"The body was created largely to offer a single, unified and organised voice to the WA Government, which had tabled legislation to regulate the Internet. This legislation was perceived as potentially damaging to the Industry, and there was a requirement for a local, representative and respected voice to deal with this and other issues.
"The WA Association was not created as an industry watchdog, and its powers are largely limited to speaking on behalf of its members. Anybody may join the WAIA, but motions that affect Internet Access Providers (IAP) must be ratified by a two third majority of the membership, and also by a two third majority of the IAPs. In WA, this has worked well.
"WAIA's largest single contribution has been the creation of an Industry Code of Conduct that has been incorporated into the state Government's legislation affecting all online services.
"Copies of the WAIA's constitution, press releases and other documentation are available at http://www.waia.asn.au/ These documents are provided as examples of a working model only. A critical goal of an Internet Association is to remain close to its local membership, and the requirements of a WA organisation may not (probably will not) be the same as a South Australian organisation.
"More than anything else, the existence of a state based Association has allowed WA Internet companies to positively affect the perception of the Internet and the Internet industry by the government and the public."
The Australian Performing Rights Association has requested a licensing fee from all Internet Providers in Australia in order to compensate its members for music that has been transmitted over the Internet in breach of Copyright. APRA is requesting $1 per client per year, but makes no committment that this amount will remain constant in future years.
Mr Malone pointed out that ambit invoices are a part of business, but APRA is not making ambit claims. It is possibly the best managed organisation of its kind in the world, and has recently won a case against Telstra that was extremely similar to the potential case against IAPs.
It is likely that APRA will choose a small IAP to mount a test case. Given the lack of organisation in the industry, smaller IAPs will be unlikely to have the resources to defend this and a precedent will be set that will affect the entire industry.
There is a meeting at the offices of Phillip Fox, Adelaide at 4PM on Wednesday, June 19, sponsored by the Australian Internet Industry Association (INTIAA) to discuss the APRA issue in more detail.
INTIAA itself is a concern for South Australian access providers. INTIAA speaks on behalf of the Industry, but receives very little input from providers unless they are based in Sydney. The "fault" for this rests as much with SA Providers as it does with INTIAA. SA lacks any unified voice that is likely to be heard or asked for outside of South Australia. In order to offer support and input to INTIAA, an association or coalition of some kind is necessary.
Chris Limmer (Webmedia) commented that the AACIP had been founded last year with similar aims on a national scale. The AACIP had hoped to establish a national body with chapters in each state. AACIP has had previous talks with ABA, AAPT and the SA Government and received positive responses and funding to establish the organisation. Mr Limmer suggested that AACIP would be interested in merging with a federation of the state based bodies to form a national federation, offering the advantages of existing support for AACIP and the grass roots support for the state associations. Such an association would probably consist of an elected representative from each state association.
There was a positive response to this suggestion, with Mr Malone commenting that this outcome was what WAIA had hoped for, and that future cooperation looked likely.
"The creation of a federated association of State providers would give the state associations a powerful national voice and demonstrate that the Internet Industry is organised, concerted, and capable of regulating itself. Such a body must also be capable of working alongside national bodies such as the proposed ISOC-AU and INTIAA. INTIAA represents many companies that have a national presence, and the issues faced by these bodies, with conflicting regulatory environments across state borders, will be vastly different to many of the issues important to state based associations. Of course there will be an overlap of tasks, but this must lead to cohesion rather than competition. The industry cannot afford to be at war with itself."
Danny Byrne (OLIS) pointed out that Affiliation with bodies such as the Chamber of Commerce would be desirable, and possibly essential. The Chamber can offer secretarial services and support at low prices, and brings with it a high degree of credibity.
My Byrne drew parallels with the SCUBA Industry. "Our existence must be based on self regulation rather than external regulation. The SCUBA Industry has offered workable alternatives to uninformed government legislation, and has protected and promoted itself as a result."
Andrew McNamara (Hybrid Technologies) also drew parallels with the video game industry. Up to five years ago, they were under regular threat of negative government intervention. The existence of a national association has resulted in the industry having a real voice and a "united stance".
Mr Malone suggested that there was a danger in self regulation unless everyone involved themselves in the regulation process. It would be critical for all parties to involve themselves now, or risk having regulation forced on them by their own competitors. The best way to avoid this risk was to become part of the process from the beginning.
There were suggestions that meetings could very easily be hijacked by users wishing to use the forum for airing grievances against their IAP. Also, if the membership fee was low, meetings could prove unworkable purely due to the number of people attending. Allen Bolderoff (Global Link) commented "If we don't accept them, they'll just go elsewhere anyway, or create their own organisation. I'd rather work with them than against them".
Opinions were heavily divided, and Mr Malone indicated that this is probably an issue to go to committee. The matter was deferred to later discussion.
Leigh Hart (iiNet SA) suggested that other services such as generic contracts, similar to the Housing Industry's contracts, could be produced. This way the contract would only need to be tested once.
Vicki Jarnis (Educorp Australia) asked what the association would offer to non IAPs, in particular Internet Service Providers, such as online publishers. Mr Malone responded "You get to be part of the process. Online Publishers are going to be the cannon fodder of 1997. The APRA issue is an indication of this, but pretty soon lawyers are going to realise that you are publishing on a global basis, with all the legal implications that that entails. I would suggest that being a part of the process of self regulation is your best hope of financial survival."
There were also suggestions that association members might offer discounted services for individual association members. This would provide a tangible benefit to subscribers as well as offering free advertising to the corporates.
Ben Hughes (Global Link) asked if the association would police its members. Mr Malone replied "Do you want it to? I am not here to tell you that this (WAIA Constitution) will work for you or become your constitution. Its a working model, but the whole object is to represent the needs of local organisations; not the needs of a group in another state."
Mr Malone suggested that a tribunal that parties could agree to approach to have Internet related disputes resolved. The WAIA Constitution allows for that but it hasn't been implemented.
Dieter Jansen (Tetraplex) asked "You've told us a lot of things that WAIA did well. In retrospect, what did WAIA do wrong?" Mr Malone responded that "I feel that there is no ongoing committment to action. The volunteer effort has been tremendous, but we need to pay someone to keep the organisation's aims alive and chase members." In response to a second question from Mr Jansen, Mr Malone claimed that "There are few gripes from WAIA members, but that may reflect that there is little happening at the moment."
Patrick Browne (Redback Internet Design) asked "Do people become less insular after joining?". Mr Malone said that "It becomes quite social! The meetings are often little more than a ratification of recent discussions on the mailing list, with many delegates staying for hours after the meetings are over to chat."
It was agreed that a working committee of six people would be elected to ensure that the association was incorporated and pre incorporation tasks completed. There were thirteen volunteers, with Mr Hart and Mr Byrne declining to be on the committee. A show of hands was requested for each person. Where there were less than 10 votes, no official count was recorded.
The elected working committee was charged to ensure incorporation occurred as quickly as possible, with an inaugral AGM scheduled for July 2, 1996. The Committee has the power to reschedule the AGM if this day proves untenable.