Privacy

Whether or not they are immediately recognised as such, issues pertaining to privacy are to the fore in today's fast-changing, connected, digital world. It need not take a United Kingdom phone-hacking scandal to remind us of this.

Winding its slow way through the English courts is a matter with the most serious implications for British press freedom.

Voyeurism has gone global on the internet but the recent suicide of a United States freshman after another student allegedly used a webcam to broadcast his sexual encounters in his dorm room has raised the stakes considerably. Technology writer Dene Mackenzie backgrounds the issue...

A German data protection official has filed a legal complaint against Facebook, saying people have been griping that their private information was saved by the personal networking site without their knowledge or consent.

The other day on the internet, one man's Facebook circle received a public service announcement of sorts: "This goes out to any girl that ive ever been with. I got tested today for herpes and i came out positive."

Facebook is rolling out a new feature that requires outside applications and websites to tell users exactly what parts of their profiles have to be shared for the apps to work.

In the murky world of the internet, how do you ever really know who you're talking to, who you're buying from or if your bank can actually tell it's you when you log in to pay a bill?

Twitter has agreed to settle charges by federal regulators that it put the privacy of its users at risk by failing to protect them from data security lapses last year that let hackers access their accounts.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal says that "a significant number" of states will be conducting an investigation into Google's  gathering of personal data via wireless networks.

Yahoo is hoping to turn on a new sharing option in its popular email service without upsetting users who prize their privacy.

Facebook has responded to privacy concerns by announcing simplified privacy controls and applying them retroactively, so users can protect the status updates and photos they have posted in the past.

Facebook will roll out new, simpler privacy controls today, after criticism of its latest privacy settings by users, governments and privacy groups, including New Zealand's Privacy Commissioner.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has publicly admitted the giant social media site got it wrong with recent changes to privacy settings, and he says improvements are on their way.

New Zealanders unhappy with changes to Facebook's privacy settings can share their concerns with the Privacy Commissioner.