Beyond the huge privacy and freedom risks, this kind of policy is lazy. It copies what’s being attempted overseas, slaps it onto our Kiwi system, and calls it progress. It’s about following trends, not fixing the real problem. 

We cannot raise digitally literate children by locking them out of the digital world.

Privacy breaches, politically motivated vandalism, proposed bans on words in Parliament, and yet more signs of foreign interference—it’s been a week.

How do we live together when some words now hold two, sometimes completely opposing, definitions?

Submission by PILLAR to  the Education & Workforce Select Committee.

But behind the sales pitch lies a question not being asked loudly enough:

What is the cost of privacy?

New Zealanders want children to be safer online. At PILLAR, we share that aim, but how we pursue it matters. In a liberal democracy, freedom of expression and privacy are not luxuries; they are foundations.

Killing a man does not kill his words, his ideas, or his values. You may take his life, but in return you establish his legacy.