Mobile Devices

Most of us grow up thinking that the things we buy and store online are ours. Games, apps, files, even the email addresses tied to our names. But big tech companies like Microsoft remind us that nothing in their ecosystem really belongs to us. Recently, Microsoft suspended my Outlook account. They claimed that my OneDrive contained “child porn.”  Let me be clear: I download adult videos from the open web. I am not a pedophile. Yet Microsoft’s algorithms, terms of service, and opaque enforcement systems flagged my content as illegal, locked me out of my account, and informed me that I cannot appeal for six months. When you use Microsoft services, you’re not really buying a product; you’re renting access. Their terms give them permission to scan files on your computer, in your cloud storage, and across your account. The moment something doesn’t fit their rules, they can revoke everything: your email, your purchased games, even the apps you’ve paid for. Microsoft’s policy is blun...