The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) has written new Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross asking him to expand President Donald Trump's executive order requiring expedited reviews of manufacturing-related regs affecting the creation of digital goods.
"[A]s you conduct your expedited review of regulations to support and promote the expansion of domestic manufacturing," the organization wrote to Ross. "SIIA urges you to not limit these efforts to traditional manufacturing. Rather, we urge you to cast a wider net that captures the breadth of the U.S. economy, covering all domestic production activities that present opportunities for economic and job growth. Regardless of the economic sector, whether in manufacturing, software development, or other digital content production that creates enormously valuable intellectual property, it is imperative to conduct a broad review of existing regulations to ensure that the benefits outweigh the limits to innovation and potential economic or consumer welfare that can be derived from new products and services."
The letter points out that the software industry accounts for $425 billion of the GDP, directly employs 2.5 million workers and indirectly supports millions more. The Trump Administration has been focused on the impact of regs on the economy and jobs.
What specific regs does SIIA want Ross to review? The letter did not elaborate.
"With the rise of connected devices throughout the Internet of Things, we think a broad review of policies and regulations will reveal that there are challenging regulations across different industrial sectors that limit adoption of innovative new technologies," SIIA senior VP of government affairs, Mark MacCarthy, told Broadcasting & Cable. But he also added that "statutes like the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the Video Privacy Protection Act, while critical consumer protection laws, were written before the rise of mobile internet media, and therefore the regulations and legal frameworks spawned by these outdated laws have created an environment fraught with litigation."
