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February 3, 2021
Get ready for every brand and app to have its own voice: Microsoft started to make its custom neural voice product more widely available to commercial partners Wednesday, allowing companies to generate their own voices for chatbots and other interactive applications. Custom neural voices are based on Microsoft's Azure AI platform, and use neural networks to create voices that don't have a robotic sound, like old-school text-to-speech technology.
The company spotlighted some early high-profile customers:
- AT&T is using custom neural voice tech to bring Bugs Bunny in its Dallas experience store to life. Customers are greeted by name, and can chat with the Looney Tunes character while exploring the store.
- Progressive created a voice chatbot for Flo, the omnipresent face of the insurance brand.
- Duolingo is using custom neural voice to create multilingual voices for a set of characters, meant to bring personality to its language-learning app. Soon, you'll be able to choose whether you'd rather get help with your Japanese lessons from an emo teenager, a video game-loving kiddo who eats too much candy or a speed-talker who thinks she is always right.
To create these voices, Microsoft is asking companies to supply them with speech samples; for AT&T's Bugs Bunny, a voice actor recorded 2,000 phrases and lines. Azure AI then uses two neural networks to turn text into speech that actually pronounces words correctly, and also gets the tone and duration of each and every phoneme right.
Microsoft isn't the first company to use AI for custom voices. Google and Amazon have both generated celebrity voices for their respective assistants in the past, and Amazon recently announced that it would white-label Alexa, complete with custom voices. In October, Toronto-based Resemble AI launched Localize, a service that clones voices to produce translated audio recordings in a number of different languages.
With AI getting better and better at creating voices that are indistinguishable from real recordings, we'll likely also see a whole new wave of deepfake audio. Microsoft, for its part, went out of its way to stress that it is aware of the potential for abuse:
- The company will limit access to its custom neural voice product to pre-approved partners, who have to contractually agree to a code of conduct.
- Customers also have to agree to add disclaimers to their applications if consumers could mistake an AI voice for a real person.
- The company is exploring the use of watermarks to make sure that AI recordings aren't used out of context.
- Microsoft is also asking voice actors to acknowledge within their recordings that they are knowingly participating in an AI voice project — a safeguard against voice hijacking.
"As creators of this technology, we have an obligation to make sure it's used responsibly," said Azure AI platform VP Eric Boyd. "We're careful with the partners we work with in making sure they follow the guidelines."
A version of this story will appear in this week's Next Up newsletter.
Janko Roettgers
Janko Roettgers (@jank0) is a senior reporter at Protocol, reporting on the shifting power dynamics between tech, media, and entertainment, including the impact of new technologies. Previously, Janko was Variety's first-ever technology writer in San Francisco, where he covered big tech and emerging technologies. He has reported for Gigaom, Frankfurter Rundschau, Berliner Zeitung, and ORF, among others. He has written three books on consumer cord-cutting and online music and co-edited an anthology on internet subcultures. He lives with his family in Oakland.
People
Making the economy work for Black entrepreneurs
Funding for Black-owned startups needs to grow. That's just the start.
"There is no quick fix to close the racial wealth and opportunity gaps, but there are many ways companies can help," said Mastercard's Michael Froman.
Photo: DigitalVision/Getty Images
February 26, 2021
Michael Froman serves as vice chairman and president, Strategic Growth for Mastercard. He and his team drive inclusive growth efforts and partner across public and private sectors to address major societal and economic issues. From 2013 to 2017, Mike served as the U.S. trade representative, President Barack Obama’s principal adviser and negotiator on international trade and investment issues. He is a distinguished fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company.
February 26, 2021
Michael Froman is the vice chairman and president of Strategic Growth for Mastercard.
When Tanya Van Court's daughter shared her 9th birthday wish list — a bike and an investment account — Tanya had a moment of inspiration. She wondered whether helping more kids get excited about saving for goals and learning simple financial principles could help them build a pathway to financial security. With a goal of reaching every kid in America, she founded Goalsetter, a savings and financial literacy app for kids. Last month, Tanya brought in backers including NBA stars Kevin Durant and Chris Paul, raising $3.9 million in seed funding.
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Reaching this milestone is a testament to Tanya's perseverance and resilience as she, like many other Black women founders, struggle to find institutional investors. Our financial system is simply not set up to help Black entrepreneurs launch a business. Most new businesses are initially funded from savings and home equity, but the persistent racial wealth gap in our country places Black would-be entrepreneurs at a dramatic disadvantage since many don't have those assets available. On top of that, of the approximately $625 billion in venture capital invested since 2015, only around $15 billion went to Black and Latinx founders; that's just 2.4% of funding. For Black women founders specifically, the numbers plunge to 0.27% of funding over the past <a href="https://www.projectdiane.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">two years</a>.
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This is not an issue that will resolve itself; we need to be deliberate about opening doors and bringing down barriers, not just to solve for one Black or minority-owned business at a time, but to rebuild a system that gives everyone a chance. Capitalism has lifted millions of people out of poverty and improved their quality of life, but it has also left many behind. As we now rebuild our national economy, we need to ensure future growth is inclusive, and that small businesses — the backbone of our economy — recover in a way that lifts up promising Black-owned startups at every point in their journey.
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There is no quick fix to close the racial wealth and opportunity gaps, but there are many ways companies can help. Here are four insights we've learned from years of working with startups and community organizations.
