The "secrets-for-brownie points" case has been escalated to Customs Minister Maurice Williamson - but he says it has nothing to do with him.

A senior Customs official told colleagues in charge of highly personal information they could earn "brownie points"if they passed secrets to the FBI.

Customs has returned all the electronic gear stripped from a backpacker at the border, saying it found nothing on his computer.

A backpacker coming home for Christmas had every bit of electronic equipment stripped from him at the airport.

Wellington lawyer John Edwards will replace Marie Shroff as the New Zealand's third Privacy Commissioner.

GCSB head Ian Fletcher yesterday acknowledged there was no protection of New Zealanders' data stored in servers overseas from spy agencies.

Australia's eavesdropping agency was prepared to share information on individual citizens to intelligence partners.

It is not a matter of if but when Snowden makes damaging revelations about New Zealand's role in the 5 Eyes network, writes Paul Buchanan.

The UN General Assembly's human rights committee unanimously adopted a resolution sponsored by Brazil and Germany to protect the right to privacy against unlawful surveillance.

What else will American whistleblower Edward Snowden pull from his massive bag of secrets?

Abbott `regrets any embarrassment' but refuses to apologise for spying on SBY's cellphone.

Australian Prime Minister's troubles compounded by revelations that President Yudhoyono's calls were among those spied on.

The second half of the Government's rejig of spying laws passed its third reading yesterday.

The diplomatic fallout from continuing disclosures about America's vast global spy network has begun descending on Australia after revelations that its foreign embassies are being used to intercept sensitive communications.

A USB stick with sensitive information about 1200 clients of a life insurance company has been stolen from an employee's car.

United States officials claim the White House only discovered the National Security Agency was spying on world leaders in the middle of the year.

Editorial: President Obama is in some trouble with friends and allies in Europe. Spying - even on friends - is as old as statecraft. What has changed is the method.

New claims have emerged over the extent of United States intelligence agencies' monitoring of the mobile phone of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Europe's leaders have turned their wrath on the United States, condemning as unacceptable the alleged "out of control" spying on citizens and governments.

Barack Obama has spoken to France's President Francois Hollande as a row rages over claims that a US spy agency eavesdropped on millions of phone calls of French citizens.

Vodafone has sent some of its staff a warning about delving into records after the Herald's hunt for the sender of a threatening text to Bevan Chuang.

Internet giants' plea for exemption fails to convince Communications Minister.

The Government has backed down over a clause in a controversial spying bill which could have seen companies like Microsoft banned from offering services in NZ.

Facebook is getting rid of a privacy feature that lets users limit who can find them on the social network.