Posted by Orlando AyalaChairman of Emerging Markets, Microsoft
In celebration of International Women’s Day, Microsoft is proud to join United Nations Women (UN Women) and artists from around the world to launch a moving and inspiring song and music video, “One Woman.” It celebrates what we all know: to enable the future we want, we must recognize the enormous potential of half of the world’s population – women.
To truly unleash that potential, women must be free from discrimination, including the gender-based violence which is the focus of this year’s International Women’s Day. Up to seven in 10 women will experience some form of violence in their lifetimes. This violence causes more death and disability than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war combined in women ages 15 to 44. Violence against women also comes at a high economic cost, ranging from an estimated US $11.28 billion annually in Australia, to US $32.9 billion annually in England and Wales.
The “One Woman” song aims to galvanize support and raise awareness for this issue. We encourage you to take action and share the song because together we can make a difference by saying no to violence and yes to gender equality.
[Read more...]
Posted by Cameron EvansNational & Chief Technology Officer of U.S. Education, Microsoft
How would you react if you learned that an outside agency came to your child’s school and, without your knowledge or consent, collected confidential data about your child and then used the data they gathered to make money for themselves? Would you be upset? As a parent, I believe the answer is resoundingly “yes.”
In our view, this is unacceptable. We don’t let advertising and marketing representatives come into schools to watch, listen and take away data on student interactions in the classroom so they can market to children, and we shouldn’t let that happen in the virtual world either. Cloud Services providers selling to schools and colleges should be transparent about how they use the data they collect, and get clear consent for the data they collect and use.
Student data and student privacy should not be for sale. Period.
Posted by Richard BoscovichSenior Attorney, Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit
Today, the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice announced a legal and technical operation to take down the Coreflood botnet, using a civil suit for a temporary restraining order against the operators of the botnet and criminal seizure warrants in order to disable the botnet’s infrastructure.
We commend the FBI and DOJ for the action against Coreflood . There is clearly strong public and private momentum in the fight against botnets and the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit was happy to provide technical information from the lessons we learned from the recent Rustock and Waledac botnet takedowns to assist these agencies in their operation.
Posted by Jacqueline BeauchereDirector, Trustworthy Computing, Microsoft
It’s no surprise that kids today are growing up online. They use mobile devices to do their homework, play games, connect with friends, and access the wealth of information available on the Web. Technology gives children access to a host of positive, educational and growth experiences; yet, parents face challenges when they look to monitor what children see online, the people they meet and the information they share.
At Microsoft, we want to help parents create a healthy computing environment for their kids. That’s why we set out to hear from parents about what matters most to them in helping young people stay safer online.
Posted by Samantha DoerrPublic Affairs Manager, Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit
In order to effectively solve difficult societal problems, we must first understand them. With the belief that research can open the door to effective interventions in the fight against modern day slavery, in December the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit and Microsoft Research partnered to release a request for proposals from the academic community to better understand the intersection of technology and child sex trafficking.