Within a few hours of publishing a story yesterday, whatever faith I had in the federal opposition was dashed. After saying the government's encryption legislation was on shaky ground, the soft underbelly of the opposition was exposed. With the government playing their "soft on terrorism" cards the opposition rolled over and said they would support the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill 2018 with a few modifications.

Personalised ads — they aren’t just on your screens anymore. For the past few years, advertisers have been experimenting with ways to apply all that data they have about you to billboards and other IRL advertisements. Think about how creepy it is when Facebook knows too much about you.

Now imagine how it would feel if a giant flat-screen at the mall showed you that same information in giant text that other people probably aren’t looking at, but definitely could read if it caught their eye.

It feels like every day, I see another person realising how little privacy they have online and saying “enough.” Upset about the state of our relationship to tech companies, they’re quitting Facebook and Twitter, avoiding Amazon, and giving up Google.

In the latest (or, really, most recently unearthed) instance of the internet being creepier than most users realised, it has come to our attention that the text box you use to communicate with customer service reps at most websites doesn’t work the way you expect it to. In short: It would seem that a lot of companies that let you live chat with customer service reps all utilise a service that allows said reps to see everything you type into the text box, whether or not you press send.

While the Federal government continues to pursue its agenda of trying to convince tech companies to not give them a backdoor but provide access to encrypted communications - however that's meant to work - it's worth thinking about how law enforcement uses data today and why access to more data may not be the answer.

Facebook has launched a new bug bounty program offering tens of thousands of dollars to developers who can uncover vulnerabilities that's allow threat actors to hijack user accounts. But at the same time, they are appealing against penalties levied against them in the UK over the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

This time of year is extremely busy and stressful for many of us. As well as the filling of calendars with social events and once-a-year catchups with people we've neglected all year, there are lots of sales that compete for our attention as we look for bargains to fill Christmas stockings and the space under the tree. But that stress can lead us to make some poor decisions when it comes to online safety.

Unless new legislation is passed today, Australians will no longer be able to opt out of the government's My Health Record from tomorrow. Planned as an "online summary of your health information" that "can be accessed at any time by you and your healthcare providers", there are no guarantees about how your data will be used by said providers. Here's what you need to know about MHR and how to opt-out if privacy is your main concern.

A court case in the United States has the attention of privacy experts and advocates. A judge in North Hampshire has ordered Amazon to provide any and all recording made by an Amazon Echo in the home of one of the victims in a double homicide. The Echo was in the home of one the victims and the police has a strong suspect in their sights - the partner of one of the victims. And while a 911 call was made it's possible the Echo recorded all or part of the incident - anyone with an Echo knows is possible given Alexa can be accidentally triggered.

Not only does Amazon track your purchases, it tracks all the products you looked at and didn't buy too. Here's how to make it go away. There are a couple reasons you might want to clear your Amazon browsing history. Maybe you share an Amazon account with someone and don't want them to see what you've been looking at — like when you're browsing potential gifts — or perhaps you're tired of getting Amazon's targeted ads based on your browsing history.

Mark Zuckerberg was caught out earlier this when it was found he, and other high-level Facebook execs, had the ability to erase messages they had sent to other people's inboxes. That feature will be extended to the rest of the world according the list of "Coming Soon features.

23andMe has reached a deal with pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline, giving the company access to their (your) genetic data to potentially develop new drugs. Did they just sell us all out? Not exactly.

If you use Facebook (or even if you don’t) you probably know that advertisers have some information about you. Targeted ads are Facebook’s special juice, and scrolling down your timeline will likely prove that the ads you’re seeing are anything but random. What you may not realise; however, is that you can also see within Facebook which advertisers have your name on their list.

I’m not going to ask why you need a keylogger. Just know that installing one on someone else’s system is a great way to get yourself dumped, fired, or prosecuted, depending on your situation. It’s also a great way to really put someone in a world of hurt, should the little utility you’ve downloaded capture keystrokes for you and send them to another source without you or your target’s knowledge.

Online privacy enthusiasts can get all kinds of disposable tools these days to keep their actual information safe. Disposable email addresses to keep their real address from being revealed, and disposable phone numbers to make it easier to not give your real number out.

Free wi-fi is a windfall, especially if you're working from the library or airport, or if you just want to save data on your phone or laptop. Still, you do have to care about security when you're out and about. Here's how to surf safely, on any device.

With the government's assault on privacy continuing as it tries to push through legislation that will give it powers to overcome strong encryption, it's worth looking at how badly worded legislation can result in unintended consequences. And there is a precedent to consider.

Google definitely got the message that users weren't happy about the auto-sign in/out link implemented in the previous version of Chrome. The company has launched an updated version of the browser (version 70) that makes it a lot easier to disable this annoying feature — among other changes.

One of the side effects of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is that it puts control and visibility our personal data in our hands. And while compliance with the GDPR doesn't offer protection in the event of a data breach, it does protect you when it comes to being able to see what data is being held by a company about you.

Apple has made a GDPR-style tool available for everyone who has an Apple ID so you can see what data Apple has about you.