Microsoft hell-bent to protect customers' data: Satya Nadella

At a time when data privacy is making headlines the world over, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Monday reiterated that the company is determined to ensure consumers' data and is building secure solutions towards preserving data privacy.

Delivering the keynote address here on the first day of Microsoft's "Build 2018" developers' conference, he said it is the job of the tech industry to build customers' trust in technology.

"We have the responsibility to ensure that the new-age technology is empoweing everyone, creating equitable growth for all while creating employment on the global scale," Nadella told the gathering of over 6,000 developers.

Amid increasing data breaches like the massive Facebook data scandal, tech giants are today busy deliberating on how to ensure privacy and security for the users.

"Customers must be in control of their data. It is our collective responsibility to keep the data safe," the Microsoft CEO emphasised.

As the European Union (EU) prepares to introduce the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on May 25 to harmonise data privacy laws, Nadella said engineers at Microsoft are working round the clock to build GDPR-compliant solutions.

"Choices we make today are going to define the future. We at Microsoft have enshrined principles to preserve human rights. GDPR is a sound regulation and we will be GDPR-compliant by the end of this month," Nadella said, adding that no other company than Microsoft has done more to legitimately protect their customers' data.

After four years of debate, the GDPR was finally approved by the EU Parliament on April 14, 2016. Organisations that fail to comply with the new regulation may face hefty fines.

On Artificial Intelligence (AI), Nadella said he believes in a privacy-preserving AI.

"We are working on the AI technology across the domains with encrypted data as we can only, collectively, make ethical AI choices," he said.

"With over 50 regions, Azure is now the world's computer -- more than any other Cloud provider," Nadella said.

Driven by consistent growth in its Office and Cloud offerings, Microsoft posted revenue of $26.8 billion and net income of $7.4 billion in its third quarter that ended on March 31 this year.

The Azure Cloud offering had 93 per cent revenue growth.

(Nishant Arora is in Redmond on an invitation from Microsoft. He can be contacted at nishant.a@ians.in)

--IANS

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