>>>Microsoft may access or disclose information about you, including the content of your communications, in order to: (a) comply with the law or respond to lawful requests or legal process; (b) protect the rights or property of Microsoft or our customers, including the enforcement of our agreements or policies governing your use of the software; or (c) act on a good faith belief that such access or disclosure is necessary to protect the personal safety of Microsoft employees, customers, or the public.
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>Seems to me that's a fairly limited right to access for legal/misuse/safety purposes, not to send you ads for that kinky stuff you looked at yesterday. ;-)
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>In any case we've known forever that "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch" so if service is given away year after year then either it's the Hare Krishnas or the vendor is extracting value by some other means, usually to do with the customer base. So far it's still easy enough to remain anonymous if you really want to, even if you live outside Europe.

Clauses b) and c) place no restrictions on what MS may do. For example, all MS has to do is decide they need to scan your communications to protect their, or their customers' properties and/or rights (whatever they decide that to mean). You have no way to deny that access, short of not using the software, or disconnecting from the Internet.

As for anonymity: an interesting read at http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/02/im-being-followed-how-google-151-and-104-other-companies-151-are-tracking-me-on-the-web/253758/ . Sure, they're nominally tracking you anonymously, but all it takes is for you to enter personal information on any one of those sites, and you can (theoretically at least) be tracked personally by others, if they ever trade information. Even if you never enter personal information, if you're at all a creature of habit, big data can figure out who you are, with either certainty or a high degree of confidence.

Another interesting read at http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/ff_nsadatacenter/ .

The most important thing to remember is, the Internet never forgets.

Remaining anonymous is NOT easy, and anyone who thinks so is a bit naive.