It?’s Web News Monday and here?’s what shaping our Web world this week.
Hacker threats are up significantly and according to the U.S. Strategic Command and “Our freedom to use cyberspace is threatened by the actions of criminals, terrorist and nations alike”. Cyber assaults against U.S. Federal agencies are up 152 percent according to news reports in the Sacramento Bee.
In other news, the Associated Press reported that two U.S. based industry trade organizations have combined forces and that means additional focus and funding for IT lobbying in D.C.
According to the report, the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) and the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association GEIA join forces to represent more than 380 companies and combined membership revenues of $8 million have merged.
What does this mean and why is this important to Web professionals? For starters, it means that IT trade associations feel that it?’s important enough to spend over $120,000 lobbying politicians in the first half of 2007, according to federal disclosure forms.
Granted it?’s a small amount of money compared to the reported $10.7 million spent by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the $1.6 million spent by the American Petroleum Institute during the same time frame but all the same worth noting and monitoring.
I say worth monitoring because trade associations like the ITAA and GEIA differ considerably from professional associations like the WOW organization since they typically represent large corporations as a focus. WOW?’s mission as you know is to support the practicing professional and those that teach them.
That?’s not to say that corporations can?’t be members of WOW it?’s a simple case of mission and vision statements and we need to be aware of the distinct differences.
The net effect of this news is that WOW members will need to monitor the goings on in D.C. to determine our commonality and what issues exist if any within public policy arena in the U.S. and elsewhere for that matter that have an affect on our mission.
For your information and for the sake of framing this into perspective and historical context, the GEIA was founded in 1952 focuses on technical standards work and government technology market analysis.
The ITAA, which began in 1961, is a major public policy player working on broader technology business issues.
The WOW organization, a relatively newcomer was established in 1996 was established provide community, education and certification for aspiring and practicing Web professionals.
Look for additional coverage on this topic in future WOW Technology Minutes. Thanks for listening and watching.
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