Posted by Fred Humphries
Vice President, U.S. Government Affairs, Microsoft

Continuing the momentum we’ve seen across the country on computer science education, Idaho recently joined a growing number of states that allow computer science courses to count toward high school graduation requirements. We applaud Idaho for taking this important step, which will help prepare students for the jobs of today and tomorrow while supporting American innovation. Under the leadership of Gov. Butch Otter, the Idaho State Board of Education, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna, Senate Education Chairman John Goedde and House Education Chairman Reed DeMordaunt, Idaho has taken a critical step in closing the skills gap and strengthening the STEM pipeline.

According to a recent survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, computer science and economic majors ranked above every other major in terms of securing a job prior to graduation. Computer programming jobs are growing at twice the national average and are among the top paying fields, yet less than 2.4 percent of college students graduate with a degree in computer science. At the high school level, of our country’s 42,000 high schools, fewer than 3,250 are even certified to teach Advanced Placement Computer Science courses.

Fortunately, we are seeing increased momentum at the state level to ensure high school students are graduating with the skills they need to succeed in our 21^stcentury economy. By taking action to allow computer science courses to count toward high school graduation, states like Idaho are working to ensure students have the computer skills, knowledge and experience necessary to thrive. We’re working with state legislatures across the country to encourage them to adopt similar policies when it comes to computer science education.

Through Microsoft’s YouthSpark initiative, we are also partnering with high schools across the U.S. to increase access to computer science classes through our Technology Education and Literacy in Schools (TEALS) program. TEALS places trained industry software engineers into classrooms to "co-teach" with in-service teachers. By partnering with tech companies from around the industry, TEALS helps students learn computer science while also providing them the opportunity to learn about computer science opportunities first-hand.

During Computer Science Education Week, Microsoft joined our partner Code.org to help increase enthusiasm for computer science education with events nationwide. As part of these activities, we hosted Hour of Code events at our retail stores and with our YouthSpark partners across the country, witnessing the delight of students who experienced coding for the first time. To date, 30,606,732 students have completed the Hour of Code and written 1,332,784, 839 lines of code. These numbers continue to grow.

But we can’t stop there.

We applaud Idaho’s action this week to ensure students have the skills they need to succeed, and urge additional states to update their policies. By allowing computer science courses to count toward high school graduation, states can help students gain critical 21^stcentury skills.

To learn more about YouthSpark and Microsoft’s computer science initiatives, click here.

Posted by Fred Humphries
Vice President, U.S. Government Affairs, Microsoft

In two weeks, the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services will start to accept this year’s applications for H-1B visas. As in previous years, demand is expected to outpace the spaces available and many will not be able to get a visa to work in this country. This annual shortfall is again a reminder of the need for Congress to finally pass immigration reform. 

Many voices across the spectrum – including Microsoft’s – have spoken in favor of reform. Two new studies provide further reminders about its economic importance and jobs impact.

Just last week, a report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reinforced the enormous economic benefits of passing high skilled immigration reform legislation. In assessing current legislation in the House of Representatives, the CBO found that the SKILLS Visa Act (HR 2131) would net $110 billion in additional revenue over the first 10 years, and then upwards of $400 billion in the 10 years after that. 

New research released by the Compete America coalition on Thursday shows that, based on conservative estimates, the U.S. economy will miss out on the creation of 500,000 new jobs this year because of the inadequacy of annual U.S. visa limits. That is an average of 2,000 U.S. jobs not created every business day. Jobs are lost because American companies cannot hire talent (which they’ve often already recruited) through the H-1B visa program and because the potential jobs spurred by the dynamism of these high skilled immigrants’ contributions will not materialize.

Immigrants have long been a key part of America’s talent pool, which provides the foundation of innovation. Our success at attracting the greatest talent has helped us become a global innovation leader, enriched our culture, and created economic opportunities for all Americans. 

The bottom line is that every day America is open for business, restrictive skilled-immigration policy that fails to reflect the demands of the modern economy is costing U.S. jobs. The economic imperative for the Congress to act now to boost jobs and U.S. productivity could not be clearer. We hope the Congress will heed these signals and move forward with bipartisan immigration reform legislation this year.

Posted by Frederick S. Humphries Jr.
Vice President of U.S. Government Affairs, Microsoft

People from around the world are increasingly coming together to call for increased reform of government surveillance, and Microsoft sees Tuesday’s effort as a broad demonstration of that growing momentum. At Microsoft, we believe further reform is essential for our customers, our company and society at large – not only to help ensure the right balance between privacy and security, but to demonstrate our understanding that without liberty, we do not have security. 

