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advocacy |
advocacy
A number of national,
regional and global electronic commerce associations are
emerging. We will be identifying major bodies shortly.
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 is a major funder of 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).
Australia's Human
Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC)
site features draft reports on Accessibility
of electronic commerce and other new service delivery
technologies for older Australians and people with a
disability.
The Business Council of Australia site
features another government-funded discussion paper
on Accessible E-Commerce in Australia: The Effects of
Electronic Commerce Developments on People With
Disabilities.
A US perspective is provided by Cynthia Waddell's 1999 paper
on The Growing Digital Divide In Access For People With
Disabilities: Overcoming Barriers To Participation.
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