Standing up for every Dreamer

In 2012, the United States created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to protect these young people from being deported. Yet just five years later, the program was rescinded, putting close to 700,000 DACA recipients at risk of being banished from the only home they've ever known. More than five dozen of these DACA recipients at risk are Microsoft employees. These young people contribute to the company and serve its customers. They help create products, secure services, and manage finances. And like so many young people across our nation, they dream of making an honest living and a real difference in the communities in which they reside. Yet they now live in uncertainty.

Microsoft has told its Dreamers that it will stand up for them along with all the nation's DACA recipients. It will represent them in court and litigate on their behalf. That's why Microsoft joined Princeton University and Princeton student Maria De La Cruz Perales Sanchez to file one of the three cases challenging the DACA rescission that was heard on Nov. 12 by the United States Supreme Court.

Read more on Microsoft On The Issues.

How AI is helping prevent the melting of glaciers

We know the Earth is warming. But the extent and the effect of this change is not experienced uniformly across the planet. Parts of Canada, for example, are heating up at a level more than double the global average. The province of British Columbia has around 17,000 glaciers. They're releasing 22 billion cubic meters of water each year. Some scientists even predict that they could have disappeared completely by 2030. There is still much work to be done if we're to understand why this is happening.

One scientist is using AI and drone footage to understand the melting of the glaciers. Dr. Joseph Cook of Aberystwyth University in the United Kingdom, a Microsoft AI for Earth grant recipient, is a glaciologist specializing in the study of Arctic melting. The question of what can be done has yet to be addressed, and whether the melting can be halted and the ice reinstated is still unclear. But the first step towards developing solutions is to gain a detailed analysis of the extent of the problem and its causes, which is what Dr. Cook and his team are working towards.

Read more on Microsoft on the Issues.

New Cyberattacks Targeting Sporting and Anti-Doping Organizations

Microsoft shared this week that the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center tracked significant cyberattacks targeting anti-doping authorities and sporting organizations around the world. At least 16 national and international sporting and anti-doping organizations across three continents were targeted in these attacks which began September 16th, just before news reports about new potential action being taken by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Some of these attacks were successful, but the majority were not.

You can protect yourself from these types of attacks in at least three ways. We recommend, first, that you enable two-factor authentication on all business and personal email accounts. Second, learn how to spot phishing schemes and protect yourself from them. Third, enable security alerts about links and files from suspicious websites.

Visit Microsoft on the Issues to learn more.

Unused TV Frequencies Can Connect Rural Areas to Broadband

The Microsoft Airband Initiative is bridging the digital divide by bringing broadband connectivity to remote communities. One cost-effective method involves using TV White Spaces – the unused frequencies between the signals of existing TV channels, as shown above. Airband, the future of work and several other tech issues are discussed in Tools and Weapons, a book by Microsoft President Brad Smith and Carol Ann Browne. Read about it here.

Igniting Digital Transformation Throughout the El Paso-Ciudad Juárez Borderplex

Every day thousands of people legally cross back and forth between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, on their way to jobs, schools, doctor's appointments, shopping centers and the homes of family and friends. This harmonious exchange has taken place for more than 400 years, uniting neighbors through shared social ties, geography, history and, most importantly, an interlinked economy.

Beyond the people and goods, El Paso and Ciudad Juárez also converge in a cross-border flow of ideas, ambition and aspirations that have shaped the region for centuries. This forward-looking spirit is what attracted Microsoft to the region in 2017, when it launched Microsoft TechSpark to create new economic opportunities and help digitally transform established industries with modern software and cloud services. It's also why Microsoft announced on Monday that it is expanding the TechSpark El Paso program to include Ciudad Juárez and making a $1.5 million investment in the binational Bridge Accelerator. Read more about the TechSpark announcement here.

The Path to Prosperity Through Access to High-Speed Internet

As of 2018, half of the world's population is online with some form of internet connection. The bad news is that, despite this progress, this status quo still puts billions of people on the wrong side of the digital divide. Leaving half the world without access to the electricity of today's age – internet access, and increasingly at broadband speeds – means that existing inequalities, poverty and insecurity will persist, worsen and become increasingly difficult to address.

That is why Microsoft is reaffirming our commitment to global connectivity. Through the new international track of the Airband Initiative, our goal is to extend internet access to 40 million unserved and underserved people around the globe by July 2022. We'll concentrate our efforts to areas with significant underserved populations – initially, Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa – that also have regulatory interest in solving connectivity issues. Read more at Microsoft on the Issues.

Young Scientists Are Leading the Charge on Environmental Change

Climate change will challenge humanity for generations to come. But today's young people are proving that they have the passion – and inspiration – to rise to the occasion. Young scientists around the globe are using Microsoft AI for Earth grants to expand our knowledge of the natural world, putting Microsoft cloud and AI tools in the hands of those working to solve global environmental challenges. Read more about the grantees and their work at Microsoft On The Issues.

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