Microsoft Outlines Strategy for Combatting Online Terrorist Content

Microsoft in a rather long blog post outlined policies for removing "terrorist content" online, which it's defining as anything that supports organizations on the U.N. Security Council Sanctions List.  Specific steps Microisoft will take include: 1) Removing terrorist content, 2) Defining terrorist content, 3) Observing notice-and-takedown, 4) Promoting free expression on Bing, 5) Leveraging new technologies, 6) Investing in public-private partnerships, 7) Providing additional information and resources. The company wnet on to say "Terrorism is one of the truly urgent issues of our time". It has changed its terms of use "to specifically prohibit the posting of terrorist content on [their] hosted consumer services," such as OneNote, a cloud-based document program. "When terrorist content on our hosted consumer services is brought to our attention via our online reporting tool, we will remove it," Microsoft wrote in its post Friday. Microsoft is entering this conversation months later than firms like Twitter and Facebook. But the company says it plays a different role. "Although Microsoft does not run any of the leading social networks or video-sharing sites, from time to time, terrorist content may be posted to or shared on our Microsoft-hosted consumer services.Will these actions impact the security of 'all things Microsoft' in the Internet era? Share your assessment with the Cloud and Cyber Security Center: http://cloudandcybersecurity.blogspot.com/