advocacy

This page considers 'new economy' advocacy groups.

It covers -

• introduction
• the dynamics of advocacy
• global
• Australia and New Zealand
• North America
• Europe

A number of national, regional and global electronic commerce associations are emerging.

Locally two bodies are Tradegate, an Australian electronic commerce association, and the Australian Internet Industry Association (IIA).  

The Australian Electronic Business Network (AEBN) is a government program meant to "foster awareness of electronic commerce among small to medium enterprises". Lots of Canberra propaganda, along with some good stuff.

The explosion of ecommerce in North America has resulted in a proliferation of lobby groups, expert panels and reports. Many of those bodies share membership, produce little of value and are unlikely to be around after sucking on the exhaust of traffic going down the information highway. We're highlighting a few of the more interesting - or merely more powerful - bodies.

The Electronic Commerce Forum (ECF) competes with NetCoalition.com and the strangely named Global Information Infrastructure (GII).  US bricks-&-mortar retailers, including the International Council of Shopping Centers and International Mass Retail Association, have formed the E-Fairness Coalition, a lobby group advocating a 'level playing field' at the state and national levels.

The Internet Alliance, another lobby group, advertises itself as the "premier organisation of Internet policy professionals representing the Internet online industry" [sic] and strongly aligned with the Direct Marketing Association of America.

The US-based Internet Law & Policy Forum (IPF) has a cross-border focus. Its current working groups are dealing with self-regulation, digital signatures, content blocking, and certificate authorities.

The Global Internet Project (GIP), another US-based and industry-driven group, has produced a number of interesting papers on cryptography and regulatory regimes. It has supported the private-sector led Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers (ICANN) and is associated with bodies such as the Global Business Dialogue for Electronic Commerce (GBDe).






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