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I2C

January 2024 I2Coalition Legislative Update

The i2Coalition has posted their monthly update of regulatory events for January 2024. Their legislative outlook and summary of key events regarding Section 230/Intermediary Liability among other issues make this monthly summary worth the read. Join i2 to get the more detailed briefing!

The September I2Coalition Legislative Update

The folks at the i2Coalition have posted their monthly update of regulatory events for September 2022. Key events regarding Section 230/Intermediary Liability make it worth the read (among other issues.) Join i2 to get the more detailed briefing!

i2Coalition Panel: Privacy & Privacy Shield

The i2Coalition recently hosted a panel on Capitol Hill regarding the critical and impending issues of Privacy legislation in the US and the EU-US Privacy Shield. This was the third of three panels i2Coalition co-hosted with the European eco Association and included senior staffers from Congress, key i2Coalition members, Board Chair of the eco Association, and moderated by our own Frank Stiff, President of Cheval Capital and Board Chair of the i2Coalition. Watch the full video and learn more on the i2Coalition's website.

Key takeaway: Congress is moving toward enacting Privacy legislation that would have far reaching implications for US business, international trade and existing privacy laws such as California’s new privacy law (CCPA) and GDPR. See panel video 29:30 – 36:00 for an overview of what is driving the legislation and where things stand today.

Key takeaway: The EU-US Privacy Shield is a consensual, long-term data protection regime and is a requirement for any business model in which personal data is stored and processed across borders. Without Privacy Shield, it would be illegal to transfer personal data from the EU to the US, crippling Internet services trade between EU and the US. See 10:00 for an overview of Key Privacy Shield Issues Today.

Key takeaway: See 20:00 for two views on why privacy laws are different between the US & EU.

Key takeaway: See 44:30 for the lessons learned from GDPR after a year.

Cheval Capital

Disclaimer: This post is for general information purposes and is not meant to be taken as financial advice, a recommendation to buy or sell the stocks mentioned above, a comprehensive discussion of valuation or how to do the calculations discussed. Please be sure to consult your financial advisors when valuing your company, considering the sale of your business or making other financial decisions.

Author: Hillary Stiff is Managing Director of Cheval Capital. She has been an investment banker and CFO, completing M&A transactions and arranging financing for a number of companies including The Endurance International Group and Web.Com among many others. She has helped complete over 450 successful web hosting, ISP and related transactions and distributes a list of hosting and related companies that are for sale.

Frank Stiff appointed Director and 2019 Board Chair-Elect of the i2Coalition

Washington D.C., August 2nd, 2018 -  The i2Coalition (Internet Infrastructure Coalition) announced that Frank Stiff, President, and Co-Founder of Cheval Capital, has been appointed to its Board of Directors, and named Chair Elect. Mr. Stiff’s position as Chair Elect became effective on immediately. He will assume his role as Board Chair on January 1st, 2019 and hold the office throughout the year. Until that time, Mr. Stiff will work with current Board Chair Michele Neylon. Mr. Stiff’s full term on the Board of Directors will last until 2021.

Frank is an investment banker with particular expertise in Cloud, hosting and related Internet services businesses. He has spent the last twenty years providing advice and helping many companies in these sectors complete transactions. A regular speaker at industry conferences, Frank was an early member of the i2Coalition and has been active on the Policy Working Group and lobbying fly-ins.

Christian Dawson, i2Coalition Co-Founder, and Executive Director said, "We are a member-led organization, that believes in the importance of small business Internet innovation. I’m extra proud that we are turning to one of our most active members to take on the role of Chair Elect. Frank runs a business designed to help small businesses and is a small business owner himself. His insights have been, and will be, invaluable" 

“Frank has been actively engaged in the internet industry for eons. He knows all the players and has been very active and vocal as an advocate for the industry for many years. I’m confident that he will be a strong and rational voice for our industry,” added i2Coalition Board Chair and Blacknight CEO Michele Neylon. 

Frank commented, “It has been a great pleasure to work with the i2Coalition over the past seven years and I look forward to helping the organization continue its valuable work on behalf of the many companies that build and run the nuts and bolts of the Internet.”

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About i2Coalition

The i2Coalition (Internet Infrastructure Coalition) ensures that those who build the infrastructure of the Internet have a voice in global public policy. Founded in 2012, the i2Coalition is the leading voice for web hosting companies, data centers, registrars and registries, cloud infrastructure providers, managed services providers, and related tech. The i2Coalition protects the innovation and continued growth of the Internet’s infrastructure, essential to the global economy.

Contact
For more information, please contact:

Dakota Graves,
Communications Manager, i2Coalition
718 7th Street NW, 2nd Floor,
Washington DC 20001
Office: (202) 621 0773
dakota@i2Coalition.com

Washington & Encryption

David Snead, co-founder of the Internet Infrastructure Coalition (i2C), and I went to Capitol Hill this past week to lobby on Encryption issues.

The good news was that the Feinstein - Burr legislation was generally thought to be ill-conceived and not going to pass in its current form.  Given the strength of the comments we heard, I got the sense that they had been getting a lot of negative comments on the legislation from different parts of the debate. Unfortunately, the discussions did indicate there was still room for consideration of similarly troublesome legislation in the future.  If you are not up on Feinstein - Burr I recommend this Tech Crunch article.

I think most also recognized that breaking encryption in some manner was not really an option and they wanted to try and find other options to help law enforcement deal with encryption.

In the interesting news camp, there were a number of comments about developing rules to allow the law enforcement, under a valid court order, to hack (or hire hackers to hack) encrypted data. 

The concerning news was that despite making comments about how they recognized that breaking encryption was a bad idea, several commented on the need for both sides to compromise.  How we compromise without breaking encryption is a mystery and a concern that they don't quite get it.

A final note regarding the i2C. These lobbying trips are one of the great perks of being an i2C member and I encourage folks to join the organization and its fight to minimize disruption from ill-conceived government actions.  The current fight on encryption is a hugely important one and I encourage everyone to join in.

Internet Infrastructure Coalition (i2C)

Cheval Capital is pleased to be a charter member of the Internet Infrastructure Coalition.  

The I2 coalition supports those who build the nuts and bolts of the Internet.  The coalition believes the continued growth of the Internet is vital for growing an environment of innovation in America and it seeks to engage in ways to foster success of the Internet and Internet infrastructure industry.

Please check out their website at http://i2coalition.com/ and lend your support!

 

Hillary Stiff & Frank Stiff