Digital Discourse / SIIA News

SIIA Launches Public Sector Innovation Group to Address Changes to the IT Acquisition Environment

March 15, 2012 By

SIIA today announced the launch of a new membership group to help technology firms take advantage of the evolving Federal investment in cloud-related technologies. SIIA also announced that it has brought on Mike Hettinger, a Capitol Hill veteran and leading expert on public sector management, to direct the new division.

Called the Public Sector Innovation Group (PSIG), this new membership division will help cloud service providers and Third Party Assessment Organizations (3PAO) take advantage of the evolving Federal investment in cloud-related technologies. PSIG is the only organization of its kind to serve this innovative segment of the public sector technology market. While SIIA been a leader for years in guiding tech companies in the government procurement process, the formation of PSIG reflects the dramatically changed government marketplace.

The move to the cloud is an enormous opportunity for many government contractors. The creation of PSIG will help SIIA members understand the changing landscape, seize upon new government initiatives, and generally be better positioned for success with Federal IT procurement.

SIIA has been guiding our members through this process for six years, with our annual Cloud/Gov conference at the centerpiece. When the Federal government issued its ‘Cloud First’ policy last year and adopted the FedRAMP Concept of Operations, we knew it was time to do more to help our members understand the impact of changes to the IT acquisition environment.

Hettinger most recently served as Executive Director overseeing Strategic Planning and Market Development in Grant Thornton’s Global Public Sector Practice, where he was responsible for firm-wide strategic business planning, federal marketing, and external relations. Prior to joining Grant Thornton, Hettinger was the staff director of the House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform, Subcommittee on Government Management, Finance and Accountability. Hettinger also has an extensive background in public affairs, having served as a Public Policy Counselor at Patton Boggs LLP, where he oversaw large-scale lobbying and public affairs campaigns. Prior to joining Patton Boggs, Hettinger was Chief of Staff to Representative Tom Davis of Virginia.

Read more about PSIG in today’s Government Computer News feature.

Laura Greenback is Communications Director at SIIA.

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Filed Under: Cloud Computing, Government, Policy, Policy - Cloud Computing, PSIG, SIIA News, Software Tagged With: , , ,

SIIA Issues $35,000 in Anti-Piracy Rewards in Fourth Quarter

January 10, 2012 By

SIIA paid $35,500 in anti-piracy rewards during the final quarter of 2011, among the highest in any quarter since the program’s inception. The rewards went to five people who reported cases of significant workplace end-user software or content piracy.

The workplace is a major battlefield in the fight against piracy, and SIIA’s mission is to identify and stop businesses that profit from software and content they are not authorized to use. We rewarded five individuals who saw significant illegal piracy in the workplace and took action to stop it.

The information these sources provided has allowed SIIA to launch several new investigations and continue the industry’s most aggressive campaign against software and content piracy.

Our Corporate Anti-Piracy Program seeks verifiable tips in order to investigate and stop software and content piracy occurring within an organization. Since the reward program began in 2003, no other trade association has given out more rewards in an effort to combat software and content piracy.

SIIA protects the identities of whistleblowers—making it safe for individuals to report software and content piracy in their workplaces.

One anonymous reward recipient who provided valuable information said, “Thanks to SIIA, the process of reporting software piracy was simple, thorough and secure. I was able to make a difference and, in a small way, help crack down on the illegal use of computer software.”

“I was forced to use illegal software in order to do my job and support my family,” continued the source. “I felt ‘guilty by association.’ It bothered me that they were profiting from the software and never felt obligated to purchase it.”

Corporate piracy often occurs when software has been installed or content is being copied and/or distributed by an organization that does not have a license, or has insufficient licenses from the publisher. Through our Anti-Piracy Reward Program, SIIA offers rewards to eligible individuals who report verifiable instances of corporate software or content piracy. Rewards range from $500 for a settlement of $10,000, to $1 million for cases with settlement amounts over $20 million.

How to Report Corporate Software or Content Piracy
Sources can report corporate software piracy by e-mail (piracy@siia.net), telephone (1.800.388.7478), or the Internet (www.siia.net/piracy/report). Usually the source is a current or former employee of the firm, an SIIA member company representative, vendor, or a person with first-hand knowledge about a company’s IT operations.

Laura Greenback is Communications Director at SIIA.

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Filed Under: Anti-Piracy, SIIA News

SIIA kept busy with Privacy Issues and Cloud Computing; Back from Recess, Congress tackles Patent Reform

September 6, 2011 By

Congress is back and patent reform is at the top of the Senate’s agenda this week.  The House-passed legislation (H.R. 1249) will be before the Senate for a procedural vote this evening, with votes on amendments and ultimately a final vote later this week.  The key issue still looks to be the funding provision, where amendments are expected to be offered to maximize PTO funding and prevent any fee diversion.  If the bill passes without amendment, it will be expedited to the President for enactment. However, any amendments would send the legislation back to the House.

