RSS: Microsoft on the issues

Starting today, Microsoft is inviting applications for its newest Council for Digital Good, an 18-month engagement program for U.S. teens focused on understanding, recognizing and reducing digital risks and promoting safer, healthier and more respectful online interactions. The council experience offers teens and Microsoft a way to discuss online safety topics of interest and concern,... The post Microsoft launches 2021 Council for Digital Good appeared first on Microsoft On the Issues.

Today, I’m sharing continued progress in our work to notify our enterprise customers when the U.S. government seeks access to their data. We don’t receive many U.S. requests for enterprise customer data, but when we do, they sometimes come with secrecy orders. As we have previously shared, we strongly believe our customers own their data... The post Continued progress and support in fighting secrecy orders appeared first on Microsoft On the Issues.

Just over a year and a half ago, I wrote about the broadband gap, calling attention to the urgent need for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to update their approach to gathering and reporting broadband mapping data. At the time, we knew very clearly that the FCC was vastly undercounting the number of Americans without... The post Thanks to Congress, the FCC can now update America’s broadband maps appeared first on Microsoft On the Issues.

A growing industry of companies called private-sector offensive actors – or PSOAs – is creating and selling cyberweapons that enable their customers to break into people’s computers, phones and internet-connected devices. Now, one of these 21st-century mercenaries, called the NSO Group, is attempting to cloak itself in the legal immunity afforded its government customers, which... The post Cyber mercenaries don’t deserve immunity appeared first on Microsoft On the Issues.

Since the launch of Microsoft’s formal pro bono program 17 years ago, our employees have engaged in a diverse range of pro bono activities around the world. The strength of our program is fueled by our employees’ commitment to helping others through pro bono service. Today, we are publishing our Microsoft 2020 Pro Bono Report,... The post Sustaining pro bono services during the pandemic with technical innovation appeared first on Microsoft On the Issues.

The final weeks of a challenging year have proven even more difficult with the recent exposure of the world’s latest serious nation-state cyberattack. This latest cyber-assault is effectively an attack on the United States and its government and other critical institutions, including security firms. It illuminates the ways the cybersecurity landscape continues to evolve and... The post A moment of reckoning: the need for a strong and global cybersecurity response appeared first on Microsoft On the Issues.

Click here to load media There’s no doubt that most of us across the Puget Sound region are anxious to put the difficulties of 2020 behind us. As we approach the end of December, we look forward to the new year with a mixture of optimism and concern – optimism about spreading vaccines and concerns... The post Microsoft commits more than $110M in additional support for nonprofits, workers and schools in Washington state appeared first on Microsoft On the Issues.

For more than two years, a bipartisan group of members of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House have been working on legislation that will accelerate research and offer insights that will help save children’s lives. As a parent who lost a child to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), and as a data analytics officer who... The post Accelerating research and insights to save children’s lives appeared first on Microsoft On the Issues.

Today, Microsoft is sharing information and issuing guidance about increased activities from a sophisticated threat actor that is focused on high value targets such as government agencies and cybersecurity companies. We believe this is nation-state activity at significant scale, aimed at both the government and private sector. While we aren’t sharing any details specific to... The post Important steps for customers to protect themselves from recent nation-state cyberattacks appeared first on Microsoft On the Issues.

The invention of differential privacy was ahead of its time. The technology, pioneered by Microsoft researchers 15 years ago, makes it possible to extract useful insights from datasets, while safeguarding the privacy of the individuals included in the data. What was needed to realize its full potential? The marriage of cloud computing and artificial intelligence... The post How differential privacy enhances Microsoft’s privacy and security tools: SmartNoise Early Adopter Acceleration Program Launched appeared first on Microsoft On the Issues.