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Microsoft Launches Transparency Center to Fight Mark Left By NSA

Foreign concern about NSA spying is affecting the cloud market, and Microsoft is fighting back.

In an effort to gain trust from governments, Microsoft announced July 1 the opening of its first Transparency Center on its Redmond, Wash., campus.

The new center will provide participating governments an opportunity to review source code of the company’s “key” products, assure integrity of the software, and confirm there are no backdoors, according to a blog post by Microsoft Vice President Matt Thomlinson.

Online monitoring by the National Security Agency (NSA) has caused some organizations abroad to think twice about using American software and devices, and Microsoft reported that it’s causing them to lose business. A report by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) released in August of 2013 concluded (PDF) that the American cloud computing industry will lose $22 billion to $35 billion by 2016 as a result of foreign concern over NSA spying programs. Transparency Centers are part of Microsoft’s plan to alleviate such concerns.

Another Microsoft Transparency Center is expected to open in Brussels, Belgium, by the end of the year.

Colin wrote for Government Technology and Emergency Management from 2010 through most of 2016.