A new amendment to an intelligence Bill has received a surprisingly mellow media and public response, considering the civil liberties at stake.

by Nicola Haw
Music, books, address, hometown, phone number, email, social clubs, jobs, education history, birth date, age, sexual orientation, interests, political affiliations, friends, schedules, location. Today social media knows more about you than your granny does.

We all remember those skinny vacuum salesmen waddling into our houses with their revolutionary products that promise to instantly change our lives. “Buy the Super-Suction 1999, Deluxe Edition and you’ll never go dusty again”. Just peachy!

by Isabelle Abraham
As more phone-hacking incidents come to light, the UK media is bearing the brunt of the mounting number of lawsuits. News24 reported that as of 20 April, the cases brought against News of the World has now amounted to a staggering 100. Another UK organisation, British broadcaster Sky News, has admitted to hacking emails, but justifies this decision as ‘public interest’. Sky News is a part of BSkyB – of which 39% is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.

The SA Press Council has called for submissions as part of its review. So I started writing... and writing. Almost 4000 words and nine pages later, there are more than a couple of ideas about how press self-regulation can be strengthened. In a nutshell:

1. Change the name of the whole institution to "Press Accountability South Africa" (PASA).
2. Create separate bodies for adjudication and appeals.
3. Provide a Public Advocate to assist complainants, and an Advocacy Officer to drive public awareness.

There's been a lot of fuss over the fact that Google now has cameras everywhere - well, in the US, of course. (Google zooms in too close for some, says the New York Times.) In case you missed it, Google’s Street View feature for Google Maps allows users to see certain parts of several big US cities through panoramic images.