March 2013

[Commentary] What worries me more than potential government cyber offense activities is the possibility that private sector entities or individuals may engage in offensive cyber operations.

Currently, much, if not all, of what we would envision as cyber offense behavior may be illegal under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Attacks against computers in other nations potentially could violate those nation’s cybercrime laws and put those conducting the activities at risk for prosecution in foreign nations, as unenforceable as a prosecution or judgment might be. The potential for cyber vigilantism could be tremendous with limitations and safeguards in place. The old analogy of the Internet to the Wild West and being the Electronic Frontier could ring true with vigilante justice and a blurring of good-bad actors. The potential for the wrong computers to be counter-attacked could also be significant if there were no rules about who could act. Just imagine, if any individual with more than basic computer knowledge decided to track down someone targeting his system and try to take them down, the possibility is high that an innocent bystander, who’s computer may have been used as a pass-through device, would be harmed.

[Herrera-Flanigan is a partner at the Monument Policy Group]

Robert Holleyman, the longtime president and CEO of software lobbying organization BSA, announced that he will step down at the end of April. The organization's executive committee has launched a search for his successor. Holleyman is leaving to launch a new company, Cloud4Growth, that will focus on helping governments and organizations use cloud technology. He will continue to serve as a senior adviser to BSA Chairman Pascal Di Fronzo, the group said.

Meredith has profited from a few key strategies.

They are experts at repurposing their content across multiple platforms (magazines, books, websites, mobile devices, tablets, etc.) and aggressively look beyond advertising and circulation for revenue. In print, they stay as far away from the news as possible. They are particularly successful at licensing their magazine titles’ names to major national businesses selling branded products; they also run their own marketing agency. Meredith hasn’t been immune to the forces battering the industry. But over the past decade, by strategically tweaking their portfolio, they’ve managed to maintain steady profits and reliable margins year after year in spite of the turbulence.