While some recent progress has been made, such as increased availability of information on FISA/NSL requests, there is still much more to be done. For our own part, Microsoft is taking strong measures to support this goal, including strengthening encryption, increasing legal protections for customers and expanding transparency of our code – but technology industry efforts are not a substitute for government reform, and Microsoft shares the public’s concern regarding recent media reports about government access to data outside of legal process.

We believe it is time for an international convention on government access to data, and have joined with others across the industry to provide clear recommended principles for government surveillance reform at ReformGovernmentSurveillance.com. Microsoft will continue to push for policy and technical progress to restore public trust in technology through increased transparency, rigor, limits and oversight, as well as through greater coordination between governments.

In short, people won’t use technology they don’t trust. Governments have put this trust at risk, and governments need to help restore it. Microsoft will keep advocating for change until that day comes, and in the meantime will continue to take direct action to protect our customers.

Posted by Frederick S. Humphries Jr.
Vice President of U.S. Government Affairs, Microsoft

On Thursday, Microsoft joined a nationwide day of action to call for an update to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). We are asking Congress to codify what courts and service providers across the U.S. are already doing: require all law enforcement to obtain a warrant before demanding access to the contents of customer communications or documents customers store in the cloud. Microsoft has long supported reform of ECPA, is an active member of the Digital Due Process Coalition, and has testified before Congress on the importance of striking a better balance between privacy and the needs of law enforcement.

As people and organizations increasingly store personal information in the cloud—and rely on the free flow and exchange of information online—protecting privacy is critical to enabling trust in technology and advancing the benefits of the Internet. Our goal is simple: the law should treat data stored in the cloud as closely as possible to data that we previously stored in our homes or in our offices. The public reasonably believes that their personal and business data and communications should be protected by the 4th Amendment. The fact that we use new technological means to communicate or store that information should not diminish the legal protections afforded to it. Therefore, law enforcement should be required to get a warrant before demanding disclosure of contents—whether stored in the cloud or not.

This principle has already been recognized by U.S. courts. Based on a widely accepted federal court decision, Microsoft already demands a warrant before it will disclose any customer data to law enforcement, and many others across the technology industry do the same. In other words, updating ECPA to require law enforcement to get a warrant for any customer content—which includes things you upload to, store on, or transmit through the services, such as data, documents, photos, videos, email and instant messages—will lock in the legal protections already being afforded to this information by companies like Microsoft.

While there is broad bipartisan support for modernizing ECPA to ensure that law enforcement can never demand access to cloud-based data without a warrant, some have suggested that civil enforcement agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission, Internal Revenue Service and Securities and Exchange Commission may need a different rule. However, these agencies already have adequate tools to obtain the information needed for their investigations. Just like criminal law enforcement authorities, they can require service providers to preserve that information. Any effort to grant exceptions to civil enforcement agencies is not only unnecessary, but would undermine what we believe to be a constitutional mandate.

It is time for the President to join hundreds of tech companies, startups, advocates and members of Congress by supporting this common-sense, long-overdue effort to solidify existing legal protections for our online privacy rights. Help us to ensure that the law clearly states that all law enforcement agencies need a warrant before demanding our digital data without exception by signing this petition to the White House.

Posted by Fred Humphries
Vice President, U.S. Government Affairs, Microsoft

At the White House Conference on Mental Health earlier this year, President Obama urged Americans to focus on ways we can all work together to increase awareness about mental health and reduce the stigma often associated with seeking mental health care.

In response to the White House call for action, Microsoft and the American Psychological Association (APA) are partnering to create a series of Skype in the classroom lessons for elementary and secondary school students.

Beginning in January, the program will provide an opportunity for students to learn from – and talk with – psychologists and other nationally recognized mental health experts as well as community-based mental health providers about subjects ranging from depression and anxiety to anger and resilience. Skype in the classroom will provide Skype video call connections for presentations by APA member psychologists at the invitation of the classroom teacher. The program will raise students’ awareness of the mental health issues, help students understand that resources are available and encourage young Americans to talk more comfortably about these issues.

Nearly 70,000 teachers around the world use Skype in the classroom to bring experts to their students. Through our partnership with APA, we will make what is expected to be nearly 100 or more mental health experts available to talk with students in their classrooms via Skype. APA will design the lesson plans for their psychologist members to use as a guide in their discussions with students.

Combatting the stigma around mental health issues is an extraordinary challenge in our society, and we applaud the Administration’s efforts to elevate the conversation to a national level. By launching the alliance between APA and Skype in the classroom, we hope to do our part to shine a spotlight on mental health resources, and to help make it easier for Americans of all ages to seek help when needed.

For more information, you can visit mentalhealth.gov.