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National | Privacy breach

64k New Zealanders may have had privacy breached

Another privacy breach from Facebook has lead to 8.7 million people having their personal information accessed via the social media giant.

Up to 64,000 of those people are said to be New Zealanders.

Netsafe's Director of Technology and Relationships Sean Lyons says, "Look at all those individual settings, look at your post is this just for me, is it for my friends is friends of friends okay or in some cases is public okay.'

Privacy Commissioner John Edwards has offered advice to New Zealanders who are concerned about the security of their personal information.

The commissioner says one of the issues they are faced with is the lack of power his office currently has when faced with a major data breach like this.

The breach arose from a series of online applications and quizzes that have leaked people's information.

The commissioner is asking Facebook whether New Zealand users identified as being impacted will be notified and if notified what advice will they be given to further protect themselves.

At this stage, the commissioner has not taken any decision to launch a separate investigation.

There is a privacy bill in Parliament that will bring in some changes that align with those in the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation and it is expected to be passed later this year.

The commissioner is currently arguing for the Privacy Act to be strengthened.