So what is becoming the infrastructure of the 21st century . These mammoth buildings, more than 20 filled with electrical generators, hundreds of thousands of batteries that are Server Computers and everything we do almost every day is accessing or storing data in the cloud for a data center. You have 100 of these and 20 countries . More than 20 countries more than 100 data centers. Microsoft is one of the largest google amazon facebook and apple we all build more and more of these data centers its where we store their data so they become the Largest Consumer of electricity in the world. Host if i send an email from outlook to the office does it have to go to the data center . It doesnt have to you can still use our software in the form to store it on your own laptop or on your own server computer in your office. But the world has moved to the cloud over the last decade. It is far cheaper, secure, you have the latest technology and not upgrade yourself and rely on microsoft Cybersecurity Team rather than those in the office. The world is shifting and most technology is moving in that direction. Host what does it cost to build one of those buildings. Anytime we open a new data center by definition with hundreds of millions of dollars if you look at microsoft or the other Industry Leaders collectively we are easily spending tens of billions of dollars per year just in building these New Buildings and putting all the computers inside them. What type of investment do you make to secure that cloud . Its a fascinating piece and enormously expensive. It starts with physical security. You cannot get around these promises certainly its tighter than what you would see in a commercial airport but really it is the Network Security thats more important we spend 1 million per year on new security features r d and innovation with 3000 security engineers. Just the protection of this is a huge priority. Host you say you were searched on your way out as well . Yes it is fascinating. Youre not surprised when you go into a data center and you go into the inner sanctum and the servers, you have to go through a second, very tight airport style metal detector but when you leave you say why am i being searched like the airport . So nobody can walk out with a hard drive. Literally the only ways they leave the room at the end of their life is by going through a huge machine the equivalent of a Paper Shredder for metal hard drives and leaves through a special exit. Host you write in your book that ireland is to data what switzerland is to money . Ireland is a great place to store data switzerland is generally regarded across the middle east and around the world as a safe place to store money. It is secure. First of all its a great place to build data centers you dont have to turn on the heating or the airconditioning as a result. But more than that we mean it has a network of laws to protect privacy, data, stable government and has access to moving back and forth. One of the most attractive places to store data. Host it is also an island dont you need cables . This is a fascinating part of the story. The Irish Government had a lot of foresight when it comes to planning for its economy and thinking about technology. The american tech sector got started in ireland in the 1980s were everybody manufacture the cds back then. So as we got close to the year 2000 the Irish Government saw the future and said make ireland the place to build the data center and said but you dont have any cables and they said give us three months. We will solve the problem. Three months later they had, they came back and entered into a contract and the rest is history because it really has become a place by our calculation 35 percent of all European Data is stored in ireland. Host what is the advantage to have the Data Security location or clouds as tools . They have businesses to do new things and then to enable businesses and governments and others to rely another security protection. But fundamentally what this is doing is enabling people to use technology and new ways. We really have entered a new era it is Artificial Intelligence based if you look to the first half of the 20th century the Combustion Engine changed everything the truck and the tank and the airplane over the next few decades a i will have a similar impact that he makes it impossible possible for machines to understand speech and to recognize people and translate between languages. All of that is based on several things but perhaps it is the large computational power in the data center. Host you also talk about the weaponization of data which is what . It starts with cyberattacks. Starts with hacking by organized crime now it starts with hacking by nationstates and political candidates of campaigns and think tanks. The Disinformation Campaign with the potential hacking of voting in the election and it includes a variety of other channels and challenges but if we look at the impact of our jobs what does this mean for our jobs and children and their jobs . All of these are the challenges technology has created. Host on the tour to north korea russia and china it does as well as i ran to see certain governments around the world to be particularly aggressive. We measure this every day we see the attacks taking place , we have been public to say we have seen the most attacks over the last few years coming from russia, north korea and iran on those that tend to be more focused on civilian infrastructure. China is not large as market as it was for other Tech Companies it has 18 percent of the worlds people and accounts one. 8 percent of revenue. But if an American Company