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<strong>Invest in the network.</strong> Startups like Oakland-based <a href="https://www.mycnote.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CNote</a> are working to channel capital to underserved micro and small businesses through a vast network of Black-owned banks, minority credit unions and community development financial institutions that have direct access to many local communities. However, these market innovators are hampered by complex governance requirements that Fortune 200 companies have to put in place before they will do business. We need to make it easier for new players like CNote to pass procurement hurdles and get into the pipeline so they can grow. By helping them on the back end, it opens them up to partnering with large corporates from all across the country.
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<strong>Open up access to markets.</strong> For those Black-owned businesses that do secure a first round of funding, their growth trajectory often slows when it comes to entering new markets. A startup's ability to scale increases exponentially when larger companies with trusted relationships not only make introductions to its partners but also offer the startup's services as part of a proposed solution to customers. This is an approach that has helped <a href="https://mocafi.com/about/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MoCaFi</a>, a New York-based, Black-owned startup that offers banking services to lower- and moderate-income communities, to start working with local city leaders in new markets. This work can be mutually beneficial for corporations: The ability to deliver effective support to underserved communities increases when the right partners with the right solutions are brought to the table.
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<strong>Digitizing access to capital.</strong> Black entrepreneurs are being denied or given smaller bank loans nearly <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/2017-september-availability-of-credit-to-small-businesses.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">twice the rate of</a> their white peers — 54% compared to 30%, respectively. Microfinance institutions and CDFIs have stepped in to fill this void, supporting applications for those previously denied loans. However, the demand exceeds the resources and tools available, and getting funds to those who need it urgently can be challenging. New digital tools can be transformative in this situation if we could accelerate access for these organizations. Many rely on slow paper-based processes, but through the digitization of both applications and distribution of loans, CDFIs like the <a href="https://crfusa.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Community Reinvestment Fund</a> and micro-finance institutions like <a href="https://www.grameenamerica.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Grameen America</a> have been able to process requests faster, more securely and for more businesses, throughout the pandemic.
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<strong>Going all in. </strong>Finally, one of the most important lessons we've learned is that the programs and partnerships used to tackle these issues can't be just for a moment in time or a single intervention. For maximum impact, companies need to be all in with the full breadth of their assets — funding, product pilots, supplier practices, consulting services, data insights — as this is how to drive a catalytic impact and create a more sustainable, inclusive digital economy.
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As more businesses, CEOs, corporate treasurers and venture capitalists join in this effort, we can collectively help bridge that wealth and opportunity gap. Startups can't scale up if they aren't given that first chance.
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As we are reminded during this Black History Month, the problems of racial economic disparity have existed for too long, and although the challenge seems daunting, we are confident that with perseverance we can successfully build a more just and equitable economy. Our early progress matters, and we should make every effort to build on the first steps by coming together across sectors and organizations so that amazing ideas like Tanya's are embraced from the outset.
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Michael Froman serves as vice chairman and president, Strategic Growth for Mastercard. He and his team drive inclusive growth efforts and partner across public and private sectors to address major societal and economic issues. From 2013 to 2017, Mike served as the U.S. trade representative, President Barack Obama’s principal adviser and negotiator on international trade and investment issues. He is a distinguished fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company.
Sponsored Content
Building better relationships in the age of all-remote work
How Stripe, Xero and ModSquad work with external partners and customers in Slack channels to build stronger, lasting relationships.
Image: Original by Damian Zaleski
February 21, 2021
February 8, 2021
Every business leader knows you can learn the most about your customers and partners by meeting them face-to-face. But in the wake of Covid-19, the kinds of conversations that were taking place over coffee, meals and in company halls are now relegated to video conferences—which can be less effective for nurturing relationships—and email.
Email inboxes, with hard-to-search threads and siloed messages, not only slow down communication but are also an easy target for scammers. Earlier this year, Google reported more than 18 million daily malware and phishing emails related to Covid-19 scams in just one week and more than 240 million daily spam messages.
<p>To keep the lines of communication wide open in this new reality, organizations are adopting new cloud solutions at a rate CIOs expected to see years from now. In fact, 79% of CIOs agree that the pandemic will force their organizations to digitally transform faster than planned, according to <a href="https://slack.com/blog/transformation/people-partners-systems-slack" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">J.P. Morgan</a>. </p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="1">
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</div></p><p>But executive leaders know it takes more than just adopting a communication platform or software bundle to build relationships remotely. You have to find the <em>right</em> solution that meets both your internal and external collaboration needs. That's why competitive businesses today are turning to Slack, the <a href="https://slack.com/features/channels" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">channel-based messaging platform, </a>to close communication gaps with partners and customers in the age of remote work. Companies can securely collaborate with external parties using <a href="https://slack.com/help/articles/360017938993-What-is-a-channel" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Slack channels</a>, a single place to share files and messages, in the same <a href="https://slack.com/resources/using-slack/setting-up-a-shared-channel" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Slack workspace</a> through <a href="http://slack.com/connect" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Slack Connect</a>.