Digital Discourse / Policy

SIIA Makes Policy Recommendations to Realize the Economic and Social Value of the Internet of Things

October 1, 2013 By

We are at a key inflection point in the history of information technology (IT).  The last decade has brought about significant advances in IT, representing an evolution for IT from a specialized tool into a pervasive influence on nearly every aspect of everyday life.

This new Internet-enabled environment, often referred to as the “Internet of Things,” presents tremendous economic and social value, and is capable of transforming the way we work, communicate, learn and live our lives. Consumers, citizens and society as a whole stand to benefit greatly from innovative uses of data to improve health outcomes, streamlining and enhancing financial services, enhancing education and learning, and improving and maximizing our physical infrastructure.

SIIA proposes the following five recommendations for policymakers to maximize the beneficial outcomes of the Internet of Things:

  1. Policymakers should promote technology neutrality and avoid technology mandates.
  2. De-identification often provides an opportunity way to balance the needs of DDI and privacy protection.
  3. Uniform rules cannot be applied broadly to the role of notice and choice.
  4. The principle of data minimization should be re-interpreted.
  5. The Internet of Things requires a policy framework that provides for an evolving view of privacy rights based on risk and societal benefits.

I will participate in a panel discussion at the National Press Club today about building trust and confidence with regard to the Internet of Things.  The 2013 M2M & Internet of Things Global Summit, hosted by Forum Europe, will take place in Washington DC today and tomorrow.

David LeDuc is Senior Director, Public Policy at SIIA. He focuses on e-commerce, privacy, cyber security, cloud computing, open standards, e-government and information policy. Follow the SIIA public policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPubPolicy.

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Filed Under: Content, Policy, Policy - Privacy, Software Tagged With: , ,

SIIA Joins Tech Companies, Civil Rights Groups in Support of Surveillance Transparency Legislation

September 30, 2013 By

SIIA today joined tech companies and civil rights groups including Google, Apple, Twitter and the ACLU in support of legislation that would improve transparency around government surveillance of the Internet.

In a letter to Senate and House Judiciary Committee leaders, SIIA joined dozens of tech companies and civil rights and technology groups in support of Sen. Al Franken’s (D-MN) Surveillance Transparency Act of 2013, and Rep. Zoe Lofgren’s (D-CA)Surveillance Order Reporting Act of 2013. The bills would clarify that companies have the right to publish basic statistics about government demands for user data that they receive.

The letter states:

“Such transparency is important not only for the American people, who are entitled to have an informed public debate about the appropriateness of that surveillance, but also for international users of U.S.-based service providers who are concerned about privacy and security.”

David LeDuc is Senior Director, Public Policy at SIIA. He focuses on e-commerce, privacy, cyber security, cloud computing, open standards, e-government and information policy. Follow the SIIA public policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPubPolicy.

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Filed Under: Policy, Policy - Privacy

Mike Marchesano Named Managing Director of SIIA’s American Business Media Division

September 30, 2013 By

SIIA today announced that media industry executive Mike Marchesano will join  as Managing Director of the American Business Media (ABM) Division of SIIA. ABM merged with SIIA on June 30.

Marchesano most recently was President and CEO of Aequor Media, a consulting firm dedicated to providing strategic, customized technology solutions for B2B and consumer magazines, newspapers, and Fortune 1000 companies.  Marchesano was also Managing Director at the Jordan Edmiston Group, an investment banking firm, where he led the sale of Congressional Quarterly to the Economist Group. Before that, he was Executive Vice President & Chief Transformation Officer at The Nielsen Company; President and CEO at VNU Business Media;  President and CEO at Bill Communications (an operating company of VNU), and President at BPA International (now BPA Worldwide).  Marchesano was an ABM board member from 2001-07, serving as chairman in 2006-07, and a SIIA Content Division board member from 2007-11.

SIIA President Ken Wasch said:

“With changing business models, new delivery platforms and new competition, the business media industry will benefit enormously from someone with Mike’s perspective and experience. With Mike at the helm, the ABM division will develop new programs and services that help to advance the business media industry.”

Marchesano said:

“With the merging of ABM and SIIA, the opportunity to showcase the unique and powerful role business media and information provides its audiences and marketers is very exciting. I am thrilled to take on this responsibilty for our industry and privileged to lead the organization.”

Neal Vitale, Chairman of ABM and President & CEO of 1105 Media, Inc. said:

“We are immensely fortunate to have been able to recruit an executive of Mike’s expertise and stature. I am looking forward to working with him as we grow ABM.”

Laura Greenback is Communications Director at SIIA.

