For Release: May 16, 2007
Contact: J. Tucker Martin or David Clementson
Email: tucker.martin@oag.state.va.us or dclementson@oag.state.va.us
Phone: 804-786-2071
Attorney General McDonnell Takes ‘Tech Tour of Northern Virginia’
Joins President of Northern Virginia Technology Council, Bobbie Kilberg, for Four Stops
Alexandria - Attorney General Bob McDonnell devoted his Wednesday to traveling Northern Virginia to learn more about the area’s fast growing, and economically dynamic, technology industry. He was joined on his tour by Bobbie Kilberg, the President of the Northern Virginia Technology Council.
McDonnell made four stops on his tour. He visited Micron Technology in Manassas, addressed the Virginia Business Council at a lunch in Arlington, toured Symantec’s Security Operations Center in Alexandria, and ended the day at AOL’s headquarters in Loudoun County.
Speaking about the tour, Attorney General McDonnell remarked, “Virginia’s technology industry, anchored in Northern Virginia, is a world leader in innovation and advancement. Thanks to Virginia’s nationally acclaimed fiscal and regulatory environment, many of the world’s leading high tech companies have made Virginia their home. Virginians have benefited enormously from these developments.”
McDonnell continued noting, “It is imperative that Virginia continue to attract the high tech businesses that are a key part of the future of economic development in the Commonwealth. To do this we must compete against the world. This is one of the reasons I have launched my Government and Regulatory Reform Task Force, to identity and eliminate excessive or unduly burdensome regulations that hurt our free enterprise system, and possibly discourage high tech companies from moving to, or prospering in, our state. I have also worked to make Virginia a national leader in the effort to keep the Internet free from the child pornographers, identity thieves, financial scammers and others who endanger the security and reliability of this critical information medium.”
“The Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) is very pleased that Attorney General McDonnell has decided to tour the facilities of three NVTC member companies in Northern Virginia: Micron Technology, Symantec and AOL,” said NVTC President & CEO Bobbie Kilberg. “Attorney General McDonnell is a strong supporter of the technology industry and I am delighted to join him on this tour. NVTC is the largest technology council in the nation with 1,100 member companies. These companies exemplify the strength and diversity of technology innovation in this region. Technology is the economic engine that drives the economy of the Commonwealth and the heart of that industry is in Northern Virginia.”
Charles Curran, Chief Counsel for AOL, commented, "AOL is thrilled to have Attorney General McDonnell here today. He has worked very closely with Virginia’s technology community in developing innovative new programs and policies in the fight against cyber-crime. AOL wholeheartedly supports these efforts and we are proud to be a partner in his Youth Internet Safety education initiative, which will help protect children from online predators."
Grant Geyer, Symantec’s Vice President for Delivery Response & Managed Security Services, and the senior site executive at the Alexandria Security Operations Center, added, "Symantec is delighted to have Attorney General McDonnell tour one of our security operations centers in Alexandria, Virginia. Symantec currently has over 350 employees in Virginia, has contributed to 57 Virginia charities, and provides a large revenue stream to the state. As a leader in the high tech industry, we appreciate the leadership role Attorney General McDonnell has taken on many of our key priority issues, including information security, identity theft, Internet safety, and data protection/retention, and we look forward to working more closely with him on these important topics."
About the Participants in the Attorney General’s “Tech Tour of Northern Virginia”
The Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) is the membership association for the technology community in Northern Virginia. NVTC has more than 1100 member companies representing over 188,000 employees.
Micron Technology Virginia is deploying the world's most advanced memory technology, 300mm wafer manufacturing. Micron’s Virginia facility represents a substantial investment in resources to ensure the success of its flagship operation. The company has over 1,700 employees at its Manassas, Virginia location. According to a recent George Mason University study it supports over 4,600 full time equivalent jobs. The company adds $285 million to Virginia's economy annually. To date the company has invested over $3 billion in Virginia.
