:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/57865025/brad_smith__1_.0.png)
The tech industry is trapped in its fair share of political battles. Brad Smith is fighting in almost every single one of them.
The Microsoft executive has emerged in recent years as a powerful, vocal public advocate for his company — and his peers — as the tech set tries to battle back government surveillance, seek beneficial changes to U.S. tax laws, address emerging threats from hackers and restore U.S. immigration programs, including DACA.
Under his watch, as president and chief legal officer, Microsoft repeatedly has challenged the U.S. government — particularly on privacy. Last year, for example, it sued the feds for the ability to disclose more information about law enforcement requests to users. By October 2017, the feds backed down.
Another lawsuit — this one over records stored abroad — is currently awaiting a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. That, too, could usher in key new limits on law enforcement’s ability to snoop on web users.
Meanwhile, Smith has emerged as one of the more vocal advocates for DACA, a program that spares young children brought illegally to the United States from being deported. He even delivered a sharp rebuke to President Donald Trump earlier this year when he called on the White House and Congress to broker an immigration deal before moving on to tax reform.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
