ICT professionals with skills in data storage, retrieval and analysis are the most sought after in the Australian market, according to a survey over the course of this year by professional network LinkedIn.

Australian digital privacy laws lag those of other countries, according to a leading academic who says legislation has struggled to keep pace with new technology allowing unprecedented levels of intrusion, surveillance of personal activities and communication of private information.

Nate Silver, the statistician behind the New York Times' fivethirtyeight blog correctly predicted the outcome of the US presidential election in all 50 states, convincingly demonstrating the power of big data: but what if that power were applied pro-actively rather than merely predictively?