Last week, SIIA joined the Future of Privacy Forum’s (FPF) Application Privacy Working Group and became a sponsor of the FPF project, ApplicationPrivacy.org, an effort to help develop voluntary privacy principles and best practices for mobile software applications.  SIIA joined the project out of the conviction that the industry does not need government regulation, but rather to help focus the industry’s voluntary adoption of transparent practices regarding collection, use and protection of consumer data.  SIIA strongly believes that a trusted environment for users is critical to ensure continued growth and innovation in the mobile marketplace.

Also last week, SIIA submitted comments to the European Commission’s (EC) cloud computing consultation, a public inquiry to develop a European cloud computing strategy that the Commission will present in 2012.  While this is a laudable objective to stimulate a European cloud industry, SIIA’s comments highlighted the challenges associated with trans-border data flows and urged caution regarding the development of harmful approaches like cloud-specific policies and localization requirements.

For SIIA policy updates including upcoming events, news and analysis, subscribe to SIIA’s weekly policy email newsletter, Digital Policy Roundup.

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Filed Under: Cloud Computing, Copyright, Digital Policy Roundup, International Policy, Patent, Policy, SIIA News

SIIA submits comments on Cybersecurity, Innovation and the Internet Economy

August 3, 2011 By

In our continuing effort to maintain and expand the partnership between the private sector and the government to address our nation’s cybersecurity challenges, SIIA submitted comments to the Department of Commerce on Monday in response to their recent Green Paper on Cybersecurity, Innovation and the Internet Economy.

At the heart of the Green Paper is an effort to help define the roles of the Government and the private sector in combating cybersecurity threats and protecting the systems and networks that support the infrastructure that drives the nation’s economy. In our comments, SIIA offered strong support for the Department’s approach of looking toward voluntary codes of conduct for an innovative sector such as the Internet and Information Innovation Sector (I3S). We noted that the most critical element of achieving these goals is to resist an approach that is overly-prescriptive, where mandates would have the adverse effect of slowing the development of standards in the private sector, or the unintended effect of putting U.S. companies at a disadvantage to their counterparts around the world. Given the broad, rapidly-evolving cross-section of industry that comprises the I3S, a flexible industry-led approach is the correct best path forward to achieve an ideal security framework, rather than a regulatory model.

SIIA also noted that while the primary purpose of the Green Paper is to discuss an area that is outside of the critical infrastructure segment, and to bolster security in this area, this exercise can also help to appropriately define the critical framework of what is “covered critical infrastructure,” and it can help to avoid confusion and appropriately allocate resources where they are most needed.

For SIIA policy updates including upcoming events, news and analysis, subscribe to SIIA’s weekly policy email newsletter, Digital Policy Roundup.

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Filed Under: Government, Legislation, Policy, Policy - Cybersecurity, Security, SIIA News

Election for SIIA Board of Directors is now open

March 10, 2010 By

2010-2011

SIIA Board of Directors Elections

The SIIA Board of Directors is the team that makes decisions and sets priorities for the Association at large.  These are your representatives, and you will want to have the best possible advocates for your interests.

SIIA prides itself in having an open process for electing its volunteer leadership.  The process for getting elected to the SIIA Board of Directors is simple: any full member of SIIA who feels they can commit the time and energy is eligible to run for a seat on the SIIA Board of Directors.  Members are self-nominated according to the process outlined below.

The SIIA Board has seventeen seats. In the upcoming election, we will elect nine (9) new Board members to two-year terms.  The nine (9) new Board members will join the returning six (6) members.  This new Board will then appoint two additional Board members to one year terms. The two Board-selected members are usually picked for balancing purposes, since elections may leave one or more segments of our membership under-represented.  For your reference, the returning Board members are:

Suresh Balasubramanian, Director, Worldwide Anti-Piracy, Adobe Systems, Inc.

Daniel Burton, Senior Vice President, Global Public Policy, Salesforce.com

Kenneth Glueck, Vice President, Oracle Corporation

Bernard F. (Bernie) McKay, Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Intuit

Tom Rabon, Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Red Hat, Inc.

Ken Wasch, President, Software & Information Industry Association

If you, or a person from your executive team, are interested in running for the SIIA Board, please have a brief campaign statement (not to exceed 200 words), sent to Marnel Williams (mwilliams@siia.net) no later than Friday, March 26, 2010.  The campaign statements will be bundled together and emailed to the principal contact at each SIIA Full Voting member company.  Members will be able to vote online through a password secure system.

2009-2010 SIIA Board of Directors Elections

The following current Board Members’ terms are expiring:

Cindy Braddon, Vice President, The McGraw-Hill Companies

Joseph T. FitzGerald, Vice President, Legal Deputy General Counsel, Symantec Corporation

Kathy Hurley, Senior Vice President, Strategic Partnerships, Pearson School Companies

Steven Manzo, Vice President, Government Affairs, Reed Elsevier, Inc.

Randy Marcinko, President, MEI

Fiona O’Carroll, EVP, Product Development Digital Products Research & Development, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Scott Schulman, President, Financial Information Services, Dow Jones & Company

Timothy Sheehy, Vice President, Worldwide Intellectual Property & Standard Policy, IBM Corporation

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Filed Under: SIIA News

FISD, Finextra Announce Webcast Series Partnership

January 13, 2010 By

The Financial Information Services Division (FISD) of the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) and Finextra, the leading independent newswire and information source for the worldwide financial technology community, announce a new partnership to produce a series of webcasts in 2010.