was to go to china to sell coffee to use our services the same way as everywhere else it has been consumers in china that want to use windows on the left the laptop we want them to do that so we want to participate in the economy and the Global Economy in a thoughtful way and the way that is focused on Us National Security and protection of human rights but also those who need to be served. Host but you talk about the fact microsoft does judge the nation on the human rights score . Before we open a data center in a new country, we evaluate many things like access to electricity, water for data center, do we have concerns of corruption . And evaluate human rights. We use that evaluation to make decisions. There are some countries we will not place a data center because we feel once the data is in the country, we cannot protect peoples rights the way they need to be protected. Other countries we will put data, china is one of them but we will not put consumer services. So for example a Consumer Email service outlook. Com but we dont offer that in china because we dont feel we can strike the balance we want to to protect human rights. Host with china moving to the social credit system, are we in danger of perhaps having to world wide webs or internets . Over the past decade there has been a trend in that direction. I think one sees two countries in the world producing the most tech leaders the United States and china. You see less American Technology in china and in the United States different public policies, different laws, even some distinction and business practices. And then use the competition like in places like europe and where they will buy from. Host you call for regulation and to point out the anomaly of the Business Leader but you are writing that you need to have that regulation. We need businesses to step up to exercise more selfregulation and a higher commitment to responsibility. But we do think we need more regulation of technology. Think about how we live our lives. If you go to the Grocery Store and pick it up off the shelf you do not read the nutrition label knowing it is standardized and accurate because of regulation to go to the pharmacy and buy a product , you dont worry about the safety because it is regulated. When you get in your car to comply with certain Safety Standards, but Digital Technology has grown longer with us regulation than almost any Technology Since 1800. The market customers and industry itself would serve the longterm with a different balance. Host go to washington dc because bill gates took a lot of pride there was not a dc office for a long time. He points out in the forward he did take pride in that and then realize there were probably some clearly Better Things he could take pride and we are here today. Actually 56 capitals around the world. Host you conclude your book by saying Technology Innovation is not going to slow down but the work to manage it needs to speed up. We really do believe needs to speed up i used to come to washington and people 15 years ago here did not understand technology deeply. I think many times today they often do one understand that much better and politicians get a bad rap and they look for the opportunity to say heres a politician that didnt ask the right question or ask it the right way. Thats a mistake and its not accurate i dont thank you serve anybody well whenever you criticize them for asking a good question the wrong way. The truth is we have regulators and politicians today that have figured out to regulate very complex pharmaceutical products people today regulate airplanes that are basically computers with brains and the Safety Standards of cars that are basically computers on wheels. We have people who are perfectly capable in washington dc of regulating computers that dont move at all with a data center and as a country and as a world, we need to strike a balance with a healthy dose of regulation. So with privacy what would microsoft say . We like to see a Strong National privacy law in the United States. We have been advocating for that i personally have been since the year 2005 you can see how the impact we have had in washington dc over the course of a decade and a half. But this is a good thing california adopted a strong privacy law last year and a good thing that brings the debate to washington dc. I think American Public consumers customers in Tech Companies will be well served if there is a good strong privacy law in the United States and so for the next decade what we really need is to come back. Data moves around the world you dont actually want the protection of peoples privacy to constantly change we only get that when we bring governments together. Host what about the gdpr . We are pretty enthusiastic about it. We have been met than most companies because you do Different Things . So some degree you could say that we are not as focused on monetizing data through behavior advertising but it reef flex our own experience that we learn from when they enfolded in the 19 nineties and early 2000s, in some respects its the belief the market will work best, and the companies that participate will succeed the most for the longterm. Host what is the current status of International Cooperation . There are signs of progress you see that on cybersecurit cybersecurity, issues like digital safety, really impressive leadership by the french government this year from the Prime Minister with the Christ Church terrorist attack to bring the world around the world with digital safety and that creates a model that we can look to more broadly of course were also living in a time the multilateralism is