A recent project of Sir Geoffrey Palmer and Dr Andrew Butler proposes “a modern constitution that is easy to understand, reflects New Zealand’s identity and nationhood, protects rights and liberties, and prevents governments from abusing power”.

Me ōpanga rawa e aro ai te tangata, Ki te tai tama Māori e ((Must he be an All Black before you notice, This young Māori man) - Corin Merrick, Te Hunga Roia Maori o Aotearoa Hui-a-Tau 2017.

A recent data breach incident gave us an example of how trying to be careful in one respect can lead to unintended bad consequences in other ways.

At Nethui, I was delighted to hear the Minister for Government Digital Services, Hon Clare Curran, bring up algorithmic transparency as a concept that needs further exploration. It was a statement that prompted the following speaker, Jillian C. York of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, to express happy surprise - that a government minister would publicly acknowledge the importance of algorithmic transparency.

NetHui, the website says, brings together everybody and anybody that wants to talk about the internet. It's not a conference and speakers don't talk at you all day. Instead, Internet NZ’s gathering of technologists, humanitarians, educationalists and philosophers is designed “for the community, by the community”.

We often get asked about how much a complaint is “worth” in settlement terms, by both complainants and respondents. To be honest, very few of our complaints settle for money. The resolution is usually non-financial, like the release of information or a decent apology.

Should a business use social media to shame scam artists, shoplifters or bad debtors? When someone feels ripped off, this appears a natural course of action but it is a risky path to go down. Our advice is if you believe you have evidence that a crime has been committed, contact Police.

Blockchain is the new buzz: it can solve all our problems, fix climate change, break currency monopolies and so much more: well that was according to some of the participants at NetHui 2017. Jevon Wright and I facilitated a fascinating discussion about this new technology at NetHui .The discussion revealed that, in fact, blockchain is just technology and, as with any technology, it’s up to us to enable its many potential uses.