August 4, 2011 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) – Leaders of some of the world’s largest web hosting companies are meeting in San Diego on Monday, August 8 to discuss major threats to their industry and businesses posed by legislation currently pending in the U.S. Congress. The gathering, entitled “Save Hosting!,” will take place at noon at the San Diego Convention Center, room 30A, in conjunction with the
HostingCon conference.
Attendees at the meeting will include Christian Dawson, COO of ServInt and industry leaders from SoftLayer, Hosting.com, SingleHop and other innovative hosting companies.
Host company officials and other members of the Internet infrastructure industry are encouraged to attend this important meeting and learn about the scope of the threats posed to their business and efforts being organized to counter these threats.
According to Dawson, since its inception, the hosting industry has primarily been allowed to operate under fairly business-friendly regulations. However, legislation that is making its way through Congress represents a significant change in the way government regulates the dissemination of data in the U.S.
This legislation would impose regulatory and compliance programs on businesses that only the largest hosting companies could afford. The hosting industry is primarily comprised of small to medium service businesses. Hosting companies are organizing to address the potential threats to their businesses if the legislation were to pass, including liability for customer’s content and burdensome record retention requirements.
One such bill is S 968, the so-called PROTECT-IP Act, which Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced to prevent online threats to economic creativity and theft of intellectual property, as well as for other purposes. According to Dawson, under the legislation, even if host companies comply with the provisions of the bill, they may still be sued since, unlike provisions benefitting credit card processing companies, compliance does not result in immunity from civil suits.
Other pending bills - including S1207, the Data Security and Breach Notification Act of 201; S 1408, the Data Breach Notification Act of 2011; HR 1981, Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act; and, HR 1841 Data Accountability and Trust Act - do not take into account the hosting industry at all, and as a result create regulatory gaps that could lead to confusion about enforcement and enforcement targets.
Those interested in learning more about the legislation and its effect on the hosting industry as well as Save Hosting! can visit:
http://www.hostingcon.com/blog/privacy-public-policy-future-hosting/
http://facebook.com/savehosting
http://twitter.com/savehosting
The organizers of HostingCon have provided a discount code which will allow those not participating in HostingCon to attend the meeting. At registration, individuals can use the code "AssociationPlanMonday" to receive $60 off either a full conference pass (with or without lunch) or off a single day pass for Monday.
Online registration is available at http://www.hostingcon.com/account/register/
HostingCon 2011 will be held on August 8 – 10, 2011. The conference features 52 educational sessions across 3 full days presented by more than 100 speakers and panelists, including numerous industry thought leaders and trend setters. More than 1,800 people from all areas and niches of the hosted services industry are expected to attend.
