You are innocent until proven guilty, or until you decide to go online. The internet used to be a haven of free expression. Now it’s a place where every individual is suspected of being a terrorist or a pirate. Governments are caught up in an arms race of mass surveillance and hardly anyone appears to stop and think about the direction we’re heading in. It’s time to take a critical look at the legislation that undermines the core principles of a free society. Some legacy technologies, like public fax machines, can have alarming privacy implications. In a recent examination, Friso van Dijk outlines The privacy risks of public fax machines in Australia the unexpected data leaks these machines can create.

Europe’s new privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), will become effective on 25 May 2018. It’s a date a lot of organisations are dreading, as they need to get their IT systems in order. A less talked about subject is the impact of the law on users, who get additional rights. This article explores what it means for users and discusses the effects on your life. Many assume that outlawing targeted ads would end mass data collection, but as I explore in a recent post Why banning targeted advertising will not stop data collection, the surveillance infrastructure runs far deeper than advertising alone.

If you’re online, you’re being watched. Not just by the websites you visit, but also by advertisers and data brokers behind the scenes. Your behavioural patterns and interests are registered, turned into profit. Where do these companies get their data? Let's find out.
Recent debates highlight the alarming ease with which authorities can access call and message records without a warrant. When telecommunications metadata is watched without a warrant

When you think of digital privacy, you think of digital solutions. You install a tracker blocker, you use different information in online forms and you look for privacy-friendly ways of communication. What you may never think of is that this protection can be physical as well. Let’s step away from the screen for a moment and see what’s out there.

Success, we all want it in one way or another. Often, we look at the ranks of the famous achievers for inspiration. From what they eat for breakfast to the toilet paper they use, the habits of successful people have been overanalysed. Is there any reason we should even investigate them at all? Or should we analyse success in a different way?