</p><p>With Slack Connect, organizations can build stronger customer and partner relationships through real-time communication. And unlike email—which leaves users open to the risk of spam and phishing—companies and external parties receive communications only from <a href="https://slackhq.com/introducing-new-layers-of-enterprise-grade-security" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">verified members in Slack channels</a>. Plus, Slack workspace administrators can maintain control over data and monitor external access. </p><p>Here's a closer look at how teams at Stripe, Xero and ModSquad are using Slack Connect to engage customers, prospects and partners in real-time and close deals faster. </p><h4>Stripe: Expediting sales deals while building lasting relationships with customers</h4><p><a href="https://stripe.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Stripe</a> is an online payment provider with a mission to support e-commerce. The Stripe sales team works with early-stage startups all the way through global Fortune 500 companies, and uses Slack Connect to engage with customers, keep communication organized and teams in sync, and jump on sales opportunities.</p><p>Jeanne DeWitt Grosser, head of Americas revenue and growth at Stripe, says communicating with prospective customers in Slack has been instrumental in maintaining engagement and closing deals.</p><p class="pull-quote">"Historically, the gold standard of a deep relationship in sales was getting the person on text," says DeWitt Grosser. "Now the gold standard is getting them into a Slack channel."</p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="2">
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</div></p><p>Usually at the beginning of a sale, DeWitt Grosser explains, reps used to double down on communication using the "law of 2x." Essentially, you start with a meeting and then follow up a week later. But this strategy no longer makes the cut: A lot could change in a week, and Slack is more in line with the tempo of the digital workplace. </p><p>"In Slack channels, the dialogue with the prospect happens in real time, as opposed to the next time you align your schedules," DeWitt Grosser says. "This kind of personal, persistent connection grows customer loyalty and retention."</p><p>Often sales reps have to communicate with a variety of departments to seal the deal. Instead of emailing them separately and creating silos, Stripe's account executives and solution architects set up a Slack channel with key customer stakeholders, like developers, the head of payments and a finance representative. </p><p>"When you need to move quickly, email is not the right format: It's more formal and responses take longer," says James Dyett, Stripe's head of global product sales and payments optimizations. "Slack has super powers. It's a much better experience." </p><h4>Xero: Working with external partners like they're on the same team</h4><p>If the pandemic has taught us one thing, it's that relationships matter. Whether it's launching a marketing campaign with a partner or hiring contractors to complete a specific project, we can't—and shouldn't—try to do everything ourselves. <br><br>When it comes to nurturing partnerships in the midst of the pandemic, <a href="https://www.xero.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Xero</a>, a cloud-based accounting software company, affirms that working in Slack Connect has been a game changer. Justine Wallendorf, New Zealand partner marketing manager at Xero, says Slack Connect helped her team launch a joint online marketing campaign with partners, <a href="https://www.figured.com/en-us/figured-xero" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Figured</a> and <a href="http://paysauce" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Paysauce</a>. </p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="3">
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</div></p><p>The three companies were offering a complete software solution for farmers looking to manage their business digitally. By coming together in one Slack channel, #xero-partners, the sales and marketing teams across all three businesses could connect and ensure alignment on: </p><ul class="ee-ul"><li>Immediate universal access to all campaign details</li><li>Consistent messaging across sales enablement deliverables, such as one pagers and slide decks</li><li>Quick feedback and turnaround times for deliverables</li><li>Clear leadership signoffs</li></ul><p class="pull-quote">"Working in Slack Connect guaranteed that everyone was beating the same drum and speaking the same language, positioning our partnership as best as possible in the market," Wallendorf says.</p><h4>ModSquad: Winning customer loyalty with exceptional customer support</h4><p>With so much uncertainty in the world, efficient and reliable customer support is akin to a safe harbor in a storm. That's why Slack customer, <a href="https://modsquad.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ModSquad</a> has its support teams troubleshoot customer issues in real time with Slack Connect.</p><p>As a customer experience outsourcer, ModSquad knows good customer service. Each day, ModSquad's global crew of experts—the Mods—help their customers engage with their audiences online through customer support, content moderation, community management and social media. </p><p>ModSquad works with its clients in Slack Connect to set up service level agreements and incorporate support dashboards. With the <a href="https://slack.com/apps/A0108APQFQC-geckoboard" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Geckoboard Slack integration</a>, ModSquad monitors clients' incoming calls and chats—without ever leaving Slack. Whenever the team sees an uptick in activity or service impacting issues, they can quickly alert clients and internal teams for quick resolution. The team also relies on a <a href="https://slack.com/apps/A9WFQ3M0B-zendesk" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Zendesk Slack integration</a> to track service desk tickets, troubleshoot and resolve issues.</p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="4">
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</div></p><p>According to Steve Henry, senior vice president, client services at ModSquad, Slack channels also help build a culture of transparent communication and trust with clients.</p><p>"Establishing trust with our clients is very important, and Slack provides a crucial component for all of our efforts" Henry says. "With Slack, we can provide world-class support solutions and improvements for our clients, driving efficiencies while growing their business in the process."</p><h4>In an all-remote world, Slack Connect builds strong partnerships</h4><p>Slack Connect is available for <a href="https://slack.com/pricing/paid-vs-free" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">all paid plans</a>. If you're already a customer but new to Slack Connect, feel free to <a href="http://slack.com/contact" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">reach out</a> or learn more on <a href="https://slack.com/resources/using-slack/setting-up-a-shared-channel" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">how to get started</a>. And if you want to see how others are using Slack Connect to work with external partners, check out a few of our recent <a href="https://slack.com/blog/collections/slack-connect-shared-channels-shared-success" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">customer stories</a>. </p>
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Policy
Here are Big Tech’s biggest threats from states
The states are moving much quicker than Congress on privacy, taxes and content moderation.
Virginia is expected to be the second state to pass a comprehensive privacy law.
Photo: Ron Cogswell/Flickr
February 19, 2021
Emily Birnbaum ( @birnbaum_e) is a tech policy reporter with Protocol. Her coverage focuses on the U.S. government's attempts to regulate one of the most powerful industries in the world, with a focus on antitrust, privacy and politics. Previously, she worked as a tech policy reporter with The Hill after spending several months as a breaking news reporter. She is a Bethesda, Maryland native and proud Kenyon College alumna.
