-
An Important Step in Advancing Cybersecurity
-
Posted by Scott Charney
Corporate Vice President, Trustworthy Computing
Today I had the privilege of attending an event at the White House where President Barack Obama announced the results of the 60-day cybersecurity review and highlighted the steps the United States Government would be taking to help ensure the security of our nation’s computer networks. This is an important step in ensuring we have a comprehensive and coordinated national strategy for cybersecurity.
...Read More
-
Protecting Your Privacy with Health IT Safeguards
-
Posted by Frank Torres
Director, Consumer Affairs
Last month the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sought public input on guidelines the agency is developing for technologies that companies and organizations should use to safeguard consumers' electronic health records, and on mechanisms for notifying consumers if the privacy and security of their health data is compromised. Microsoft, as well as other stakeholders in the health world, filed comments with HHS yesterday.
In addition to proven security technologies such as encryption, we recommended that HHS support technologies that render data unreadable or unusable to unauthorized individuals. We also commented that when there is a security breach that consumers need to know about, the notice should be sent to the user through whatever contact information the user provides. In some cases an individual may only provide an e-mail address and not a street address or phone number, for example.
Establishing guidelines to keep electronic health records more secure is critical to build consumer trust in health IT and, in turn, to enable the widespread adoption of health IT that will make health care more affordable and effective for everyone.
...Read More
-
Corporate Governance: A Foundation for Restoring Public Trust
-
Posted by John Seethoff
Vice President and Deputy General Counsel
In today’s economic climate, strong corporate governance policies and practices are more important than ever. Sound corporate governance can help restore public trust and solidify the foundation on which a broad recovery can be built.
Last month, Ray Gilmartin, chair of the governance and nominating committee of the Microsoft Board of Directors, sent a letter to our largest shareholders to describe our principal corporate governance practices. A desire to be transparent about our policies was the main driver behind Ray’s letter.
But communication isn’t a one-way street. Our shareholders can always provide their thoughts to the board about corporate governance at Microsoft, and we welcome such input. We recently received a “Say-on-Pay” shareholder proposal from the United Brotherhood of Carpenters Pension Fund for inclusion in our annual proxy statement. It’s a creative variation on the concept of asking that a board adopt a process to allow shareholders to vote on a company’s executive compensation practices. Just Wednesday, Intel implemented a Say-on-Pay policy at their annual meeting.
...Read More
-
Schools, Libraries, Hospitals Should be Top Priority for Broadband Funds
-
Posted by Marc Berejka
Senior Director, Technology Policy & Strategy
originally posted April 23, 2009.
Update 5/21/09: For the past four years Don Means has been a pioneer in the effort to bring the benefits of broadband Internet access to more Americans. Specifically, Don and his organization, the Community TeleStructure Initiative, have been working through the details of building high-speed links to community facilities around the country.
As Google’s Richard Whitt explains in a blog post, Don’s efforts received a nice plug today during a forum hosted by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation. As the post explains, Don’s “Fiber to the Library” program seeks to provide high-speed data connections to each of the nation’s 16,548 public libraries. The estimated cost? About $20,000, per library, according to Don’s calculations.
We agree that would be money well spent.
---------
From 4/23/09: It’s been nearly a decade since Bill Clinton unveiled his plan to “bridge the digital divide and create new opportunity for all Americans.” Since then, government and private industry have made considerable progress extending the reach of the World Wide Web. Yet, in many communities the same challenge remains: How do we harness the Internet to deliver economic and social benefits to all segments of the population, in all parts of the country?
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed by President Obama in February, will help. The bill provides $7 billion to expand broadband Internet access in the U.S. That’s a lot of money, but as the Federal Communications Commission has pointed out, it’s not enough to wire every home in the nation.
...Read More
-
Why hold a hearing in the EU if key decision makers are unable to attend?
-
By Dave Heiner
Vice President and Deputy General Counsel
For as long as I’ve been at Microsoft (since 1994), there has always been keen interest in the antitrust issues raised by the success of Windows.
Interest peaked after we included a Web browser in Windows 95. That design choice led to the U.S. government case against Microsoft, which was resolved in 2002 with a consent decree and court rulings designed to promote competitive opportunities for browser vendors. Today Microsoft’s integration of the browser into Windows is regulated by these rulings, and computer users can choose Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Opera or other browsers that run on Windows.
A few months ago many of us at Microsoft had a “back to the future” moment when the European Commission brought a new case against Microsoft—concerning the inclusion of a Web browser in Windows.
...Read More
-
Working with the White House to Make the “Smart Grid” a Reality
-
Posted by Anoop Gupta
Corporate Vice President, Technology Policy and Strategy
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending a leadership dialogue hosted by U.S. Energy Secretary Stephen Chu and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to discuss the development of interoperability standards for a national “Smart Grid.” Along with executives from leading electric utilities, industry associations and technology firms, I offered my view on what it will take to make the country’s power grid smart, reliable and more secure.
At Microsoft, we believe the energy grid becomes "smart" by injecting software into the various control points in the grid, so that people and businesses have ready access to timely, user-friendly information that can help them make smart choices about their energy use.
We also envision a world where thousands of smart appliances can seamlessly plug into homes thanks to common standards and interoperability frameworks, just as the “plug and play” model allows thousands of devices to seamlessly plug into PCs today.
...Read More
-
Different Business Models, Common Concerns
-
UPDATE: May 19, 2009 – 9:00 p.m. Pacific
Posted by Horacio Gutierrez
Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel
The ALI adopted the Principles in a vote on May 19th. We are disappointed that the ALI did not allow for additional input, and will continue to work with the Linux Foundation and others across the software industry to ensure that any application of the principles does not adversely impact software developers, the software industry or consumers.
...Read More
-
E-skills and Economic Recovery in Europe
-
Posted by Sylvie Laffarge
Director Community Affairs, Europe
If anyone was wondering how badly the global recession is affecting Europe, recent jobs data provide a chilling answer.
More than 20 million Europeans were out of work in March, up 25 percent from the same period a year ago, and the tally could exceed 22 million by the end of the year. In Spain, a stunning 17.4 percent of workers were unemployed in March.
As in other parts of the world, European governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are now anxiously looking for ways to provide jobs and make European workers more employable. As we’ve demonstrated with our support for thousands of community technology skills training programs around the world, Microsoft believes providing people with greater digital skills is an important part of the solution.
...Read More
-
President Obama Cites Microsoft for Innovative Health Benefits
-
Posted by Cecily Hall
Director, U.S. Benefits
Tuesday morning, I had the distinct honor of visiting the White House along with six other business, labor and government leaders to brief President Obama on innovative ways private and public organizations are improving the health of workers while reducing costs for employers.
I was invited to today’s event along with representatives from Safeway, the Ohio Department of Health, Pitney Bowes, REI, Johnson & Johnson and the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union because each of our organizations have pioneered creative and cost-effective health care solutions that President Obama believes hold promise for workplaces across the country.
President Obama asked each of us to share something unique that our organizations are doing that improves health care outcomes and bolsters our bottom line. I cited two Microsoft initiatives.
...Read More
-
Technology Helps Global Authorities Bring Child Pornography Ring to Justice
-
Posted by Tim Cranton
Associate General Counsel
There is news from Edinburgh today of guilty verdicts for leaders of the largest child pornography ring ever broken-up in Scotland. As the BBC News explains, a single image found on a computer led to literally thousands of others, shared through the Internet by at least 200 pedophiles around the world.
...Read More
