Former GCSB director to join panel at NetHui 2013

9 July 2013

Former Director of the Government Communications Security Bureau, Sir Bruce Ferguson will tomorrow participate in a NetHui 2013 panel discussion on state surveillance and the GCSB.

The panel is titled ‘State Surveillance of Online Communications’ and will be held at 11.30am at the Wellington Town Hall Auditorium. Discussion will revolve around the proposed legislation that would expand the powers of the GCSB in monitoring private communications, including online communications.

Sir Bruce will join three other distinguished panellists, all of whom have expertise in the area and are frequent media commentators on the subject. Cloud consultant Ian Apperley, solicitor Michael Wigley, and Dr. Paul Buchanan, whose expertise is in security, comparative and international politics, will join Sir Bruce.

InternetNZ Policy Lead Susan Chalmers says "We are thrilled to have these experts join us for a discussion on a truly important issue for New Zealand Internet users".

"The panel will offer a diversity of views, which is important to an informed and robust debate. There is a lot of emotion surrounding the proposed legislation but there seems to be relatively little attention paid to what is actually on the table. We are looking forward to drilling into panellists' expertise to provoke questions that really should be considered by the public but yet have not," she says.

NetHui 2013 is being held at the Wellington Town Hall from 8 – 10 July. Hundreds of people from the Internet community are in attendance, participating in discussions concerning Internet Openness, Internet and the Law, Health, Education, Culture, Economy and Business, Internet Governance, Safety and Security, and more. For those who have missed out on tickets, a live stream of the event is available from www.nethui.org.nz.

About InternetNZ
InternetNZ (Internet New Zealand Inc) is the charitable, non-profit open membership organisation dedicated to protecting and promoting the Internet in New Zealand and fostering a coordinated, cooperative approach to its ongoing development.

www.internetnz.net.nz

ENDS

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