography, offensive language, graphic violence, or criminal activity),”

 

[shmu26]

That is PR headline for public, the devil is hidden in details. That change applies to all inappropriate stuff ("involving, for example" - so it does not describe everything, MS decides, what is inappropriate, like weed). What is inappropriate changes all the time. People are being jailed for free speech in EU, because it is inappropriate.

Microsoft is a for-profit organization. If they start censoring or banning normal people like you and me, they will feel it in the pocket. That's the difference between a government and a for-profit org. Governments only care about you every 4 years, when it is election time, and they hope you forgot by then what they did.

 

[TairikuOkami]

If they start censoring or banning normal people like you and me, they will feel it in the pocket.

They will do it quietly, like people blocked on Youtube/FB. Whenever people see on the news, that someone was busted, they think, that he deserved it, they do not really care, as long as it does not concern them. Banning is not an issue, but censoring and reporting people to the police will be, just like FB or youtube started, to stop "fake news". For example, I have Hitler photos on my FB, because he created many good things, but someone might say, that I propagate fascism.

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured...the first thought forbidden...the first freedom denied – chains us all, irrevocably."