The government's controversial metadata retention bill has passed, despite objections from industry representatives, the Greens and a group of Australian citizens. [ + ]

Facebook sued for allegedly stealing BladeRoom Group's data centre designs, PayPal will pay almost $10m for "apparent violation" of US sanctions and Optus to be reviewed after data security breaches. [ + ]

Around 92% of Australian adults accessed the internet during the six months ending in May, but over one million Australians have never been online, ACMA research shows. [ + ]

Organisations worldwide named issues with auditing, compliance and data privacy as their largest cloud security challenges, a survey of Global 2000 companies shows. [ + ]

In our new Tech Insights series, we quiz industry leaders to get their views of what the year ahead holds for the IT world. Today we speak with George Chondros, Senior Director for ANZ & SEA, ClickSoftware. [ + ]

The digital economy contributed 5.1% to Australia's GDP in FY14, and this is on pace to rise to 7.3% by 2020, Deloitte estimates. [ + ]

Oracle plans to hire 1000 sales professionals in APAC countries including Australia as it seeks to capitalise on the region's growing cloud momentum. [ + ]

Microsoft has announced deals to pre-install Office apps on Android tablets from Samsung, Dell and nine other OEMs as an extension of its new multiplatform strategy. [ + ]

Equinix's ME1 International Business Exchange data centre has gone live with an initial 375 cabinets and around 40 customers.

Equinix's ME1 International Business Exchange data centre has gone live with an initial 375 cabinets and around 40 customers. [ + ]

Smartphone laser measuring solutions provider ikeGPS implemented a Silk Mobile functional testing system to reduce mobile apps testing time by 25%. [ + ]

KPMG Australia will purchase identity and access management vendor First Point Global as part of wider efforts by the KPMG global network to augment its global security capabilities. [ + ]

The 2015 Australian Technologies Competition, which identifies, awards, mentors and profiles Australia's leading emerging technologies, was launched in Sydney today. [ + ]

Confusion over upgrades for pirated versions of Windows, legislation will force ISPs to block file-sharing websites and former Commbank IT manager charged. [ + ]

Cisco is establishing an Internet of Everything innovation centre in Australia and investing in addressing the IT skills gap by teaching STEM skills to 100,000 Australian students. [ + ]