Posted by John SeethoffVice President & Deputy General Counsel, Microsoft
Charles H. Noski has been a Microsoft director since 2003. He recently sat down for an interview for another installment of our profiles on Microsoft’s Channel 9 featuring our board of directors.
In his interview, Mr. Noski discusses his background, what it’s like to be a member of the Microsoft board, and offers a behind the scenes view of how the board operates.
Posted by Reid KuhnPartner Group Program Manager, Windows Phone Engineering Team, Microsoft
There continues to be a high level of public interest in how and why companies collect Wi-Fi access point information. Windows Phone division president Andy Lees recently talked about the privacy principles that were used in designing location-based services on Windows Phone 7. As part of our ongoing commitment to consumer privacy, we are taking an additional step to provide even more transparency about how we gather information through managed driving to provide location-based services.
Today, Microsoft is sharing relevant portions of the source code for our managed driving data collection software to provide those interested an opportunity to review the code we use for collection of such information. The source code is hosted on the MSDN web site. The source code demonstrates both the type and amount of data we collect when surveying Wi-Fi access points through managed driving.
Posted by Brendon LynchChief Privacy Officer, Microsoft
As we engage with people around the world, it is clear that privacy issues are top of mind for consumers, businesses, governments and policymakers. It seems like every day there is a new story highlighting concerns related to the collection, use and protection of personal data. Legislators and regulators are carefully monitoring the landscape, and actively exploring ways to protect consumers’ privacy. Meanwhile, consumers are getting more engaged, and asking important questions about how data is protected.
To advance this discussion, Microsoft is launching a series of privacy conversations at our Innovation & Policy Center in Washington, D.C. Microsoft has a longstanding commitment to privacy, and works hard to earn the trust of customers around the world by, in part, developing and adopting meaningful privacy practices.
Posted by Brad SmithGeneral Counsel & Senior Vice President, Legal & Corporate Affairs, Microsoft
Today, I had the opportunity to discuss the need for education and high-skilled immigration reform when I testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security at a hearing on “The Economic Imperative for Immigration Reform.”
The essence of my testimony is that while we undoubtedly have a jobs problem in this country, closer analysis shows it is also a talent and skills problem. In a world where jobs follow talent, we need to increase the skills of the American workforce if we are to succeed economically.
Education is clearly a priority. Today, we face a dual unemployment rate. The Bureau of Labor Statistics last month estimated that the unemployment rate for individuals with a college degree or more is only 4.4 percent. For those individuals with only a high school diploma, the unemployment rate is 10 percent. And the problem may get worse. According to a recent Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce study, between 1973 and 2008, the share of jobs in the U.S. economy that required postsecondary education rose from 28 percent to 59 percent. This share is projected to rise to 63 percent by 2018. The same study shows that by 2018 we are likely to fall short on the number of college graduates our economy needs. We have a skills gap.
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Posted by Jeff MeisnerEditor, Microsoft on the Issues Blog
Recognizing it will take all of us…schools, parents, guardians, foundations, governments and corporate partners to meet the challenges facing our kids today…we are honored to be invited this afternoon to meet with President Obama, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Senior White House Advisors, and industry leaders, for a roundtable discussion on education reform. We are hopeful that gatherings such as this will continue to elevate the conversation and remind us all that providing every child a quality educational experience must be a right of this country, not a privilege.