Brad Smith, General Counsel & Senior Vice President, Microsoft
November 3, 2005
Overview | Audio/Video | Biography | Microsoft Press Release
Brad Smith, General Counsel and Senior Vice President, Microsoft, was the featured guest speaker at the 2004 Internet Caucus Advisory Committee Speakers Series event on Thursday, November 3, 2005.
The Speaker Series luncheon featured introductory remarks from Lee Rainie, Founding Director, Pew Internet & American Life Project. Lee introduced guests of the Internet Caucus Advisory Committee to privacy as a context-related value, in which he explained that people will "disclose information about themselves to receive something of value." The Pew Internet & American Life Project produces reports that explore the impact of the Internet on families, communities, work and home, daily life, education, health care, and civic and political life. A recent report showed that 68% of American adults use the Internet and 87% of teens are going online. Pew reports have shown that growing consumer concern over spam and other security issues has led to decreased confidence in the Internet, with 29% of Internet users saying that they have lowered their use of e-mail and other services because they are so concerned about spam. In addition, two-thirds of American Internet users (93 million people) have had some type of trouble with their computer that they did not understand. Lee explained that Americans want preferences and better education, coupled with new technology tools and better enforcement. Ultimately he says consumers want a greater sense of control over their information and how it is used.
Mr. Smith spoke to the Congressional Internet Caucus and outlined a framework for a federal approach to consumer privacy protection, which was a timely topic given past data security breaches and congressional efforts to pass legislation in that area. As Microsoft's chief legal strategist, Mr. Smith addressed the importance of moving federal consumer protection laws to provide enhanced online safety and security. He explained the need for a federal approach to consumer privacy legislation in the context of three prevalent concerns, including:
- Rapidly growing consumer privacy concerns have decreased consumer confidence and led to a decline in online activities, including electronic commerce.
- Concern over problems that occur on a day-to-day basis, such as hacker attacks, moving data, and data loss.
- The patchwork of state laws that have created inconsistent requirements and led to greater confusion.
As General Counsel and Senior Vice President for Microsoft, Mr. Smith is responsible for all of Microsoft's legal work and for government, industry, and community affairs. Mr. Smith has taken a leading role on public policy issues including those involving intellectual property and competition law, and has led efforts to revise the company's contracts to make them more customer-friendly, while also strengthening Microsoft's legal compliance programs, issuing new Standards of Business Conduct for all Microsoft employees and creating a new Office of Legal Compliance. In 2002 he was responsible for negotiating agreements with the Federal Trade Commission and European Commission covering privacy and security requirements for the company's Passport online-authentication service. Mr. Smith has also spearheaded Microsoft's global campaigns to bring enforcement actions against those engaged in illegal spamming, virus creation, and software counterfeiting.
Past speakers of the Internet Caucus Advisory Committee Speaker Series include: Internet founding fathers such as Vint Cerf, Tim Berners-Lee and Marty Cooper as well as industry leaders like Bill Gates, Michael Eisner and Meg Whitman.
This event is hosted in conjunction with the Internet Caucus and its Co-Chairs, Senators Burns (R-MT) and Leahy (D-VT) and Congressmen Goodlatte (R-VA) and Boucher (D-VA).