Brad Smith handles pressure pretty well. But Microsoft Corporation’s general counsel had to be feeling it in December. Media coverage of the National Security Agency’s vast data-mining program, courtesy of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, had all the big tech companies scrambling to answer questions. And the stakes couldn’t have been higher: Microsoft can’t survive, much less prosper, if its customers lose confidence in its software and services. The companies, in turn, sought to seize the moment by challenging the NSA program and demanding the right to disclose what they’ve turned over to the government, and what they haven’t.
Smith has been Microsoft’s point person and public face on this issue. In December he and other tech executives met with President Barack Obama to discuss changes they advocate. Two days earlier, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon of the District of Columbia ruled that plaintiffs who had sued the government over its bulk collection of telephone records had standing to challenge the constitutionality of this effort, and would likely prevail on their Fourth Amendment claim. Leon stayed his order, pending appeal. Executive editor David Hechler interviewed Smith the day before an advisory committee appointed by the president recommended that Obama rein in the surveillance. An edited version of their conversation follows.
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