Symantec’s Security Operations Center in Alexandria is one of four such Symantec facilities worldwide that help to provide Symantec's global threat intelligence. The facility has over 350 employees in Virginia. Each Security Operations Center provides vendor-neutral security monitoring, analysis, response and management of customer security devices-firewalls, intrusion detection, AV, security appliances-in real time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
One of the largest private employers in Northern Virginia, AOL LLC is headquartered in Dulles with over 4000 employees throughout its campus. AOL's network of web properties is the second largest in the U.S. with some of the best known brands on the Internet - including MapQuest, AIM, Moviefone, ICQ, Netscape and TMZ.
Attorney General McDonnell and Virginia’s Technology Community
Since taking office in January of 2006, Attorney General McDonnell has worked to strengthen Virginia’s technology industry through ensuring Virginia remains the national leader on Internet safety issues and the national model for business friendly regulatory environments. In 2006 his Youth Internet Safety Task Force brought together leaders from both the public and private sectors to look at new ways to keep children safe online. The Computer Crimes Unit of the Office of the Attorney General secured the nation’s first felony conviction for SPAM, and continues to lead on Internet safety and identity theft issues. In August of 2006 the Attorney General announced his Government and Regulatory Reform Task Force, focused on reducing unnecessary and excessive regulation in the Commonwealth. The work of this Task Force is ongoing.
To Learn More about the Attorney General’s Youth Internet Safety Task Force Visit:
http://www.oag.state.va.us/InternetTaskForce/index.html
To Learn More about the Attorney General’s Government and Regulatory Reform Task Force Visit:
http://www.oag.state.va.us/PRESS_RELEASES/NewsArchive/Announcement.html
In addition to these efforts, Attorney General McDonnell has included in his yearly legislative agenda a number of important pieces of legislation related to the high tech industry in the Commonwealth. These include measures to improve online security and safety. Below is a listing of McDonnell’s successful technology-related legislation.
2006 General Assembly Session
Identity Theft
HB 1141 (Cline) and SB 460 (Devolites-Davis) increases the number of identity theft crimes that are prosecutable as a felony. Identity theft is a rapidly growing and devastating crime, and under the new law, any person who steals five or more identities in the same transaction can be prosecuted for a felony, regardless of financial loss. This covers the new criminal practice of “pharming.” This legislation was passed in response to the mass database breaches that made national news last year.
SB 461 (Devolites-Davis) requires that documents held by agencies of the Commonwealth that are no longer needed, primarily those containing personal information of Virginians, are destroyed to prevent their access by those wishing to perpetrate identity theft.
Internet Safety
HB 1014 (Hurt) and its companion, SB 348 (Howell) prohibit intentionally operating a website to facilitate the payment for accessing child pornography over the Internet. This legislation is intended to prohibit websites from charging people to view child pornography over the Internet. The bills are also intended to penalize third party billing companies that intentionally assist in processing payment of those consumers who want to purchase access to child pornography.
2007 General Assembly Session
Internet Safety
SB 1071 (McDougle) and HB 2749 (Hurt): This bill requires registration of all email addresses and other online identities as part of the Sex Offender Registry. Virginia is the first state in the nation to require the registration of this information. It also authorizes the State Police to provide certain information to social networking websites such as MySpace.com and Facebook.com. Finally, the legislation creates mandatory-minimum sentences for production and distribution of child pornography and online solicitation of children. These mandatory minimums will be especially harsh for offenses involving child victims below 15 years of age.
HB 3017 (Callahan) This legislation establishes the Youth Internet Safety Fund for a Prevention and Awareness Campaign about dangers of the Internet. It will permit an ongoing public education and awareness program for parents and children through TV, radio, DVD’s and other promotional materials.
SB 1357 & SB 1239 (Obenshain) and HB 2953 & HB 2980 (Bell) Expands asset forfeiture provisions to include possession of child pornography and online solicitation cases. Includes on-line child solicitation and production of child pornography cases in the presumption against bail. Additionally, this legislation allows Commonwealth’s Attorneys to issue administrative subpoenas to Internet Service Providers for computer-facilitated child exploitation investigations.
Regulatory Reform
SB 1139 (Wagner) and HB 2537 (Landes) This legislation creates a “fast track” removal process for those administrative regulations that are outdated, inefficient or obsolete. Further, it streamlines the Administrative Process Act to promote necessary rule making and to provide more flexibility to participants in the process.
