"He Is An Idiot!" Exclaims SIA Director John Mack
By John Honovich, Published Mar 23, 2020, 10:16am EDTHere is another inside look into the "leaders" of the security industry. SIA director John Mack of Imperial Capital is angry at IPVM.
Why? We questioned a letter he and SIA are working on.
Related: SIA Director Dismisses Coronavirus, Don't Cancel ISC West and The Cowardly, Greedy "Leaders" of Video Surveillance - SIA
Supporting Security As Essential Service
IPVM supports security professionals being categorized as an essential service in the face of coronavirus. Moreover, common sense supports security professionals in this because security is a fundamental need, virus or not. Indeed, the US government has made it clear that security professionals are considered essential in March 19, 2020 guidance.
Sign The Letter
Despite this, SIA directors like John Mack spent the weekend trying to get signatures for a letter urging the government to do what it has already done. Indeed, I would not have been scolded if I did not ask the obvious question:
What practical risk is that security services are not considered essential services? From everything we have seen, municipalities and the federal government already consider them as such.
Mack acknowledged that this a battle essentially won:
You are right most jurisdictions have considered security essential. That said there are some that haven’t and this is with an abundance of caution that we make this point. Doesn’t the hurt to show strong support in any event.
I then asked Mack and other SIA members:
If there is some clear risk for jurisdictions that would not support security as essential, IPVM would support and speak out.Can you or SIA (cc:ed) or someone clarify what risk jurisdictions are at risk?Otherwise, it seems like you all are trying to take credit for a battle that is already won.
"He Is An Idiot!"
Mack responded inadvertently to me:
IPVM Happy To Help On Real Battles
The "leaders" of the industry would benefit from using IPVM's great reach. And we are happy to help with issues that really need help. If there are specific jurisdictions that somehow do not recognize security professionals as essential services, let us identify them and focus our efforts on those few.
Otherwise, we risk, like SIA, taking credit for a battle already won and then we really would be ... an idiot.
Comments (37)
I agree.
It's an obvious attempt to take credit for something and put their name on it.
you get more accidental replies to emails than anyone i know:
Congressman Visits Hikvision USA, Admits Unaware of "Company's Background" Before Backtracking
Unclear on the concept of “reply all.”
I found a long time ago...never send something negative in e-mail. You will accidentally send it to the wrong party EVERY time. That's just how Karma works.
John mack is just another uneducated Dinosaur, that’s on the board of SIA. Members of SIA should wake up, What is SIA really doing for the industry.
The irony of that email is quite amusing. However, I'm a bit disappointed that this was put on blast as a post. To me, there's no difference in what he did and your response. It would have been just as easy to write about security as an essential service/function and the initial interaction with the SIA, but it seems as though IPVM is just like any other media outlet right now. The post took a turn for the worst IMO and left a bad taste in my mouth...
This is my first comment as I'm generally here to read the content and gather as much info as possible on security news and technology from a unaffiliated third party perspective. I hope the content will reflect that going forward.
In my opinion (this seems to be an opinion thread), SIA is advocating for the Security Industry and have provided resources to help their members stay informed and productive while much of the world is locking down. It seems this story is more about the fact that you were accidentally copied on an email that was insulting to you, than the fact that SIA is continuing to advocate for the security industry. Why put quotation marks around "leaders" unless you are intimating that the persons in question are not actually leaders? Why do you think the battle is already won when some of the largest manufacturers in the industry don't understand what the letter from CISA means to them while under state mandated lockdown? Security is one small bullet point listed under "Other community-based government operations and essential functions" on the second to last page of the CISA Guidance doc, so it would seem to me to be better for the industry if more was done to advocate for us. This is all still new territory for everyone, and it would be more tolerable if there was more unity and promotion of the industry.
Here we go again. Yet another embarrassing rant. IPVM should seriously consider the degree to which the negative feedback it gets might be true. "Idiot" is of course hyperbole, but it does not seem very smart and certainly not very professional for the same person to allow himself over and over to initiate or get drawn into these painful and generally useless inflammatory discussions that detract from the main business of the organization. I'll bet the rest of the hardworking staff at IPVM cringe every time one of these issues comes up. Too many of the IPVM newsletters include confrontational and overly critical language apparently aimed at stirring up controversy.
This latest rant features an unflattering photo of the current target, and a cute little emoji is added — I guess to suggest that the person is a drooling stroke victim with a disconjugate gaze. Perhaps professional behavior is too lofty a goal for IPVM; maybe it should just shoot for adult behavior.
On the other hand I was very pleased to achieve a certification from IPVM this last year after completing the IP Networking course run by John Scanlon who with his pleasant sensible relaxed manner was the epitome of competence and professionalism throughout the course. The disconnect between that terrific experience with the networking course and then these unpleasant newsletters is hard to understand. I don’t say much in IPVM discussions since I’m just an interested end user recently retired at 66 from an unrelated field. Still, it seems worth stating the observation of an outsider, for what it’s worth: I suspect that these inflammatory discussions repeatedly deal significant blows to IPVM's general credibility and perhaps to its longevity.