The growth in video camera surveillance and in information systems has prompted claims of invasion of privacy. New location detection systems and electronic tags now offer ways to monitor personal behaviour as never before. This Research Note looks at the new technologies.

The Insurance Council of Australia estimates that cyber-crime costs companies worldwide around about $3 trillion each year, with around 67 per cent of computer users affected in some way. The areas of greatest impact are laptop theft, data or network sabotage, virus and Trojan infection, computer fraud, denial of service attacks and excessive network resource...