The FISD/Finextra Webcast Series will focus on real‐time data management and delivery, reference data, and standards. The events will be hosted in‐studio and broadcast via real‐time streaming video to an invited audience of financial professionals. Participants will be able to interact with panelists to deepen the value of the discussion.

Alternatively, webcasts may be recorded and then broadcast via the web at a specific event time. Both versions will be offered on an on‐demand basis after the web event for additional exposure.

Tom Davin, Managing Director of FISD, stressed the value of the new webcast series to the industry: “A survey of FISD members revealed that more of them would like to interact with FISD programs and thought leadership via more sophisticated technologies. Our partnership with Finextra aims to provide timely and relevant topics and discussion to our member base and beyond via interactive video content.”

The FISD/Finextra Webcast series creates new opportunities to advance thought leadership and industry expertise. Firms interested in organizing panels and presentations will be able to address leading industry topics while connecting with a wide base of existing and prospective clients.

Combining Finextra’s community of 135,000 monthly users and the FISD’s global membership of 140 firms provides sponsors with an excellent outreach platform. Over 2,500 market professionals have registered to attend Finextra video webcasts since March 2009.

Nick Hastings, Managing Director of Finextra, highlighted the value of the Finextra/FISD Webcast series: “This new service will provide the industry with a forum to discuss and learn about key issues affecting global data management via emerging and innovative communication mediums.”

About Finextra
Finextra Research provides an independent online resource – www.finextra.com – to serve the information needs of the worldwide financial technology community. It covers finance‐specific innovations, services, solutions, applications and technologies. Finextra also provides a database of 31,000 financial technology news stories, a comprehensive solutions directory and a catalogue of company announcements from all major technology providers to banks and financial institutions.

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Filed Under: SIIA News

SIIA Says 21-Month Federal Jail Sentence for Software Pirate Demonstrates Consequences of Software Piracy

January 12, 2010 By

For Immediate Release
SIIA Communications Contact: John Crosby, 202.789.4469, jcrosby@siia.net
PR Agency Contact: Beth Dozier, 202.429.1883, bethdozier@rational360.com

SIIA Says 21-Month Federal Jail Sentence for Software Pirate Demonstrates Consequences of Software Piracy

SIIA Initiated Action Against Counterfeiter Responsible for Cheating Nearly 8,000 Consumers

Washington, D.C. (January 12, 2010) – The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), the principal trade association for the software and digital content industries, today called the sentencing of convicted software pirate Matthew Purse a major victory and an indication of how seriously the justice system treats software piracy. Purse was sentenced yesterday to 21 months in federal prison. He also received 3 years probation and $12,000 in fines and restitution.

SIIA initially discovered several massive software piracy schemes and began an investigation that eventually led to the indictment and conviction of Purse. SIIA forwarded the results of its investigation to the U.S. Department of Justice and other government agencies, and then worked closely with them to pursue Purse and others involved in the piracy schemes. On February 26, 2009, Purse pled guilty to conspiracy, mail fraud and criminal copyright infringement. Purse and his accomplice, Christopher Loring Walters who remains a fugitive, engaged in the illegal mass duplication of software and sold it using various eBay accounts and commercial websites, such as SoftwareDiner.com.
Following Purse’s sentencing in Phoenix federal court, Keith Kupferschmid, SIIA Senior Vice President for Intellectual Property Policy & Enforcement, issued the following statement:

“Anyone who thinks software piracy isn’t taken seriously should pay close attention to the Matthew Purse case. The 21-month jail term that he will serve is a warning to all would-be counterfeiters that the crime carries steep costs and real consequences. When SIIA uncovers software piracy, the offenders often end up paying thousands of dollars in damages. And as Mathew Purse found out, SIIA’s investigations can also lead to jail time for these software pirates.”

“Matthew Purse duped nearly 8,000 unsuspecting consumers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. He and Christopher Walters cheated software companies such as Adobe, Symantec, Apple, Corel, Intuit and many others out of millions of dollars in revenue. Like so many others who sell pirated software online or make illegal copies in the workplace, at least Matthew Purse is now finding out that the justice system takes this crime seriously.”

“SIIA leads the industry’s most aggressive campaign against software piracy. Through our own efforts, and through working with the Department of Justice and other government agencies, we pursue and stop pirates operating in the workplace and on the Internet. Our Internet Anti-Piracy Program continues to identify and shut down sites that peddle pirated software and helps make sure those responsible are brought to justice.”

About SIIA
The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) is the principal trade association for the software and digital content industry. SIIA provides global services in government relations, business development, corporate education and intellectual property protection to more than 500 leading software and information companies. For further information, visit: www.siia.net.

About SIIA Anti-Piracy
The Software & Information Industry Association’s Anti-Piracy Division conducts a comprehensive, industry-wide campaign to fight software and content piracy. The pro-active campaign is premised on the notion that one must balance enforcement with education in order to be effective.

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Filed Under: Court Cases, SIIA News