February 19, 2021
When critics say that Virginia's new privacy bill is "industry-approved," they're not totally wrong, said David Marsden, the state senator who has been working for months to shepherd the law through the state legislature.
It was an Amazon lobbyist who originally presented Marsden with the text of the bill, which hews closely to the failed Washington Privacy Act, versions of which have been pushed by Microsoft across the country.
<p>"Amazon gave us the first cut of a draft to look at that was based on other work," Marsden said. </p><p>An Amazon spokesperson called the text a "starting point." "It was an example of strong legislation and, like many other stakeholders, we consulted with the Senator as he refined his bill," the spokesperson said. </p><p>Marsden and Virginia delegate Cliff Hayes held meetings with other large tech companies, including Microsoft; financial institutions, including Capital One; and non-profit groups and small businesses, who all wanted desperately to have a hand in shaping the legislation. </p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="1">
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</div></p><p>But Marsden said he didn't hear much from consumer advocacy groups. That is, until this week, when it became clear that Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam <a href="https://www.rollcall.com/2021/02/16/virginia-set-to-become-second-state-to-pass-data-privacy-law/#:~:text=Gov.%20Ralph%20Northam%20expected%20to,and%20exempts%20many%20small%20businesses&text=Virginia%20is%20set%20to%20become,to%20pass%20data%20privacy%20legislation.&text=The%20law%20would%20exempt%20health,collected%20for%20assessing%20credit%20worthiness." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">intends to sign the legislation</a> after it passes the Virginia General Assembly, and a barrage of organizations including the U.S. Public Interest Research Group and Electronic Frontier Foundation came out aggressively against the bill, calling it "<a href="https://uspirg.org/resources/usp/group-letter-opposing-weak-industry-backed-privacy-bill-virginia" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">weak</a>" in a flurry of letters and public statements. </p><p>Marsden concedes there's some truth to their concerns. "If it has a business focus to it, it's because the folks who put it together, they're the ones who showed up," he said. </p><p>Ed Mierzwinski, a senior director at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, said he and other national consumer and privacy groups didn't find out about this bill until a few weeks ago. Mierzwinski said the groups sent a letter to Marsden and other lawmakers on Feb. 4 raising concerns with the bill. "We're disappointed that he didn't reach back to us," Mierzwinski said.</p><p>The showdown in Virginia is only the latest battle in the influence war between Big Tech and their critics playing out in states across the country. Players on all sides are seeking to push their agenda on privacy, taxes, content moderation and AI through unpredictable and malleable state legislatures, with less-resourced advocacy groups fighting to keep up with tech giants' expansive lobbying efforts. All of it is happening in the void of any federal action from Congress.</p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="2">
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</div></p><p>"Now, when I talk to state lawmakers or state staff members and say, 'Hey, it's a really bad idea to have a state patchwork of laws,' I just hear silence from them because they're like, 'Well, Congress still hasn't done anything,'" said Billy Easley, a senior tech policy analyst with Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity, which advocates against state-level legislation on privacy and speech. </p><p>As the Virginia case highlights, it's hard to predict where the next serious legislation will emerge. But Protocol compiled a list of the tech-related state efforts to watch most closely this year. </p><h3>The Washington Privacy Act </h3><p>Washington's tech-friendly privacy legislation has <a href="https://www.govtech.com/policy/Why-Did-Washington-States-Privacy-Legislation-Collapse.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">failed to pass</a> for the past two years amid disagreements over whether individuals should be allowed to sue tech companies for privacy violations and whether the bill should address concerns around facial recognition technology. But its supporters are more gung-ho than ever that this could be the year that Washington finally pushes through the privacy bill, which has spawned copycats across the country.</p><p>Washington State Sen. Reuven Carlyle <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2021/washington-state-finally-pass-data-privacy-laws-bill-backed-tech-industry/#:~:text=The%20Washington%20Privacy%20Act%20grants,personal%20data%20under%20the%20legislation." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">told Geekwire</a> last month that he believes the bill has a substantially higher chance of passing following years of negotiations with tech companies, consumer groups and discussions with the Washington attorney general's office.</p><p>"Washington is absolutely there," said Tom Foulkes, who leads state policy for BSA, also known as The Software Alliance, which has been working on the Washington legislation.</p><p>The Washington Privacy Act would give consumers the right to access, correct and delete data that companies hold on them, while opting out of particular forms of data collection and sale. It does not include the right for individuals to sue companies. Instead, it grants that authority to the attorney general. </p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="3">
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</div></p><p>Tech companies including Microsoft and Amazon have made it clear that they would prefer Washington's model over California's complex approach, which includes the right for individuals to sue over data breaches, if they have to choose. But the companies are still pushing for federal privacy legislation. </p><h3>New York privacy legislation</h3><p>The New York legislature can be hard to predict as it's very dependent on which bills congressional leadership and the governor will get behind their proposals. But this year's legislative session <a href="https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/new-york-legislature-introduces-ccpa-6501577/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">started off with a flurry</a> of privacy and <a href="https://www.technologylawdispatch.com/2021/01/privacy-data-protection/new-york-proposes-a-new-biometric-privacy-act/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">biometrics-related legislation</a> from the House and Senate, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo is proposing a comprehensive law to provide New Yorkers with "<a href="https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-announces-proposal-safeguard-data-security-rights-part-2021-state-state" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">transparency and control</a>" over their personal data.</p><p>"New Yorkers appreciate the value and convenience that technology has afforded their lives, but progress does not need to come at the expense of basic privacy," Cuomo <a href="https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-announces-proposal-safeguard-data-security-rights-part-2021-state-state" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said in a statement</a>. "New York will act to pass a strong privacy law that safeguards New [Yorkers'] personal information and continues to encourage innovation."</p><p>The <a href="https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/2020/09/02/inside-the-proposed-new-york-privacy-act/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">New York Privacy Act</a>, which was set aside last year as the legislature focused on COVID-19, appears poised to make a comeback. It would create extensive new requirements for businesses to obtain consumers' consent before processing their data. It also includes a private right of action, which tech companies lobby aggressively against.</p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="4">