the most popular in the United States at any time from the 1930s. And part of the book is a call for governments to come together with companies and Civil Society in a stakeholder approach theres no alternative to address the challenges people care about. Host even new zealand has apart. It does. We were in new silent on new zealand 12 days after the christchurch attack so the Prime Minister reach out, we heard she wanted to meet with us and of course we did. It was a fascinating conversation. She said i just dont want to see what happened in christchurch repeated. And what happened was different from other terrorist attacks because the attacker used the internet as a stage. It was streamed live on facebook and uploaded probably millions of times on youtube and it is the kind of thing that cant incentivize terrorism if we are not careful. So we said lets see what we can do together and really more to her leadership than anything she called other tech leaders work with others across the tech sector and is now the christchurch call it was signed in paris in the by september there were more governments that cited as well google and youtube and amazon and twitter and microsoft and we have all committed now to take concrete steps to certainly make it harder for any terrorist to do what was done in christchurch. Host how often do you find yourself working with the federal government or suing the federal government . We work with the federal government every day and ons on on average we see them every year. [laughter] was a lawsuit start you have to continue we dont sue the whole her own government a whole lot not believing a real principle isnt at state but we do have bring litigation to stand up for privacy rights for customers. During the last couple of years as well as to stand up for our employees that are protected by daca we have 66 employees that are dreamers and that was another important case to bring. Host when it comes to privacy what is a case you have pursued . Most privacy cases have been about giving people are businesses or individuals more knowledge or information so this started 2013 when we argued successfully a First Amendment right to publish data how many kinds of National Security wars one awards we have received when we continue to litigate is the right we believe businesses have so when the federal government once their data in the vast majority of circumstances to believe the government should go to the business and not come to us or another crowd service provider. Thats the way this country works since it was founded and until the cloud was created if you had a business and emails or documents the federal government wanted they can get a warrant to serve that on you so you knew about it but then you could go to court to protect your right what we dont want to see is a present or future where the government only comes to us and you dont even know the government has your information so when we see cases like that and we do periodically, we try to negotiate the outcome with the department of justice and if the facts are on our side, we go to court. Edwards noted features in your book as well was the government stealing microsoft information surreptitiously . I would never use the word stealing and i would be quick to add six years after the snowden disclosures there is a lot we still dont know when we may never know and that may be appropriate in certain respects with National Security and secrets but we do talk in the book about the coverage of the Washington Post in 2013 to talk about the reports that suggest the Us Government either by itself or the British Government is tapping into cables land or sea bass to access data and me have been happening outside use of warrants and then rule of law. Was explicit that something that concerned us. We were explicit what the white house and president obama to say there needs to be some refor reform, and there has been in the six years since. So i think it is good generally speaking we have more than we could address. Host do you feel microsoft management of data is secure today from prying eyes . I would say the answer is ye yes. And the reason is in part because of technological changes that microsoft and others have made. The answer to one disclosure was to have stronger encryption basically comprehensively so whenever data is moving between data centers it is encrypted. And stored on servers it is encrypted. This is not by any means a question should think is confined to the us alone but if any government tries to tap into data it is highly unlikely to read through what it obtained but generally i feel more confident not just because of the technical advances of cybersecurity but legal reforms adopted by the United States that have been adopted in other countries. We have not even cracked the code yet looking at aei and facial recognition technology. This is the big question so we live in a world where government used cameras and computers and facial recognition to identify everybody that walks down the street we do believe as a country and what they say they are not protected adequately but a very important question even in the United States and that everywhere you go to say probably the way it gets access like a search warrant but that is a debate and for those that are timeless. Host if you are president of microsoft to has a ceo , bill gates, what are your duties . One of the most interesting is to be on point of the issues through technology and society. There are so many issues today of sustainability, privacy, securie Artificial Intelligence, digital safety, safety, and in a decade or two ago we need to innov