Four politicians get Cyber Champion awards

The Business Software Alliance, a trade group, gave awards to four members of Congress March 10 for their work on policy issues of interest to the commercial software industry.

Robert Holleyman, president and chief executive officer of the alliance, commended the congressional leaders for "policies that encourage innovation and economic growth."

At a Capitol Hill reception, the association gave its Cyber Champion Award, to Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) and Rep. Cal Dooley (D-Calif.).

The alliance cited Allen for setting policies on information security, international trade, e-commerce, privacy and Internet taxation.

Cantwell was recognized for her work in the Senate, and earlier in the House, in which alliance officials said she has been effective in liberalizing export restrictions on software encryption products. She was also recognized as an expert on corporate governance and intellectual property policy.

Alliance officials noted that several bills important to the commercial software industry were passed because of Davis' efforts, among them the Digital Tech Corps Act of 2002, which created a public/private employee exchange program. They also cited Davis' role in the passage of the E-Government Act of 2002, the Federal Information Security Act and the Critical Infrastructure Information Act.

Dooley was named for his role in promoting legislation that gave President Bush more authority to negotiate trade agreements and for working to normalize trade relations with China.