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</div></p><h3>New York antitrust legislation </h3><p>New York State Sen. Mike Gianaris believes that New York could become the first state to update its antitrust laws to rein in Big Tech this year. Gianaris made a name for himself through strident opposition of Amazon's plans to build a second headquarters in New York — plans the ecommerce juggernaut eventually scrapped.</p><p>After his battle with Amazon, he said he began researching ways to keep the tech giant's "incredibly powerful and unaccountable position from hurting people and other businesses." </p><p>"I had very up-close and personal experience with them," Gianaris said. </p><p>Gianaris' <a href="https://www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/michael-gianaris/wake-landmark-federal-hearings-senate-deputy-leader" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">21st Century Antitrust Act</a>, which was introduced last summer on the heels of the House Judiciary Committee's congressional hearing with the tech CEOs, would allow the state to sue companies for "abusing" their dominance.</p><p>Right now, New York state law requires two parties to conspire to manipulate the market. But many of the monopoly concerns around Big Tech revolve around the companies' efforts to buy up rivals and muscle into new markets.</p><p>Adopting an abuse of dominance standard, he said, "opens the door to a lot more enforcement ability, particularly against Big Tech, which transcends so many different markets." </p><p>Gianaris said his office consulted with Attorney General Letitia James, who has publicly supported the bill, as well as anti-monopoly groups like the American Economic Liberties Project and Zephyr Teachout, a key antitrust advocate. </p><p>He said the tech companies initially ignored his legislation when it came out last year, but as it's become clear that the legislature might have interest in moving it forward, he's heard more pushback from the major tech trade groups. </p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="5">
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</div></p><h3>Online ad taxes </h3><p>Maryland last week sent shockwaves through the industry when it approved the country's first tax on Big Tech's ad revenue. The law's supporters have claimed that it's an effort to get the tech companies to pay their fair share in taxes, while the companies have <a href="https://internetassociation.org/news/statement-on-gov-hogans-veto-of-the-digital-sales-tax-bill/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">threatened</a> that they will ultimately pass the new costs onto Maryland's businesses and individuals buying digital ads. </p><p>"The intentionally equivocal claim that internet companies need to 'pay their fair share' is useful only to politicians pushing a political agenda, not to the development of sound public policy," said Robert Callahan, who heads state government affairs for Internet Association. "It is also detached from reality. The internet industry is providing enormous economic benefits to states like Maryland, whether or not companies are actually headquartered there."</p><p>A group of tech industry trade associations and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce <a href="https://internetassociation.org/news/statement-on-md-digital-ad-tax-litigation/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">sued</a> Maryland on Thursday, claiming that the new tax is unconstitutional and violates federal law. </p><p>Other states will watch the litigation in Maryland closely as they weigh whether to move forward with their own digital ad taxes. Lawmakers in Indiana and Connecticut have proposed similar taxes.</p><p>Gianaris, who is also supportive of a New York bill that would impose similar taxes on digital ads, said New York could renew its push if Maryland succeeds. "If their effort gets upheld, we'll move quickly to do the same here in New York," he said. </p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="6">
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</div></p><h3>Florida's privacy and speech bills </h3><p>Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at a <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2021/01/14/desantis-top-legislative-priority-stopping-censorship-of-conservatives-online/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">press conference this month</a> said that taking on Silicon Valley will be "the most important legislative issue that we're going to have to get right this year and next year." He's <a href="https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2021/02/15/gov-desantis-offers-new-details-in-plan-to-take-on-big-tech/#//" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">since laid out</a> a series of proposals, including privacy legislation and a proposal to ban companies from "deplatforming" political candidates. </p><p>While other lawmakers have promoted privacy bills as an effort to protect consumer privacy, DeSantis has explicitly tied his state's privacy legislation to the populist battle against companies including Facebook and Google. "Big Tech platforms have created a surveillance economy, which enriches those platforms by free-riding on consumer data," DeSantis <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/tech-and-telecom-law/florida-governor-backs-data-privacy-bill-akin-to-california-laws" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said at another press conference</a> this week. "Worse, Big Tech platforms have made privacy an illusion. The truth is Floridians' most intimate information is collected, analyzed and sold to the highest bidder."</p><p>He has also <a href="https://reason.com/2021/02/04/florida-gov-ron-desantis-wants-100000-fines-for-social-media-companies-that-deplatform-politicians/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">proposed legislation</a> to fine social media companies for deplatforming politicians, a clear rebuke over Twitter, Facebook and YouTube's decisions to bar President Trump from their platforms. </p><p>Lawmakers in red states have increasingly proposed legislation aimed at social media's "censorship" of right-wing voices, and that effort has only intensified in the wake of the companies' decision to kick off Trump, Easley said. </p><p>"I think it's least 50 to 50 or 60 to 40 that some of these bills pass," Easley said, pointing to Florida's effort as a prime example. But he predicted that those efforts will get tied up in court as companies argue over the First Amendment and the role of Section 230.</p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="7">
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Emily Birnbaum ( @birnbaum_e) is a tech policy reporter with Protocol. Her coverage focuses on the U.S. government's attempts to regulate one of the most powerful industries in the world, with a focus on antitrust, privacy and politics. Previously, she worked as a tech policy reporter with The Hill after spending several months as a breaking news reporter. She is a Bethesda, Maryland native and proud Kenyon College alumna.
