InformationWeek blogger Michael Hickins made a good point Wednesday when he said:

If all you've heard is business complain that increased taxes and government regulation is driving investment and innovation abroad or is otherwise bad for business, you haven't been listening to IT vendors.

Increased regulation means more business for IT firms specializing in compliance and risk management, he says. Especially since the Obama Administration is doing the regulating.

President Obama is more comfortable with technology than any of his predecessors. He is encouraging state and federal agencies to use software-as-a-service. He is convinced health records need to be digitized. He made the BlackBerry the mobile device to have before he even took office, and he has raised cyber security to "mission-critical" status by appointing cyber security "czars" for both the military and the private sector.

In Hickins' view, more regulation is definitely good  -- for the IT business, at least.