The head of Parliamentary Service has resigned but could still be summoned to a privileges committee inquiry into how the phone records and swipe-card movements of a journalist were released.

The Government intensified its sales job on the GCSB Bill yesterday, with the Prime Minister claiming some New Zealand citizens have had al-Qaeda training in Yemen.

Microsoft and Google have told a select committee considering the GCSB companion bill it will stifle innovation and could impact on economic growth.

The PM has tried to distance himself from the revelation a journalist's phone records were handed over during the GCSB leak investigation.

Kim Dotcom has told the Supreme Court the United States' case against him is a fabrication and he needs access to evidence to prove it.

The Defence Force may have a legitimate role in maintaining the military strength of the nation but since when was its job to suppress information?

Two current issues need a great deal more transparency - the GCSB legislation and the Trans- Pacific Partnership negotiations, writes Gerald McGhie.

Protecting the identity of girls captured in covert recordings by a man would have been an important factor in the judge's decision to grant permanent name suppression.

It's "rushed, ill-conceived and downright dangerous" says a QC, and changes to the GCSB bill secured by Peter Dunne don't address its flaws.

The controversial GCSB bill has the numbers to pass in Parliament after United Future leader Peter Dunne secured some significant changes.

Former Foreign Minister Phil Goff says "tweaking" of the GCSB bill by John Key won't be enough to overcome the suspicions of a wide cross-section of Kiwis.

There are at present two standalone intelligence agencies - the Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) and the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB).

How would these so-called experts feel if their attitudes paved the way for the extermination of all the world's kittens by masked terrorist gangs, asks Toby Manhire.

The head of the Human Rights Commission says Prime Minister John Key has misrepresented its highly critical report on his two controversial spy bills and wider surveillance issues.

John Key appears to have made another concession over the bill expanding GCSB powers - this time requiring it to have regard to the Bill of Rights Act.

Internal Affairs Minister and Napier MP Chris Tremain has requested a report into how a British killer managed to obtain a New Zealand passport issued in the name of a severely brain-damaged Hastings man.

To share these capabilities with agencies charged with routine law enforcement is to abuse that acceptance, writes Damien Rogers. Part of the problem is that there is no agreed meaning of national security.

Prime Minister John Key has handed the Labour Party an olive branch over the GCSB bill.

Rodney Hide writes: Such a lot of nonsense has been spouted about the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) that it's difficult to know where to start.

France's Government spies on its own citizens in the same way as the United States, it was claimed yesterday.

Several correspondents have taken me to task for presuming to speculate on what writer George Orwell of Animal Farm and 1984 fame would have made of American whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Here are 10 simple ways you can minimise the likelihood of the NSA (and other organisations) monitoring your internet and voice traffic.

Any traveller who has experienced a glacier-slow wait in an international transit lounge might have some sympathy for American defector Edward Snowden.

John Key last night described Kim Dotcom as a 'conspiracy theorist' after he claimed the PM knew about him before the January 2012 raid.