Transforming 2021
Blockchain, QR codes and your phone: the race to build vaccine passports
Digital verification systems could give people the freedom to work and travel. Here's how they could actually happen.
One day, you might not need to carry that physical passport around, either.
Photo: CommonPass
February 23, 2021
Mike Murphy ( @mcwm) is the director of special projects at Protocol, focusing on the industries being rapidly upended by technology and the companies disrupting incumbents. Previously, Mike was the technology editor at Quartz, where he frequently wrote on robotics, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics.
February 23, 2021
There will come a time, hopefully in the near future, when you'll feel comfortable getting on a plane again. You might even stop at the lounge at the airport, head to the regional office when you land and maybe even see a concert that evening. This seemingly distant reality will depend upon vaccine rollouts continuing on schedule, an open-sourced digital verification system and, amazingly, the blockchain.
Several countries around the world have begun to prepare for what comes after vaccinations. Swaths of the population will be vaccinated before others, but that hasn't stopped industries decimated by the pandemic from pioneering ways to get some people back to work and play. One of the most promising efforts is the idea of a "vaccine passport," which would allow individuals to show proof that they've been vaccinated against COVID-19 in a way that could be verified by businesses to allow them to travel, work or relax in public without a great fear of spreading the virus.
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</div></p><p>But building a system that everyone agrees with — and can access — is no small task. There are several companies working on competing projects to verify vaccinations. But beyond that, there are more than a few hurdles that could prevent vaccine passports from succeeding, from antiquated medical records systems to interoperability issues and privacy concerns. Here's how they could actually succeed. </p><h3>Competing projects, similar standards</h3><p>Pretty much since the first blockchain white paper, people have been looking for perfect examples of where a distributed, immutable ledger could be valuable. There's obviously the push to use it for currencies, and companies have tried to use it for things like tracking <a href="https://www.protocol.com/ibm-blockchain-supply-produce-coffee" target="_self">food production</a> and <a href="https://www.govtech.com/products/Blockchain-Voting-Debate-Heats-Up-After-Historic-Election.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">voting</a>, but there are few use cases that have truly taken off, at least so far. "We've been working on this since 2014; we never thought that health care would be the kind of the use case that we take this mainstream," Jamie Smith, the senior director of business development at Evernym, a company focused on using the blockchain as a basis for verifying identities, told Protocol. </p><p>Smith said Evernym had been discussing its concepts with automakers, retailers, telcos, governments, loyalty companies and banks prior to the pandemic. One of those companies was IAG, the airline group that owns British Airways, which had been interested in the idea of contactless travel based on a single identity credential that follows you from the airport check-in to your gate. With the pandemic, that morphed into thinking about ways to verify that passengers have had negative COVID tests, and eventually, that they've received a vaccine. "From our perspective, it was a really easy lift to see," Smith said. "We're doing contactless travel, and we just added verifiable credentials for test results."</p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="2">
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</div></p><p>It's a similar genesis for IBM's Digital Health Pass initiative, which leader Eric Piscini said started about two years ago as a way to store people's entire health records in a safe, accessible platform. It also relies on the blockchain for its immutable record of proof, and both Evernym and IBM are part of an open-standards group called the Good Health Pass Collaborative, which aims to bring private credentialed vaccine records to business and people around the world. Companies are working on their own implementations of the standards, but Evernym's Smith said the data is meant to be portable from one passport to another. </p><p>Most of the companies working on passports say their systems are private by design, especially given that they're mainly working off the same open standards. In most cases, the health information only ever remains on a user's phone, but where it asks to verify that the user's information meets a system's standards — such as whether this person has had two COVID vaccines and should be allowed into an office — that information is recorded on a blockchain. "You can, using blockchain technologies, verify that someone has been tested recently, without having access to the underlying data," Piscini said. "I don't know any other technology where you can do that."</p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="3">
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</div></p><p>Similarly, the nonprofit Commons Project's CommonPass, backed by the likes of Oracle, Microsoft and Salesforce, started out as a project to bring an analog to Apple Health for Android. JP Pollak, a senior researcher at Cornell and founder of the Commons Project, first launched CommonHealth to bring the sort of data and insights that Apple Health offers to iPhone owners to Android users. Last summer, the group started building an app that could take health data and privately share it with others — in that case, it was to help truckers stuck at the borders in <a href="https://www.newtimes.co.rw/opinions/digital-technology-re-opening-africa" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">East African countries</a> who couldn't easily prove they'd taken COVID tests. This morphed into vaccine credentialing, with the group now working to pull together the various data streams needed to get a project like this off the ground. </p><p>"Health care institutions, EMR vendors, retail pharmacies, state vaccine registries, all issuing people a digital verifiable credential of their vaccination record that they could then use in the app of their choice, to be able to get access to various kinds of services," Pollak said. CommonPass is also working with the Mayo Clinic, as well as Epic Systems and Cerner, two of the largest EMR vendors. </p><h3>Something for everyone </h3><p>With so many competing efforts to become the world's digital vaccine passport, it might seem that the country is heading for some sort of VHS versus Betamax format war for proving everyone has had COVID vaccines. But given that so many of the efforts are using the same standards, and in many cases, looking to embed their tech in someone else's app rather than their own, the race might be less about the best tech winning, and more about various approaches working in different situations. </p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="4">
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</div></p><p>"The intent is not to be the only company; we don't want to be the proprietary platform that everybody has to use because they have no choice," IBM's Piscini said. "That's not who we are right now: That's the IBM from 30 years ago, not the IBM of today."</p><p>For IBM, though, the selling point is that the company already works with so many other massive companies. Why look elsewhere for a vaccine passport solution if your airline booking system is already powered by IBM? "We believe our network is going to be more valuable than any other because of our scale and our ability to integrate the platform with CRM systems, building systems or stadium systems — we can do that every day," Piscini said.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
