Watch today at 11a ET to decide: should internet access be free?

Access to the internet is a universal right.

Broadband should be free.

Tech companies should foot the bill.

Discuss.

Today at 11am ET/8am PT, GZERO Media and Microsoft will convene proponents, skeptics, and fence-sitters to debate whether the internet should be free on the next Global Stage event.

Watch here to make up your mind: https://www.gzeromedia.com/globalstage/

  • Melissa Fleming, UN Under-Secretary General (moderator)
  • Jessica Rosenworcel, Acting Chairwoman, Federal Communications Commission
  • Vuyani Jarana, Chairman, Mobax Group
  • Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Director, ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau
  • Vickie Robinson, General Manager, Microsoft Airband Initiative
  • Amaka Anku, Practice Head, Africa, Eurasia Group

Special appearance by António Guterres, UN Secretary-General

Sign up here to get updates about this and other upcoming GZERO Media events.

Tools and Weapons: Paperback out now

Can the world control the technology it creates? The technology sector has created unprecedented platforms for progress, connecting people across the globe like never before. But today's technologies have also unleashed many of the thorniest issues of our time, from cyber warfare to the spread of misinformation on social media, to tension between U.S. and Europe. Microsoft president Brad Smith believes that when your technology changes society, you bear a responsibility for the world you have created. He argues that as technology advances, the work to oversee it—led by both the tech industry and governments—needs to speed up as well. How can today's leaders manage powerful technologies like artificial intelligence and keep up with the demand for new technologies, while also supporting the development of tomorrow's life-changing innovations and meet the global demands of digital sovereignty? Tools and Weapons: The Promise and Peril of the Digital Age from Microsoft President Brad Smith and Carol Ann Browne is now out in paperback with additional chapters and revisions. It presents an insightful and actionable plan to harness the power of today's technology while tackling the threats of an increasingly digitized world. Order it here.

The next chapter of cyber diplomacy at the United Nations beckons

In August, the United Nations (UN) released its most substantial recommendations to date for how governments can secure cyberspace from escalating conflict. The recommendations recognize that international law applies to state behavior online and lists specific sectors that should be considered critical infrastructure and thus off-limits to attack, including healthcare, the electrical grid, education, financial services, transportation, telecommunications and electoral processes. But while this is progress, it is still not enough. The recent deluge of damaging cyberattacks, against everything from oil pipelines to food supplies to aid agencies, and increasingly damaging ransomware attacks on a variety of sectors, demand that we take concrete action that implements and upholds the rules of the road in cyberspace. UN member states must now take these recommendations, coupled with others released earlier this year, and quickly turn them into meaningful and enforceable expectations. To read Microsoft's response to the report, visit Microsoft on the Issues.

Get the latest from Microsoft on the most pressing policy issues

Visit Microsoft on The Issues for a front-row seat to see how Microsoft is thinking about the future of sustainability, accessibility, cybersecurity and more. Check back regularly to watch videos, and read blogs and feature stories to see how Microsoft is approaching the issues that matter most. For the latest, visit Microsoft on the Issues.

Get the latest from Microsoft on the most pressing policy issues

Visit Microsoft on The Issues for a front-row seat to see how Microsoft is thinking about the future of sustainability, accessibility, cybersecurity and more. Check back regularly to watch videos, and read blogs and feature stories to see how Microsoft is approaching the issues that matter most. For the latest, visit Microsoft on the Issues.

Get the latest from Microsoft on the most pressing policy issues

Visit Microsoft on The Issues for a front-row seat to see how Microsoft is thinking about the future of sustainability, accessibility, cybersecurity and more. Check back regularly to watch videos, and read blogs and feature stories to see how Microsoft is approaching the issues that matter most. For the latest, visit Microsoft on the Issues.

Get the latest from Microsoft on the most pressing policy issues

Visit Microsoft on The Issues for a front-row seat to see how Microsoft is thinking about the future of sustainability, accessibility, cybersecurity and more. Check back regularly to watch videos, and read blogs and feature stories to see how Microsoft is approaching the issues that matter most. For the latest, visit Microsoft on the Issues.

Tech support scams adapt and persist in 2021, per new Microsoft research

Each month, Microsoft receives about 6,500 complaints from people who've been victims of tech support scams. But it's not just Microsoft's brand that the scammers leverage; fraudsters have pretended to be from a number of other reputable tech companies and service providers. These scams will remain an industry-wide challenge until sufficient people are educated about how they work and how to avoid them.

To measure the scope of this problem globally, Microsoft commissioned YouGov for a new 2021 survey across 16 countries. Results from the 2021 survey reveal that, globally, fewer consumers have been exposed to tech support scams as compared to the 2018 survey. However, those people who continued with the interaction were more likely to have lost money to the scammers than we saw in our previous survey. To read the highlights of the survey, visit Microsoft on the Issues.

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