NDAA Delegation Visits Microsoft Cyber Crime Unit.

• Author: Blodgett, Jonathan W.
• Position: National District Attorneys Ass'n

On February 5 and 6, 2019, I was honored to lead a delegation of fellow district attorneys to the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington.The idea behind this meeting started with a discussion I had with my former boss, John E. Murphy, Jr., whose firm Murphy Donoghue Partners, represents Microsoft in Massachusetts. I spoke with Jack about the possibility of a partnership between the National District Attorneys Association and Microsoft to fight and prosecute crime in the new frontier of the digital world as well as improve and enhance data collection especially as it pertains to the scourge of human trafficking. Ultimately, our executive director Nelson Bunn and Microsoft senior attorney Brian Burke worked out the details of our trip including topics of discussion and the makeup of the delegation. (D.A.s with districts of 500,000 or greater.)

After a tour of the sprawling campus comprised of six buildings housing 60,000 employees, we setded in at the Microsoft Cyber Crime Unit facility for an incredibly intense and informative discussion on a myriad of topics including human trafficking, facial recognition, artificial intelligence and tech scams. The team of presenters was comprised of seasoned attorneys, most of whom had distinguished careers as prosecutors or other government service.

We covered a lot of information over the course of the two days and specific points of contact from Microsoft were identified for each topic of discussion to facilitate follow-up. There was a presentation on the Microsoft/NYPD's Domain Awareness System, a sophisticated network of cameras, radiation detectors, license plate readers, etc. The system uses advanced technology to integrate many pieces of data to increase the...