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<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">IATA's digital passport app.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Photo: IATA</small></p><p>For other companies, it's about securing new partnerships with major players in the hopes of finding that scale. Evernym, for example, is working with International Air Transport Association, the airline industry's trade association, on an air travel-specific app called Travel Pass. IATA is working with airlines and local governments to ensure it has the latest requirements to feed the app's rules engine. "It will say, 'Hey, you're flying JFK to Heathrow, you need a PCR test 48 hours in advance before you can land,'" Evernym's Smith said. "And of course, those policy changes are changing every day." Qatar, Emirates and Etihad Airways are all <a href="https://simpleflying.com/qatar-iata-travel-pass-launch/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">expected</a> to start trialing the app in the next few weeks.<br></p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="5">
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</div></p><p>In other instances, the technology will live inside other companies' existing apps; why make someone download yet another app and add another hurdle to compliance? Instead, the experience will be rather like adding a loyalty account or TSA PreCheck number when booking a flight. Airlines and other venues restricting access will require uploading negative test results or vaccine records using one of these services. "You're going to be using the United or the Delta app, and they'll be using our solution or somebody else's, but you will do it via their app," IATA's Travel Pass lead, Alan Murray Hayden, told Protocol.</p><p>The World Health Organization is also working on its own offering, and recently convened the <a href="https://www.who.int/groups/smart-vaccination-certificate-working-group" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Smart Vaccination Certificate Working Group</a>. It's built upon the WHO's nearly century-old notion of the "yellow card" vaccination record, which first was used to document that travelers had been inoculated against diseases such as cholera and yellow fever. Evernym Chief Trust Officer Drummond Reed is part of the working group; he said there should be more to share in the coming months. </p><h3>What could go wrong?</h3><p>It's entirely possible that as more people start to get vaccinated, vaccine passports start to become the norm. You walk to work — still masked, of course — scan a QR code reader in the lobby, and are let in. You go out for lunch, and your loyalty card app has a discount for in-store shoppers verifying they're vaccinated. Your concert ticket is also tied to health pass information that you shared earlier in the day with Ticketmaster. But there are more than a few hurdles ahead of the companies rushing to turn these concepts into realities. </p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="6">
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</div></p><p>First off, there's the … reality … of the real world that any digital system has to contend with. For anyone without access to the internet, digital vaccine credentials will prove difficult to acquire, though all the companies Protocol spoke with said they would offer a paper-based QR code for people who don't have smartphones. But there's also the issue of having to corral so many different stakeholders into one system, especially when some health care providers are still reliant on antiquated database systems or <a href="https://www.protocol.com/manuals/health-care-revolution/electronic-health-records-after-coronavirus" target="_self">even paper records</a>. "The amount of inefficiency in the system is tremendous," IBM's Piscini said. </p><p>But in the U.S. at least, all vaccinators are required to report COVID-19 vaccines to their state. Piscini said that even for people who just received a paper copy of their vaccine records, systems like IBM's can likely link up to the state's immunization registry and allow people to import records to a vaccine passport.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
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<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">How CommonPass's app shows your records. </small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Image: CommonPass</small></p><p>And states are willing to help out, Pollak said, adding that CommonPass has started working with Hawaii to roll out its offering for would-be tourists. "We're seeing a lot of state governments stepping up and doing a really good job with this," Pollak said. "It would be surprising if there wasn't a coordinated federal effort very soon." That being said, while <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/iceland-covid-passports-canada-1.5904828" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">many countries around</a> the world are committing to working on vaccine passports, getting a straight answer out of the U.S. government on what it's doing has proven difficult. The State Department, which maintains America's traditional, analogue passports, referred me to Homeland Security, which referred me to the White House. The acting director and chief of staff of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, Kei Koizumi, told Protocol that "OSTP can't discuss projects we are working on before they are publicly announced."</p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="7">
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</div></p><p>But even with systems in place at a federal level, there's still a fair amount of education that needs to happen before people will trust systems like these. "There's a substantial gap in understanding and knowledge of how these systems work, and people's views, in terms of who should get access to which data," Pollak said. </p><p>"We assume there's a Facebook Borg in the sky, monitoring every interaction," Smith said. "The emergence of verifiable credentials breaks down that mental model, where actually it becomes more like decentralized bits of paper that I can carry around, and no one's to know that I've been sharing this information."</p><p>"Our belief is that if you do the right thing, from a platform point of view, protecting your privacy, and giving you control and access to the platform to everybody who wants to use it," Piscini said. "I think those are very basic things that allow the core of the platform that we build to generate adoption by the individuals."</p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="8">
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</div></p><p>Even with a system that works, there may still be holdouts to this potential new normal. "Some people are saying, 'I will never get vaccinated,'" Piscini said, "and I don't know if the airlines are going to say, 'Well, maybe you will never fly again.'"</p>
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Mike Murphy ( @mcwm) is the director of special projects at Protocol, focusing on the industries being rapidly upended by technology and the companies disrupting incumbents. Previously, Mike was the technology editor at Quartz, where he frequently wrote on robotics, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics.
