Background Briefing

Generational change and the power of social media has dramatically altered notions of privacy and as personal data files expand, our lives are going public by default. Will our data footprints strip us bare, or set us free? Reporter, Ian Townsend

From the rural backblocks of northern Tasmania, the story of a deadly asbestos legacy, a company promising to open the books on the past, and an ambitious proposal to rid the island of a killer product. Reporter, Di Martin

Former High Court justice Michael Kirby talks about former prime minister Gough Whitlam's foreign policy initiatives. The greatest legacy, Kirby says, has been the impact of Whitlam's emphasis on international law. Photograph by Sally Tsoutas, University of Western Sydney

UK soccer fans are angry because the game is now a toy for sugar daddies, oligarchs, oil sheiks and media magnates or treated as just a business. Is the game a public good or a commodity? There's rebellion in the air that mirrors tensions in society. Reporter, Chris Bullock.

There's a public inquiry into food labelling, and it opens a Pandora's box of very complex issues. Prawns from China can be labelled 'Made in Australia'! Consumers want more and better labelling, but the food industry wants even fewer rules. And global free trade laws mean truth in content could get worse. Reporter Stephen Crittenden.

Marsupial-loving reporter Ian Walker grew up wanting a pet like Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. Could encouraging more native mammals as pets be a canny new 'anti-extinction strategy'...or a future disaster to be cleaned up by the RSPCA? What happens when we apply market forces to the concept of extinction? The results may surprise you.

Transport, banking, food production, social networking, global supply chains, the world economy - would all grind to a halt if the satellite system failed. It's a fragile system, but also the best place from which to see how fragile the earth is. Australia lags behind. Reporter, Ian Townsend.

A clinical psychiatry professor in San Francisco General Hospital discusses the dangers, ethics, frailties and very difficult, sensitive decisions a psychiatrist working on the front line of mental health must deal with. The speaker is Professor Paul R Linde, MD.

Perhaps it's all too hard: Guantanamo, Republican hatred, Afghanistan, the global financial crisis and unemployment. The health bill may just pass and, if so, would make history. Barack Obama is working in a house of cards, many stacked against him. But he can hold it together, says Professor Mark Danner at the Sydney Ideas Forum. Photo by Dominique Nabakov.

Figures show that the number of babies taken from mothers at birth is rising dramatically, particularly in NSW. Judgments must err on the side of child safety, but there's concerns some babies are taken needlessly. One couple is suing for $18 million. Reporter Hagar Cohen