Cash for Coverage Accusations Rock Industry (Update)

In what's sure to be a controversial move, John Honovich of IPVideoMarket.info took aim today at rival and well-known security research firm, Frost & Sullivan, and accused them of trading their industry leadership awards for cash. Though no details or specific examples were provided in his stinging critique, John did claim that through "interviews" and the review of "public records," he unearthed several serious problems with the firm’s industry awards.

John Honovich:

The consistent theme I hear from award recipients is that awards are granted at
no cost but the manufacturers cannot publicly announce awards without paying
thousands of dollars to Frost & Sullivan.

As for my own firsthand information on Frost & Sullivan, I can only really comment on the award we received at 3VR a couple of years back (in relation to our searchable surveillance system). In that case, I can assure you no money changed hands before the award was given or since. [BIG correction: My head of marketing from back then just called me to let me know that despite my previous righteous denials, we did indeed end up paying Frost a small amount sometime after receiving the award to "promote and market" it. My former VP wasn’t clear what the consequences might have been if we had simply announced the award on our own without paying Frost for their active involvement, however. Someone from Frost should really weigh in to publicly clarify this point for the sake of all its award recipients.] Regardless, I think that research firms, and the companies they cover, would be well served through clear disclosure any financial ties when they do exist. Without this modest transparency, the influence of these kinds of awards will inevitably diminish.

John Honovich seems to conclude something similar:

Awards are important and trust is crucial. If we are going to have awards that
claim to judge and identify the best companies or products in the industry, we
need to be confident that the judges are doing so fairly and with the interest
of the community. Frost & Sullivan and the award recipients should be
clear about their financial relationship and the process of selection so that
industry professionals can assess these awards appropriately.

Bravo!

But, big research isn’t the only one out there with conflicts of interest. Of greater concern to me today is the emerging trend of some manufacturers to directly compensate individual security analysts and other perceived independent voices in our industry. In some cases, bloggers even provide regular coverage of these companies while kept under monthly retainer…without providing any disclosure of the financial relationship. Kept secret, this kind of ongoing direct remuneration of content creators can’t help but engender the worst kinds of bias and conflict of interest.

So, whether John Honovich accusations are proven true or not, let's hope that they spur a movement to greater transparency industrywide. Whether you are a blogger, analyst, author or part-time journalist, if you’re getting a W2 or 1099 from a company you're covering, you should be disclosing it.

How can you claim any credibility on any issue if you don’t at least meet that low bar?

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Stephen Russell gets regular paychecks from 3VR Security and should be considered hopelessly biased when it comes to topics relating to the company.

New Book Open-Sources Surveillance Strategies

3VR alum John Honovich is well on his way to becoming a new J.P. Freeman for the digital age. For the uninitiated, J.P. Freeman is a security consultant who conducts research in the industry and produces extremely expensive reports that everyone in the industry feels compelled to buy. Hondo's approach? Let them use surveillance. His new 132-page "Security Manager's Guide to Video Surveillance" is 100% free and available as a download from his site, IPVideoMarket.info. In addition to information about all the various products available related video surveillance, the book includes easy-to-follow tutorials on everything from megapixel cameras to license plate recognition and network video.

"Quality information on video surveillance for security managers is limited and expensive," Honovich told Security Info Watch. "Making this book free and open is essential to giving back to the security community and allowing anyone to learn without restrictions."

Right on! The book joins several other original reports available for free on the IPVideoMarket site.

Hondo on IPVideoMarket.info

John "Hondo" Honovich, the creator and publisher of IPVideoMarket.info recently wrote me to share some more information on his new site, why he created it, and what we can expect in the future:

Good information in video surveillance can be especially hard to get. On the one hand, you have the Hollywood effect that makes most people believe all types of incredible but unrealistic technologies. On the other, you have trade magazines that mostly recycle press releases or vendor marketing materials. The outcome is a domain that is not only misunderstood but severely distorted. A great example is your recent post debunking a facial recognition system that could somehow tell
the difference between a 17 and 18 year old.

Recently, I launched a site, IPVideoMarket.Info, dedicated to making quality information on video surveillance easy to find and share. The site scans the web finding the best security content from not only traditional magazines but also sites like InHardFocus that bring direct communication from the executives who are making and leading changes in the industry.

As I conduct original research on the industry, I am sharing that research for free at IPVideo Market.Info. One of the most important lessons of the Web is the value of sharing information and contributing to the community. Video surveillance and physical security, in general, have been for far too long dominated by a small pool of analysts that charge thousands of dollars for their reports. Information is controlled in the hands of the few at the expense of the community and our security. With open, public and free research, my hope is that we can all learn more and make better decisions in improving security.

Great New Site Launches

3VR alum, adviser and security industry expert John "Hondo" Honovich launched his new site recently. With constant updates from various security companies and news sources, IP Video Market Info promises to be one of, if not the, most powerful news aggregation and editorial sites in the security business. I'm sure I'll be linking to it regularly.