Microsoft’s new Viva tool gives ‘productivity’ a more human definition
Getting more done is still the plan, but Microsoft's trying to help keep everyone sane, too.
Viva Connections is just one part of Microsoft's new way of thinking about the employee experience.
Image: Microsoft
February 4, 2021
David Pierce ( @pierce) is Protocol's editor at large. Prior to joining Protocol, he was a columnist at The Wall Street Journal, a senior writer with Wired, and deputy editor at The Verge. He owns all the phones.
February 4, 2021
Microsoft is launching a new set of tools designed to help companies be more productive. That's not a terribly revolutionary thing for Microsoft to do, but the approach this time is quite different. The new set of tools, called Microsoft Viva, is less about increasing operational efficiency or hitting your KPIs faster, and more about making sure employees are happy, sane and feel taken care of.
While Viva is a set of tools, it's ultimately part of an even larger family: Microsoft's building a new "Employee Experience Platform" to try to help redefine, quantify and achieve a new definition of employee success. The industry Microsoft is trying to capture is worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year, dominated by companies like ServiceNow. And Viva is Microsoft's first foot into the fray. So far, Viva is four things: Viva Learning, a hub for all of a company's training and courses; Viva Topics, an automatically curated library of various internal videos, presentations and other content; Viva Connections, a Facebook Workplace-style intranet that can help people find resources within the company; and Viva Insights, which aims to measure and help improve employee experience.
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</div></p><p>Most companies already have a lot of this stuff, but it's in a dozen different systems that nobody ever remembers to check. Microsoft wants to collect it all in one place, and then by integrating it into Microsoft Teams, make it available in the place everyone spends their time. </p><p>In the long run, Viva Insights is the key to understanding what Microsoft is trying to do with Viva, and with EXP in general. In the early days of the pandemic, Microsoft began hearing a lot of the same question from its customers: How do I find out how my employees are doing? Not just whether they're getting any work done (though there was a bit of that, too), but whether employees are burned out, struggling to manage work-life balance, feeling lonely, all the things so many people have felt over the last year. They wanted to know if Microsoft could offer some insight.</p><p>Even within Microsoft, coping with the new ways of work has been a challenge. "I transitioned about a year ago into this new job that I'm in," said Kirk Koenigsbauer, who is now COO and CVP of Microsoft's experiences and devices group. "I haven't met 80% of my team." The day we chatted, he was gearing up for an all-nighter in his New Hampshire home, in order to do a quarterly catch-up with a team in India. "I've seen so many people I work with, with their kids, their grandparents, their spouses, their cats, their dogs. It's all just <em>there. </em>So how do you keep employees connected?"</p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="2">
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<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTU5MzAwOS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NTgwNTQ0M30.wdSny17MTI_fukVuIu2eRFLxt-IvUW7CjZXjBmgfkXg/img.png?width=980" id="27888" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1aa90af0a9a0a9ebf20602829bf82cba" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Microsoft Viva Insights">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Viva Insights tries to put numbers — and solutions — to questions about employee productivity and well-being.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Image: Microsoft</small></p><p>Things like connection and burnout are hard to measure, but Koenigsbauer is hopeful Microsoft can at least help shed some light on things. "If I'm a manager, I can very quickly kick off a quick survey and get insights. I would call that quantitative data." And here he's careful to note that Microsoft is trying to do this in a privacy-preserving way, anonymizing individual data and only sharing it with bosses in aggregated form. After <a href="https://www.protocol.com/bulletins/microsoft-backtracks-on-productivity-tracking-tools" target="_self">the backlash</a> to the "Productivity Score" that automatically showed managers a lot of individual data about users' activity, Microsoft's eager to not repeat the same mistake.<br></p><p>Koenigsbauer said there are other ways Microsoft is learning to measure employee well-being, but also acknowledged that there's always going to be a qualitative side of the story. He pointed to Viva's partnership with Headspace as an example: "If you have some of this high-level trend information," he said, "they can provide a bunch of tools to help employees, whether it's meditation or a bunch of different services that they're going to provide." </p><p>These insights aren't meant to just be for managers, either: Employees can turn to Viva for help remembering to take breaks and set calendar boundaries, and to ensure they're spending time on the right things. Koenigsbauer pointed to Microsoft's recent Virtual Commute feature, which automatically sets aside time for employees to get ready for work even when they're working from home, as an example of the sort of simple, automated system that can make work better.</p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="3">
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</div></p><p>Most companies will handle these things in different ways, he said, and there will always be outliers who demand ruthless production at all costs. "But generally speaking, people's interests are aligned," he said. "Successful, happy, non-burned out employees are what's going to keep things going." </p><p>Koenigsbauer acknowledged that Viva is new, that the world of work remains in flux, and that a lot is likely to change even in the next several months. "What if two of us decide to go into the office and the other person doesn't want to?" he asked, just to name one example. "Will the fear of missing out happen again?" But he's confident that EXP is a big business going forward, and thinks Microsoft's well-equipped to lead it. The company already knows so much about how its customers work. If it can figure out how to measure that in a way that is both respectful of privacy and useful to all parties — which will be no small task — it can help nudge everyone in better directions.</p>
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David Pierce ( @pierce) is Protocol's editor at large. Prior to joining Protocol, he was a columnist at The Wall Street Journal, a senior writer with Wired, and deputy editor at The Verge. He owns all the phones.
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