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Microsoft's President Brad Smith is calling for a Digital Geneva Convention:
Microsoft is calling for a Digital Geneva Convention, as global tensions over digital attacks continue to rise. The tech giant wants to see civilian use of the internet protected as part of an international set of accords, Brad Smith, the company's president and chief legal officer, said in a blog post.
The manifesto, published alongside his keynote address at the RSA conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, argued for codifying recent international norms around cyberwarfare and for establishing an independent agency to respond to and analyze cyberattacks.
From the blog post:
Just as the Fourth Geneva Convention has long protected civilians in times of war, we now need a Digital Geneva Convention that will commit governments to protecting civilians from nation-state attacks in times of peace. And just as the Fourth Geneva Convention recognized that the protection of civilians required the active involvement of the Red Cross, protection against nation-state cyberattacks requires the active assistance of technology companies. The tech sector plays a unique role as the internet's first responders, and we therefore should commit ourselves to collective action that will make the internet a safer place, affirming a role as a neutral Digital Switzerland that assists customers everywhere and retains the world's trust.
Also at The Seattle Times and USA Today.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 15 2017, @04:31PM
Because developing, nevermind being force to run a Microsoft operating system should be considered a war crime.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Wednesday February 15 2017, @04:43PM
More likely call it a crime against humanity since such atrocities and their upgrades are often released during peace time. (Note the US is not currently "at war".)
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by Justin Case on Wednesday February 15 2017, @04:53PM
Calculate the number of life-minutes that were lost when 6,000 people met their ends on 9-11.
Now calculate the number of life-minutes wasted worldwide over the past decades watching some stupid spinner or "progress" bar.
Which is the bigger crime?
Hint: your computer exists to serve you, not to tell you what to do. If your computer tells you to wait (instead of letting you do something else) you're Doing It Wrong.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 15 2017, @05:08PM
6,000 people met their ends on 9-11.
3000
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 16 2017, @07:51AM
Never forget.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Thursday February 16 2017, @05:36AM
The first, as those people had no chance to avoid losing those minutes. Nobody forces you to watch a spinner or progress bar.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday February 16 2017, @02:09PM
Be it enacted by Congress, henceforth all spinners or progress bars shall be required to have unskippable advertisements which promote the increased use of both Clean Coal and Fossil Fuels.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 15 2017, @05:30PM
Didn't one of Trump's mucky-mucks just publicly state within the last couple of days that the U.S. is a country at war?
(Or was he just counting the U.S.'s Wars on Crime, Drugs, Terror, Poverty, Dark-Skinned People, Muslims, Women, etc.?)
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday February 15 2017, @05:45PM
It's highly Ironic that US prosecutors wield a "disturbing the peace" catch-all offense, when so much of the economy and politics is based on people being always afraid.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 15 2017, @06:49PM
He meant the "War on Poverty" Johnson administration, or the "War on Drugs" of Nixon's, or Chairman Mao's "War on the Four Evils", or possibly Mayor Jones' "War on Potholes"! Yes, we have always been at war with something.