Often there is not enough time in the day to get all the stuff you need to get done for work, and you also need to try to maintain a good work-life balance. So it’s understandable that hosts are mostly ignorant of the various legislative activities going on that can impact the hosting industry in the future.
At HostingCon, I went to a SaveHosting lunchtime meeting – which may possibly be the most important session I went to during the conference. While I try to keep up with most things impacting the hosting industry, I must admit that I had little knowledge of bills making their way through congress and their impact on the hosting industry. The call from the meeting organizers was for all hosts to start learning about the bills that may impact their business and to organize so that our voice is heard.
Well, I’m in. I think this is important enough to carve out some time to get informed and get involved. SaveHosting can count on DiscountASP.NET in this effort.
In the past, there have been efforts to create hosting organizations, but these organizations never endured. I remember joining the Web Host Guild back in circa 1998 with Affinity Hosting. Back then the charge was a little more self-serving – to help police the hosting industry in order to raise the standards of hosting – as the web hosting industry was in its infancy and operated more like the wild wild west. But even with these past failed efforts, I think it is important get educated and work toward a collective voice so that politicians will consider how our industry is affected by the decisions they make. The hosting industry helps drive innovation, helps the economy, helps create jobs and is the foundation for others to create their businesses and services.
Up until now, the hosting industry has been relatively lucky that there have really been few barriers that stifled innovation and growth of the industry. With a much more mature hosting industry now, we can’t always count on luck as our strategy for sustaining growth. Some of the legislation being considered in congress today has the potential to stifle innovation and growth of the hosting industry and add serious operational and financial burden to hosting providers (which will be passed along to hosting customers) – we need to get a seat at the table and get our voices heard.
For more information about SaveHosting:
Facebook: facebook.com/savehosting
Twitter: twitter.com/savehosting
Takeshi Eto
VP Marketing and Business Development