The Sun | 5 March 2018 CHINA’S ‘social credit’ system blacklists “lazy” citizens who get into debt or spend their time playing video games in a creepy initiative that could have come straight out of Black Mirror. Analysing users’ social media habits and online shopping purchases, the nightmarish system also grants real financial credit to citizens whose…
RNZ | 15 Aug 2016 New spy laws considered by Cabinet Cabinet is considering new legislation for New Zealand’s spy agencies this morning, with a view to introducing the bill to Parliament this week. Above: the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB)’s spy base at Waihopai, near Blenheim. A recent review recommended the Government Communications Security…
Stuff | 22 June 2016 GPS devices could be installed in every Auckland car, tracking where and when the driver goes around the city, as part of moves to introduce a form of road tolling in the city, the Automobile Association says. The government has done an about-turn on its earlier opposition to motorway tolls and now says…
NZ Herald | 7 April 2016 Our spies have been rapped for loose controls around the largest collection of sensitive information held by any government department which includes details of people’s alcohol and drug use — and their sexual behaviour. The systems were so loose the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security said there was…
NZ Herald | 31 March 2016 Concern over an imminent terrorist act led our internal intelligence agency to carry out urgent surveillance without a legal warrant under special new powers. It is unclear whether the suspected terrorist activity was aimed inside New Zealand or offshore. The fact was revealed in a sparse report from Security…
NZ Herald | 15 March 2016 Cullen-Reddy report finds little to offset concerns raised by our links with global intelligence network The intelligence services report by Sir Michael Cullen and Dame Patsy Reddy sheds more light on the GCSB’s work with the Five Eyes network, but it also leaves several questions unanswered. Since the Snowden…
The Daily Blog | 10 March 2016 The Anti-Bases Campaign is appalled by the recommendations made in the newly-released Intelligence Agencies review. The authors have proposed overthrowing a basic tenet of spy operations in this country and paved the way for a massive expansion in surveillance of NZ citizens. This is just another retrograde step…
Infowars | 11 Jan 2016 “Beware, the savage jaw of 1984” David Bowie, the legendary musician who passed away Sunday after a long battle with cancer, had diverse and sometimes controversial political views. Among some of the singer’s most notable statements was the 1974 single “1984,” a George Orwell-inspired protest song from the album Diamond…
New Eastern Outlook |19 September 2015 Former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden’s revelations rocked the world. According to his detailed reports, the US had launched massive spying programs and was scrutinizing the communications of American citizens in a manner which could only be described as extreme and intense. The US’s reaction was swift and to…
VIce | 2 Sept 2015 It was a “bleak week.” That’s how US State Department director of policy planning Anne-Marie Slaughter described it in a November 2010 email to Hillary Clinton, one day after WikiLeaks caused an international diplomatic crisis when it released more than 250,000 classified cables from US foreign embassies around the world. Clinton, who…