Michael Malone is an Irish/Australian technology entrepreneur and business executive. He was the founder and Managing Director of the Perth-based telecommunications provideriinet starting the business in his parents' garage. He is a pioneer of dial up access back in 1993 before the Internet became mainstream. Over the years he has been an advocate for Internet consumer rights as well participating in metadata debate. He was recently appointed as a non executive director of the NBNco in 2016.
Early life
Malone was born in County Clare, Ireland and migrated to Australia in 1978 with his parents and two brothers.
Michael Malone and Michael O'Reilly founded iiNet in 1993, starting the business in a suburban garage in Perth as iiNet Technologies Pty Ltd. It began as one of the first Australian ISPs to offer TCP/IP Internet access, as opposed to the store-and-forward techniques that were then in use at other ISPs. It claims it was the first ISP to offer PPP access in Australia, and to be the first to base operations on the then new Linux operating system. The company outgrew its suburban home in 1995 and moved to CBD office accommodation yet its early growth during the Internet boom was hampered by the ability of Telstra to cope with the demand of needed telephone lines, and by the sheer competitive pressure in the Perth market, which had a comparative oversupply of low-cost providers. In 1996, iiNet successfully expanded into the Adelaide market under the name light.iinet.net.au, in partnership with locals John Lindsay and Leigh Hart. During his executive tenure at iiNet, Malone aggressively grew iiNet by acquiring other leading ISPs all over Australian. He grew the company to become the second largest ISP in Australia. He was also a passionate advocate for Internet consumer rights in regards to privacy as well contributing to the metadata debate. Malone was a lead witness and spokesperson in the Roadshow Films Pty Ltd v iiNet Ltd copyright case that was successful in the High Court of Australia. Malone stepped aside as Managing Director in early 2014 after taking a three-week holiday in Argentina which was supposed to be a three-month to six month sabbatical. In 2015, iiNet was acquired by TPG Telecom. Malone has served on the board of Seven West Media, SpeedCast, Superloop and Dreamscape Limited. He is the chairman of a Perth-based information security company Diamond Cyber. He joined the board of nbnco in 2016. In October 2017, whilst a member of the NBN board he stated that people unable to be connected to the NBN because of connection issues who comment on that should be penalised.
