Over the past few years the federal government has passed more and more laws granting police and security agencies greater access to our private communications. Now there are growing concerns that these laws actually weaken our online security. Today, Lizzie O’Shea on Australia’s ever expanding surveillance powers, and if they could actually make us more vulnerable.

Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Anna Funder on how understanding the Stasi can help us comprehend the age of surveillance in which we live.