Posted by Nancy Anderson Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel
This week the Obama Administration released the nation’s first-ever Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement. Joining Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel in announcing the plan were Attorney General Eric Holder, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke. The plan demonstrates the Administration’s strong commitment to protecting intellectual property and promoting job creation and growth. Microsoft is pleased to support it.
As the Joint Strategic Plan recognizes, “Intellectual property supports jobs across all industries, and in particular where there is a high degree of creativity, research and innovation.” A prime example is the software industry, which has been a remarkable engine for jobs and economic growth. According to the Business Software Alliance, the software and related services sector employed almost 2 million people in the United States in 2007, in jobs that paid 195 percent of the average wage. The sector contributed more than $261 billion to U.S. GDP in 2007, making it the largest of the U.S. copyright industries, and its overseas earnings added a $37 billion surplus to the U.S. balance of trade in 2009.
Posted by Caroline Curtin Policy Counsel, U.S. Government Affairs
A broad-based group representing the technology industry, public interest groups, and the federal government has released a report—“Youth Safety on a Living Internet”—that exploresindustry efforts to make the Internet a safer place for children.
The Online Safety and Technology Working Group (OSTWG) was established by the Broadband Data Improvement Act. Passed by Congress in 2008, the legislation directed the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to create the OSTWG in order to examine industry efforts to promote online safety and evaluate the development of parental control technologies.
I participated on Microsoft’s behalf—along with more than 30 child safety experts from the public and private sectors—in the OSTWG meetings over the last year.
I learned many things during my year with the OSTWG, but one meeting particularly stands out. We invited middle and high school students from Washington, D.C. schools to talk about their experiences on the Internet. Students expressed genuine concern for their “digital reputations” and how unintended consequences of the pictures they post and messages they leave on social networks could potentially affect their ability to get into college or attain a job.
Posted by Pamela Passman Corporate Vice President, Global Corporate Affairsand Ravi Singh CEO of ElectionMall.com
The 2008 presidential election showed how powerful the Internet has become in modern politics. From raising money to communicating with constituents to organizing staff, cloud computing is enabling incredible opportunities and efficiencies. Candidates are increasingly using social media tools like Twitter to communicate directly with voters, and Facebook recently launched a new U.S. Politics on Facebook Page where people can track campaign and political activity occurring on the social networking site. To help campaigns of all sizes leverage the power of the Web, ElectionMall.com and Microsoft have partnered to create Campaign Cloud, a customizable platform of technologies that simplifies the process of building and maintaining an online political presence.