Back in 1995, a group of Internet enthusiasts rallied together to advocate for the interests of the Internet community in Western Australia. Two years on, they made one of the most unlikely moves for competitors to make and collaborated on a project that would not only help each others’ businesses, but helped everyone’s customers and improved Australia’s Internet – they formed WA-IX. It was described as a laudable show of cooperation as iiNet, Wantree, and Omen first connected on the exchange: built from donated hardware and put together by the hands of volunteers. At the time, the cost of domestic traffic sent and received was $1.46 PER MEGABYTE and definitely far too costly to be sustainable for many businesses.  

Not only did WA-IX make connectivity more affordable, but it also helped to fund the good works of the Association. WAIA was formed to be a representative voice of the Internet community and was run by volunteers; however, it did incur ongoing operational costs. With the combination of genuine care for the Internet community, users, and its members, WAIA (now known as IAA) has continued to grow and provides the longest-running peering network in Australia.  

Part of the ongoing success of WA-IX can be attributed to the fact that it stood alone and no longer ran on the goodwill of volunteers. As the first employee of WA-IX, Peering Engineer Gavin Tweedie recounted that before he was employed, to get access to the POP in QV1, you had to rely on your fellow competitor at another company to show up with the key! An exchange was also conducive to competition by lowering operational costs, which kept the cost of connectivity down for end users.   

Our association was built and continues to operate on goodwill as we continue to work for the Internet community and Australia’s Internet more broadly. Although peering is not as widely adopted in Australia as it is in other parts of the globe, it is definitely integral to its success. Cheers to 25 years of good connectivity, and may there be many more years of it to come! 

The UK Government’s response to the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was released earlier this month following consultation regarding the UK’s response to the EU GDPR. Carrying hefty fines, GDPR regulates the data processing activities of businesses in an effort to protect the data and privacy of consumers and apply to all Europeans whether they reside in the EU or not. 

Here in Australia, the Attorney-General’s review of the Privacy Act 1988 is still ongoing, tackling issues of privacy and data protection. The discussion paper framing consultation for the review heavily referred to the UK Information Commissioner’s guidance and it is likely that the AG Office will be following the development of the UK Data Reform Bill and whether it passes through Parliament. 

IAA responded to the Privacy Act review, emphasising the need for a balanced privacy regime that protects the privacy of individuals in a reasonable, and legitimate manner while not disproportionately burdening industry. Read our full response.  

Work continues on the new portal! Over the past four weeks, we’ve implemented a number of features and updated the theme to make sure the new portal not only works well but looks great, too. Spoiler alert, we’ve added in a ‘tool’ menu so you can have fast access to the tools you need to keep up to date with things happening on your network.