Digital Discourse / SIIA News

SIIA buys UK Specialist Media Show, Schedules Fall Conference in London

February 19, 2013 By

SIIA is happy to announce that we have bought the Specialist Media Show, a UK-based organizer of live and online events and resources for consumer and B2B publishers.

The Specialist Media Show has showcased digital media innovation at events for niche publishers since 2010. The next event, Specialist Media Conference, will take place April 24 at the British Library. SIIA’s acquisition will take effect after the event.

SIIA also announced in November that it has merged with the Specialized Information Publishers Association (SIPA), a membership organization serving the needs of niche publishers in the US and Europe. SIIA and SIPA members will work closely with the Specialist Media Show to create joint networking opportunities in Europe.

SIIA is planning a media & publishing summit in September 2013, in London, which will bring together the communities of SIIA, SIPA and the Specialist Media Show.

Launched in May 2010, the Specialist Media Show caters to the needs of niche consumer and business publishers in learning about how to adapt their business to digital media, with workshops, conference, exhibitions and online resources. The live events have generated an online community of specialist publishers with access to practical resources and networking.

Laura Greenback is Communications Director at SIIA. Follow the SIIA Content Division @SIIAContent.

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Filed Under: Content, SIIA News, SIPA

SIIA Announces Commitment to Data-Driven Innovation as a Top Policy Priority in 2013

January 17, 2013 By

The SIIA Government Affairs Council met Wednesday to outline the organization’s policy priorities for 2013.  In addition to identifying the specific initiatives it will pursue in the year ahead, SIIA and its member companies expressed a commitment to making data-driven innovation a top policy priority in the year ahead.  The SIIA Government Affairs Council includes: Reed Elsevier, IBM, Adobe, Cengage, Dow Jones, Intuit,  Kaplan, Kiplinger, Google, McGraw Hill Education, McGraw Hill Financial, Oracle, Pearson, Red Hat, SAS, and Thomson Reuters.

A key theme unifying the work of SIIA on behalf of its members is an increased focus on advancing the effective collection and positive use of data. It is essential that public policy recognizes that innovation and business strategies are increasingly driven by data. Importantly, data-driven innovation not only holds the promise of advancing economic opportunity and jobs, but of providing tremendous consumer and societal benefits.

With so much at stake, SIIA is committed to actively promoting the economic and social value of data-driven innovation. Our efforts will involve direct outreach to legislators, along with a White Paper that includes recommendations for policymakers and governments. Our goal is to make certain that public policy helps enable the tremendous societal and economic benefits of data-driven innovation.

With members in both technology and information services, SIIA is uniquely positioned to highlight and address the public policy issues that arise from the increased salience of data-driven innovation. We began to focus more strongly on this issue in 2012, and it will be an even more important part of our work in 2013.

SIIA also announced its general tech policy priorities for 2013, along with policy priorities in the areas of: intellectual property; public sector IT, and; education technology. [Read more...]

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Filed Under: Cloud/Gov, Content, Education, Government, Policy, Policy - Cloud Computing, Policy - Cybersecurity, Policy - Intellectual Property, Policy - Privacy, PSIG, SIIA News, Software, Software Events

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
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