Microsoft’s How-old.net will guess your age, but don’t ignore the fineprint below

Microsoft does not claim ownership of any materials you provide to Microsoft (including feedback and suggestions) or post, upload, input, or submit to any Website Services for review by the general public, or by the members of any public or private community (collectively “Submissions”). However, by posting, uploading, inputting, providing, or submitting your Submission, you are granting Microsoft, its affiliated companies, and necessary sublicensees permission to use your Submission in connection with the operation of their Internet businesses (including, without limitation, all Microsoft services), including, without limitation, the license rights to: copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, translate, and reformat your Submission; to publish your name in connection with your Submission; and to sublicense such rights to any supplier of the Website Services.

So what Microsoft is saying is that by uploading posting, you are giving the company and its affiliates rights on how to use the content, which includes copying, distributing, public display, etc. In short, you’ve granted Microsoft permission to use these pictures.

When Mashable contacted a Microsoft spokesperson, they said that  while creators of HowOld.net won’t store the pictures, it still gives Microsoft the rights to use the pictures. “Developers get to choose how their apps work. The developers of How-old.net chose not to store or share photos for this app. These terms of services are like those of other companies,” the spokesperson said.

So while the pictures aren’t technically stored, Microsoft still has rights to use them because they’ve used their general terms of services.

For users, it is best to avoid personal photographs, like those with a loved one or a wedding, since many will not be too keen to hand over these to Microsoft. Given the vague terms, it would be best to stick with the random selfies to let the site guess your age.