Stories by Phil Pennington

Police are looking to a hugely profitable US taser maker for new ways to capture sensitive criminal case evidence and store it overseas.

The government is expecting to spend $6 million on contractors working for the public media mega-merger.

Analysis - The government's use of a firm run by Israeli ex-spies and military commanders to scour social media platforms has landed NZ in a global debate over 'surveillance for hire', writes Phil…

The government is working with a surveillance firm formed by ex-Israeli spies to help meet its "legislative responsibilities" in a specific, but undisclosed area. Audio

New Zealand is under pressure to yield to new European Union demands over how companies harvest people's data.

Corrections is set to move 75 prisoners into Rimutaka Prison to relieve pressures elsewhere.

A major drinks bottler says it is on the verge of running out of carbon dioxide which would shut down production.

A new police deal to share data with law enforcement in Europe has been done when Europol is being sued for harvesting screes of data about ordinary citizens.

Firefighters have lifted a ban on a big fire truck that keeps breaking down - the last time at a burning house.

The Transport Agency says it is investigating why heavy wheels have twice flown off mobile dental clinics, endangering other motorists.

The chances of the ground shaking more violently in a quake is much higher than previously thought for large parts of the country. Audio

Spark is keeping customers' valuable geographic location data off their cellphones for seven years - five years longer than the US average.

Police have been told to spell out if they are sticking to the rules over surveillance cameras that are continuously reading vehicle number plates.

Police have to report back quarterly to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner on deleting the photos and they face deadlines for strengthening their controls.

Complaints about medical misadventure have shot up, putting huge pressure on investigators and causing big delays for victims.

A giant US tech firm that is among a slew of companies building data centres here, corresponded directly with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

A safety alert has gone out about wheels flying off school mobile dental clinics.

Police have admitted to a second case of their misusing number plate-reading cameras, at the same time as they have revealed they are expanding the cameras' use.

Just one month after the Privacy Commissioner warned police to do better when it comes to number plate cameras and privacy, a detective pretended a car was stolen so they could track it.

A radiologist says IT systems vital to accurate scanning for patients are shutting down several times a day in at least one central region hospital.

Health authorities have been given a behind-closed-doors warning poor radiology reporting throughout the central region is endangering people's lives.

Wellington's new children's hospital will open next month without having any extra clinical services on hand for patients.

Surveillance camera networks that police used to track three Covid-infected women around Northland, are spreading widely around the country.

Radiologists say their sector is in "turmoil" amid profound ownership changes and a fight with surgeons buying up stakes in private scanning practices.

Doctors desperate to make public hospitals better are despairing over the state of radiology. Some think things have got so bad, the only fix may be to privatise further.