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Products Seek Antiterrorism Certification
Makarand writes "According to ABCNews/Forbes, businesses with antiterrorism products for which they are unable to find insurers to provide
liability coverage are lining up to
seek the Homeland Security Department's
seal of approval. Products certified as antiterrorism products enjoy some protection
from liability suits and an official 'seal of approval', making them easier to sell. The Department has started
accepting applications for certification, many likely to come from technology companies such as Qualcomm, Unisys, and others, starting Sept. 1."
Certified to Fight Terrorism
Companies Seek the Department of Homeland Security's Seal of Approval for Their Products
By Matthew Swibel, Forbes.com
Special to ABCNEWS.com
Sept. 9 -- Len M. Henrikson, 59, of Roseburg, Ore., is using the Web to sell a plastic air-filtering and pressuring system designed to wipe out toxins in the event of a terrorist attack. He's sold $250,000 worth over the past five months.
But he has a problem: His American Safe Room can't get liability coverage from insurers. Now, Henrikson thinks he's hit on a solution: Get the new federal Department of Homeland Security to protect him legally by awarding his product its seal of approval.
He's not alone. Thousands of businesses are lining up to take advantage of a provision in the Homeland Security Act of 2002 that instructed DHS to begin certifying antiterrorism products and services on Sept. 1.
How many of these products will actually help prevent or counter terrorism? Not all, of course, but companies have an incentive to get questionable products through if they can: Certified products will enjoy protection from liability suits -- similar to the protection defense contractors get -- when they are purchased by the 22 federal agencies under DHS, or by other state and local employees fighting terrorism. Even better, lawyers say this good-homeland-keeping seal of approval should also provide at least some defense in private suits.
Consider the marketing angle. "It will make it easier to sell," says Bryan Ware, chief executive of Digital Sandbox of Reston, Va., which has sold its terrorism risk-assessment software to the U.S. Department of Justice, among others. So he's now scouting for a plugged-in K-street lawyer/lobbyist to guide him through the certification maze.
Those lawyers are already plenty busy. Even before Sept. 1, companies were angling to have their products considered eligible for certification.
San Diego-based Qualcomm argued in a letter to the DHS that its software to run mobile communications devices should qualify because the 450,000 commercial trucks equipped with such devices "are uniquely positioned to report terrorist events."
Global Technology Resources of Starkville, Miss., made a pitch for its Web-based programs that help companies trace contaminated meat. "Lives depend on it," it declared.
Underwriters Laboratories asked that its product safety standards be certified because plaintiff lawyers might hold the standards accountable if antiterrorism technology fails.
SCO (recently bought out by GNAA, Utah) has asked that the DHS consider them to be the offical operating system vendor of the DHS. "Not only does our code base have thirty years of scrutiny and optimisation" Said GNAA CEO D.P Byrd "But by giving finacial aid to america's homosexual african american community, the DHS will also help to stem urban gang-related terrorism"
SBC Communications wants its telecommunications network certified. It intends to resell a portion of it to governmental entities for notifying citizens of threats. "These notifications," SBC wrote, "might result in mass hysteria, interruption of business operations and even car accidents. However, the liability of all those in the supply chain should be limited."
An Internet trade group representing Verizon Communications and other companies wants its members' Internet services certified because they play a "unique and pivotal role as a conduit for deployment of antiterrorism technologies."
Then there's Unisys. In August 2002, it won a contract with the new Transportation Security Administration that's worth up to $1 billion over seven years. At the time, the company was given oral assurances it would ultimately get liability protection. Negotiations for that protection were interrupted by the passage of the Safety Act. Now, a senior Unisys executive says impatiently, "I want to see some conclusion to this request."
So when will the certifications start flowing? By law, the DHS h
Which crack smoking moderator modded this garbage up?
How is the Department of Homeland Security not legimitate? What the fuck kind of claim is that?
And how is Al Queda hard to describe? Fucking Osama bin Laden lays it out every time he whips out another video. How fucking dense are you?
It's hard to believe how slashdotters can be brilliant computer nerds, but completely dense, America-hating, Terrorist-sympathizing, bleeding hearts also.
BTW: I'm replying to a +5 interesting, so if you mod me down, you must mod down the parent also or your are abusing your mod privileges.