They aren't the industry leader, so leading the conversation on regulation helps them to impact the market leader.
It also let's them steer the conversation on regulation before it becomes a conversation occurring outside their control/influence.
Self-regulation is EXTREMELY common for both those reasons in the corporate world. It also never actually works as well as independent regulation, and when there are issues in independent regulation, it frequently occurs as a result of that independence being undermined/corrupted by revolving doors/lobbying/etc.
It's a nice press release, and smart on Microsoft's part, but don't fool yourself into thinking it's not in their self-interest to be doing this. To date, I don't think I can recall any instance of a public corporation acting against its own self-interest for moral reasons.
> It's very strategic on Microsoft's part.
They aren't the industry leader, so leading the conversation on regulation helps them to impact the market leader.
On the other hand, if Microsoft is sincerely worried about this technology (and potential negative impact it may have on it's image just like Amazon a few months ago), then it makes sense they would be lagging behind as they would be more concerned about assigning resources and releasing product?
They aren't the industry leader, so leading the conversation on regulation helps them to impact the market leader.
It also let's them steer the conversation on regulation before it becomes a conversation occurring outside their control/influence.
Self-regulation is EXTREMELY common for both those reasons in the corporate world. It also never actually works as well as independent regulation, and when there are issues in independent regulation, it frequently occurs as a result of that independence being undermined/corrupted by revolving doors/lobbying/etc.
It's a nice press release, and smart on Microsoft's part, but don't fool yourself into thinking it's not in their self-interest to be doing this. To date, I don't think I can recall any instance of a public corporation acting against its own self-interest for moral reasons.