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Filed Under: Content, Education, Policy, SIPA, Software Tagged With: ,

Postal Service Files Exigent Rate Case

September 25, 2013 By

Following a meeting of the Postal Board of Governors today, the postal service announced it plans to file an exigent rate increase with the PRC (Postal Regulatory Commission) for approval.  We have been told the amount of the proposed exigent rate increase is 4.3% and will apply to all classes of mail. If approved by the PRC it would take effect January 26, 2014.  This increase would be in addition to the annual CPI increase of 1.6%, which will also take effect on January 26th. If the exigent filing is approved the total increase in January will be 5.9%.

SIIA/ABM is strongly opposed to the exigent rate increase and will be directly involved in efforts to defeat the exigent rate filing on behalf of our members. We will update you as more information is made available.  Below is more detail about how the exigent filing process works.

An exigent rate filing is a special rate increase request beyond the annual CPI increase.  It is allowed by law if the Postal Service has been affected by “extraordinary or exceptional circumstances.”  After the Postal Board of Governors approve the exigent filing as they did today, it is submitted to the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) for a 90-day review after which they approve or disapprove the filing.  During the 90 day review period the PRC will also question the Postal Service’s filing information to aid in their decision process.  This is an open rulemaking process and as a result the mailing industry and other are permitted to file comments with the PRC during the 90 day process. As a member of the Affordable Mail Alliance (AMA), we will file comments.

AMA was instrumental in defeating the 2010 exigent filing, of which ABM was a participant. ABM/SIIA and two members recently met with the PRC to better acquaint them with the concerns of our membership and the importance of predictable increases as provided by the current CPI increase structure. In addition, we informed the PRC of the results of the member survey we conducted earlier this year and how detrimental additional rate increases would be to the B-to-B periodical industry.

While we know this is not the outcome that we had hoped for, please know that SIIA / ABM will be working hard on behalf of all of our members against this rate increase.

Michael Hettinger is VP for the Public Sector Innovation Group (PSIG) at SIIA. Follow his PSIG tweets at @SIIAPSIG. Sign up for the Public Sector Innovation Roundup email newsletter for weekly updates.

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Filed Under: Policy

How NSA Revelations are Affecting the Tech Industry

September 24, 2013 By

Revelations about the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance efforts are continuing to pose serious business challenges for the tech sector. SIIA is tracking the repercussions closely. Here are a few important developments to note:

Market Backlash: Studies and surveys have suggested a possible backlash against cloud providers and technology companies generally.  Here’s a summary of some of them:

  • CSA Survey: In July a survey from the Cloud Security Alliance reported  that  “10% of 207 officials at non-U.S. companies have canceled contracts with U.S. service providers following the revelation of the NSA spy program last month…the survey also found that 56% of non-U.S. respondents are now hesitant to work with any U.S.-based cloud service providers.”
  • ITIF Study: By comparing projected growth of US cloud computing sales with a variety of hypothetical sales losses, ITIF suggests that US cloud companies could miss out on as much as $35 billion in additional overseas sales over the next three years.
  • Forrester Study: Forrester thinks the potential impact could be as high as $180 billion by 2016, taking into account the reactions of U.S. and non-US companies, the impact on non-US cloud providers and the effects on the rest of the hosting and outsourcing market.

Repercussions for Tech: The NSA revelations continue to have larger repercussions for tech companies in the form of localization requirements and new challenges to the multi-stakeholder form of Internet governance.  Here are updates on several of these challenges:

  • Brazil’s controversial new internet plans, calling for server and data localization, a local encrypted email service and a separate transatlantic cable connection to Europe that bypasses the US.
  • UN General Assembly Address: After canceling a US state visit over NSA spying, Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff issued an announcement called the interception of Brazilian communications “illegal” and said such a “grave fact” was an “assault” on sovereignty and “incompatible with a democratic coexistence between friendly countries.”  She then delivered the opening speech at the UN General Assembly today, rejecting U.S. government surveillance programs as inconsistent with human rights and a violation of national sovereignty, and calling for “multilateral mechanisms for the worldwide network that are capable of ensuring principles such as:
  1. Freedom of expression, privacy of the individual and respect for human rights.
  2. Open, multilateral and democratic governance, carried out with transparency by stimulating collective creativity and the participation of society, Governments and the private sector
  3. Universality that ensures the social and human development and the construction of inclusive and non-discriminatory societies
  4. Cultural diversity, without the imposition of beliefs, customs and values.
  5. Neutrality of the network, guided only by technical and ethical criteria, rendering it inadmissible to restrict it for political, commercial, religious or any other purposes.

She concludes: “Harnessing the full potential of the Internet requires, therefore, responsible regulation, which ensures at the same time freedom of expression, security and respect for human rights.”

