Microsoft announced on Friday, Sept. 11, that it chose Brad Smith to be president. Currently the software producer's chief legal officer, Smith will be in charge of legal, privacy and copyright issues for the company. In the past, Microsoft became the target of a public uproar after privacy vulnerabilities in Windows 7 and 8 were revealed.
Smith has worked for Microsoft since 1993. He has served as general counsel and executive vice president in charge of legal and corporate affairs. He is the first president of the company since 2002. The role is rather administrative and, as such, his impact on development and product creation will diminish significantly. However, Smith remains in control of elaborating the privacy policies.
"Smith plays a key role in representing the company externally and in leading the company's work on a number of critical issues," which include privacy and security, Microsoft said. "He also leads a team of business, legal and corporate affairs professionals spanning 55 countries."
These teams, the company explained, are in charge of, but not limited to, legal work, intellectual property rights, and patent licensing transactions.
How is this important?
Some users only care about the quality of Microsoft's software and ignore the quantity of data that is being collected through it. For them, Smith as president is insignificant. The pool of users who enjoy privacy—and this crowd seems to be growing—might want to stay alert for Smith's decisions. Microsoft has already been involved in legal processes with the U.S. government for its aspirations to collect data from users. At the same time, multiple voices are worried about the privacy issues concerning Windows 10.
As Smith is commanding this area of Microsoft's administration, the company's policies will keep users cautious.
