Internet Industry Association

IIA News Release

9.00pm Thursday, February 17, 2011

Internet Industry Association Enters A New Era

The Internet Industry Association this evening announced that Chief Executive, Peter Coroneos, will retire at the end of June.  Peter will have served the association, its members and the industry at large as key advocate and internationally recognised thought leader for over 13 years.

IIA Chairman, Bruce Linn said the move would herald a new era for the association which, under Peter’s leadership has evolved from a narrow sectoral base representing mainly ISPs, to a diversified, influential and highly respected organisation both here and abroad.

“The issues we have confronted as an industry have been complex, sometimes controversial but always central to the ongoing development of the internet in Australia,” said Mr Linn. “We have punched far above our weight, due in large measure to Peter’s passion, commitment and breadth of understanding.”

A copy of Peter's speech announcing his retirement, delivered at the 2011 Gala Dinner is available here  http://iia.net.au/images/resources/pdf/peter_coroneos_gala_address.pdf

Highlights include:

·       the formation of the first co-regulatory codes in 1999 governing internet content (and avoiding the spectre of server level filtering for X, R and refused classification content)

·       negotiated compromises to the copyright provisions of the US Australia Free Trade Agreement limiting intermediary liability

·       national awareness campaigns to promote the use of antivirus, antispyware and antispam technologies

·       the development of industry codes for interactive gambling, content services, spam and most recently zombied computers (via the icode)

·       development of Australia’s first national targets for broadband in 2006, a seminal work which is acknowledged by the Government as one of the underpinnings of its policy for a near ubiquitous, national fibre-to-the-home network.

Mr Coroneos added: “It has been an enormous privilege to serve this amazing industry for the last 13 years. When I started in 1997, dial-up services were the norm (though they often dropped out), the dot.com boom was not even a dream, domestic internet penetration was a mere 22% and everyday services like You Tube, PayPal, Google and Facebook didn’t exist.”

“Fast forward to 2011, with the internet an essential part of most households, broadband a major election decider, television in decline, traditional forms of music, movie and news consumption changed forever, and you can see what a revolution it has been.”

Mr Coroneos said the association should be extemely proud of the international recognition its recently implemented icode was receiving. “We heard at our Gala Dinner tonight praise from experts like Whitehouse Cybersecurity Coordinator and Presidential Advisor, Howard Schmidt saying it was an ‘excellent example’ of private sector measures to counter the growing eSecurity threat.“

“Elsewhere, we see the icode model examined by the OECD, APEC and associations and governments worldwide. It is critically important for the future of the internet that we develop globally consistent policies to tackle the spectre of cybercrime and potentially, cyberterrorism. Our icode has the potential to form a kernel for those efforts.”

Mr Coroneos looked forward to maintaining a strong interest in the industry and the IIA, but said that after more than a dozen years in the job it was appropriate for the association to embrace the next phase of its development under new leadership.

The incoming 2011 IIA Board will begin a national recruitment program in coming weeks to seek out a replacement. “Peter’s will be very large shoes to fill,” said Mr Linn, “but he has ensured the association is well positioned to attract the appropriate level of talent we will need to maintain our momentum as the national industry body for internet commerce, content and connectivity.”