The Internet Alliance, a non-profit special interest group that was first touted by America Online Inc chief executive Steve Case in May, has now opened its downtown Washington DC office to get closer to the decision makers that affect its world. The IA, however is no new-born, based as it is on the old Interactive Services Association (ISA). The Alliance says it will act a springboard for other IAs to be based in Brussels, Sydney and Tokyo, which may not have exactly the same name, but will have essentially the same goals and structure. The IA’s main thrusts are consumer-oriented public policy issues, such as content regulation, spam, privacy, internet security, encryption and internet taxation. The IA’s executive director is Jeff Richards, previously of Pacific Bell, Bellcore, Pacific Telesis Group, and Fleishman- Hillard, who spent about 10 years on the board of the ISA and the chairman of the board is the ISA chair, Bill Burrington, the director of law and global public policy and associate general counsel at AOL. The Alliance is also an active participant in the International Forum on the White Paper (IFWP) and is on the IFWP steering committee. http://wwwinternetalliance.org