Civil Society Calls for Principles: International civil society groups have issued a call for government surveillance principles consistent with human rights.

EU Response: Viviane Reding’s address in Brussels last week held up the Data Protection regulation as the EU’s response to the fear of US government surveillance, explicitly took privacy issues off the table for discussion in TTIP, and suggested the formation of an EU-area cloud that would compete globally on the basis of better privacy rules and streamlined government regulation.

Mark MacCarthy, Vice President, Public Policy at SIIA, directs SIIA’s public policy initiatives in the areas of intellectual property enforcement, information privacy, cybersecurity, cloud computing and the promotion of educational technology. Follow Mark on Twitter at @Mark_MacCarthy

 

 

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Filed Under: Policy, Policy - Privacy, Software Tagged With: , ,

SIIA Urges US Postal Service Board of Governors to Refrain from Exigent Rate Increase

September 19, 2013 By

In a letter yesterday, SIIA urged the US Postal Service’s Board of Governors to refrain from moving forward with an exigent rate increase on periodicals. SIIA sent the letter in response to signs that the board may increase the postal rate by 7-10% when it meets next on Sept. 24-25.

SIIA believes simply that there will not be any positive return from the filing of an exigent rate case. While there may be a short term increase in revenues, this action will force mailers in all classes of mail to take action to reduce their postage expenses.

Recently SIIA surveyed its members, to better understand how their mailing habits would be affected by postal rate increases. SIIA’s members publish more than 600 print periodical titles and mail about 800 million magazines and newsletters each year. SIIA and it’s newest division, ABM, represent about 15% of the Postal Service’s periodicals class.

The survey results support our overall position in opposition to an exigent increase. Two thirds of respondents said they would reduce mailed periodicals by an average of 11% if postal rates increased by 7.5%. If rates increased by 10%, nine out of 10 of our members say they would reduce mailed periodicals by about 13%. Even if rates increased by less than 7.5%, our members would still reduce their mailings. Since we mail in all classes of mail to support our periodicals, mail volume in other classes of mail would be reduced as well.

SIIA has found that in the long run, an exigent rate increase will reduce, if not eliminate, any increase in revenues. It is very likely that the lost mail volume will never return.

Michael Hettinger is VP for the Public Sector Innovation Group (PSIG) at SIIA. Follow his PSIG tweets at @SIIAPSIG. Sign up for the Public Sector Innovation Roundup email newsletter for weekly updates.

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Filed Under: Policy

Intellectual Property Roundup: The Latest IP Policy & Enforcement News

September 18, 2013 By

Enforcement News

Kim Dotcom’s Mega-Lawsuit Could Make Him a Multi-Millionaire Again (Wired)
MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom filed a seven-figure lawsuit against the New Zealand government over the 2012 raid on his mansion, and the electronic spying that preceded it.

Aereo Claims DC Injunction Doesn’t Affect It (GigaOM)
Broadcasters and upstart streaming TV service Aereo are skirmishing in Boston over whether an injunction issued in DC against another streaming service should affect Aereo. Aereo claims the two companies’ technology are not the same, and that the DC ruling misunderstands copyright law.

Fashion Designers Look to Patents to Fight Knockoffs (Reuters)
Because U.S. copyright and trademark laws often do not apply to new, logo-free designs, fashion designers are applying for design patents — patents that protect the way something looks — to protect clothing and other accessories from being targets for knock-offs.

MPAA Report Says Google, Other Search Engines a Major Gateway to Piracy (Los Angeles Times)
A study released by the Motion Picture Association of America alleges that search engines are making it too easy for consumers to find pirated content online, even when they’re not looking for it. The MPAA says it found no evidence that the change Google made to its algorithm last year to take into account the number of copyright takedown notices a site has received affected search-referred traffic to illegal sites.

IP Policy News

Senate Judiciary Chairman Crafting Bill to Combat ‘Patent Trolls’ (The Hill)
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy plans to introduce legislation in the coming weeks to limit frivolous patent lawsuits.

Expanded Anti-Piracy Bill Hits Russian Parliament (RIA Novosti)
A new bill allowing for websites to be blocked if they contain any copyright-infringing content was introduced in the Russian parliament, expanding an earlier law against film piracy that was met with considerable public outcry.

Keith Kupferschmid is General Counsel and SVP, Intellectual Property Policy & Enforcement at SIIA. Follow Keith on Twitter at @keithkup and sign up for the Intellectual Property Roundup weekly newsletter here.

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Filed Under: Anti-Piracy, Policy, Policy - Intellectual Property Tagged With: , ,
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