Internet Industry Association

BACKGROUND

The Internet Industry Association is Australia's national Internet industry organisation.
We are a non profit association funded by our members. Members include telecommunications carriers, content creators and publishers, web developers, e-commerce traders & solutions providers, hardware vendors, systems integrators, banks, insurance underwriters, Internet law firms, ISPs, educational & training institutions, Internet research analysts, and a range of other businesses providing professional and technical support services. On behalf of our members, the IIA provides policy input to government and advocacy on a range of business and regulatory issues, to promote laws and initiatives which enhance access, equity, reliability and growth of the medium within Australia.

In 1998, we took the strategic decision to push privacy as a key initiative for the internet industry in Australia. With many Australian businesses investing their futures in e-commerce, but with continued evidence of consumer disquiet over the potential abuse, it seemed that unless we could define and implement minimum standards for our members, the rates of uptake of e-commerce would remain depressed. Subsequent events in the US vindicated our concerns.

Following the release of the National Principles for the Fair Handling of Personal Information by the Privacy Commissioner in February 1998, Australian industry was called upon to implement adequate privacy measures for their respective industry sectors. The IIA has responded to this by incorporating the Principles into its draft Code of Practice. This taskforce will address areas including the monitoring of our privacy performance as an industry and recommend reforms to ensure that our obligations either comprise or are consistent with international best practice, and that realistic obligations delivering real benefits for end users can be achieved. In the context of impending privacy legislation, the privacy VT will help shepherd the IIA's code through registration with the Privacy Commission and assist IIA members in their compliance with best practice principles contained in the Code.