02/16/2016
Diego Ferrer visits Washington DC to Advocate for IT Sector
Wheaton, IL February 16, 2016 – Last week, Diego Ferrer from Orinoco Systems LLC joined the CompTIA DC Fly-In to advocate for IT sector priorities on Capitol Hill during the association’s annual fly-in to Washington, D.C. CompTIA, the Computing Technology Industry Association, through its advocacy arm, champions member-driven business and IT priorities that impact all information technology companies – from small managed solutions providers and software developers to large equipment manufacturers and communications service providers.
As a CompTIA DC Fly-In participant, Diego Ferrer met with Congressional & Senatorial representatives from the offices of Peter Roskam, Robert Dold and Richard Durbin to focus their attention on policies that develop skills for the 21st century workforce, and advocate for changes in the Electronic Communications and Privacy Act (ECPA).
“Innovation in the tech sector is a key force behind a strong 21st century economy and Congress should prioritize issues that affect technology companies,” said Diego Ferrer. “These issues include ensuring tax and regulatory policies that spur innovation; and immigration reform that includes making it easier to recruit and retain the ‘best and the brightest’ of high-tech workers in an effort to close the skills gap and remain globally competitive.”
“We look forward to the 2016 legislative agenda and remain encouraged by the conversations on Capitol Hill about issues critical to our membership,” said Todd Thibodeaux, president and CEO of CompTIA. “We will work closely with congressional leaders to push legislation that boosts the digital economy and fosters American innovation.”
The Electronic Communications and Privacy Act (ECPA) was originally passed in 1986, long before text messaging and email existed as we know it today. Yet the laws covering user privacy haven’t changed. It is critical that lawmakers revamp these outdated laws to reflect the privacy concerns of today.
Any immigration reform legislation should make it easier for businesses to recruit and retain high-tech workers in an effort to close the skills gap and remain globally competitive. Our current immigration system is broken and causing the United States to lag behind in a competitive global marketplace for talent. By not addressing the failings of our immigration system we are threatening our future productivity, ingenuity and the competitiveness of key sectors of our economy, including and especially technology.
The Fly-In ran from February 9 to the 10, 2016. For more information on CompTIA’s advocacy efforts, visit https://www.comptia.org/advocacy.
