with Dr Karaitiana Taiuru
Māori Data Sovereignty is the right of Māori to govern the collection, ownership, storage and use of Māori data, as guaranteed by Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The Waitangi Tribunal’s WAI 2522 findings recognise Māori data as a taonga. These articles apply that standard to real decisions, from health records, genomics and digital identity to data centres, cloud services and generative AI. Rangatiratanga over data sits with whānau, hapū and iwi, so the posts look at tikanga and jurisdiction at those levels. They also explain why data residency in Aotearoa is not the same as data sovereignty. For the principles in full, start with the Compendium of Māori Data Sovereignty or the Māori Data Sovereignty overview..
For over 20 years up till 2017, Māori fought for the right to be to be fairly represented in the New Zealand Internet Domain Name System and to a lesser extent for recognition within the New Zealand Internet governing body InternetNZ, in an act of Māori Internet activism. A simple right that most people take for granted. … Read more
By Dr Karaitiana Taiuru. Consolidated on 10 October 2026 from seven posts first published between 27 July 2008 and 23 January 2017. Original publication dates are kept throughout. Key facts at a glance The problem: since .maori.nz launched on 5 September 2002, iwi and Māori domain names have repeatedly been cybersquatted: bought cheaply and offered … Read more
Research into how many .govt.nz web site contact forms and contact email addresses would accept an email address with a Māori macron (IDN). First published in 2015 here. Contents Methodology. 2 Introduction. 4 Summary. 5 Key findings. 6 Conclusion. 7 Appendices. 8 New Zealand Government Departments who accept IDN email addresses in online forms. 9 … Read more
All historical .iwi.nz moderation policies from the original in 1997. The current policy is here. The original moderation policy was casual and was not written or published in in any formal manner until 1997. 1994 Guidelines 1997 2000 2003 2011 1994. Prior to the founding of Internet Society of New Zealand, the following guidelines were … Read more
Emotiki contains a number of culturally unsafe issues: the satirical use of a Polynesian deity Tiki, Tame Iti and the use of his face and tā moko without permission (only in release 1, despite their denial to Te Kaea Maori Television, here is a live link to the web archive), several other possible ethical and tikanga issues … Read more
An analysis and directory of Māori ICT groups and individuals designed for easy authorative reference to the myriad of Māori ICT organisations that are often created specifically for one purpose. Introduction The Māori ICT organisations landscape is diverse and un documented which creates confusion or misunderstandings by governments and lobby groups as to what Māori ICT groups … Read more
The nature of the web and digital technologies leads Māori ICT organisations, kupu hou creation, Māori related software, web sites and digital tools to by default, ignore whakapapa in the digital world. I have already spoken widely about tikanga in the digital world on my site. Māori stories from many generations ago remind us of the early … Read more
The Māori ICT organisations landscape is diverse and un documented which creates confusion or misunderstandings by governments and lobby groups as to what Maori ICT groups exist resulting in Internet/ICT consultations not being held with relevant Māori groups or misconceptions from non Māori perspectives being the norm. This has resulted in Maori economic, social and consultation opportunities with the … Read more
An analysis and directory of Māori ICT groups and individuals designed for easy authorative reference to the myriad of Māori ICT organisations that are often created specifically for one purpose. Introduction The Māori ICT organisations landscape is diverse and un documented which creates confusion or misunderstandings by governments and lobby groups as to what Māori ICT groups … Read more
Media reports censorship of moko images on Facebook and Instagram but some misunderstand which organisation can assist. In one article by Māori Television it states that the Ministry of Culture and Heritage have been approached for comment and it states: Te Kaea is awaiting a response from the Ministry of Culture and Heritage to see whether they will … Read more
Māori access to Internet and ICT report has been released which covers Māori engagement in the digital world, including Internet, mobile usage and employment in the ICT industry identifies pathways for Māori to achieve higher incomes and management opportunities in the ICT industry. Māori me te Ao Hangarau 2015 – The Māori ICT Report 2015 was produced … Read more
Great to see that ten Ngāi Tahu youth are going to Silicon Valley in October for a five-day science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) boot camp an opportunity was provided by Callaghan Innovation and NZQA which is a part of the Callaghan Innovation and NZQA “Āmua Ao: Experience Silicon Valley 2016” programme . Congratulations to … Read more
Careers New Zealand via Project Kāmehameha, dedicated a chapter to Rangitahi and Digital Channels Survey. Speaking to rangatahi from Years 7 to 13 including focus groups with teachers and family/whānau examined their roles, and a quantitative survey of 1,300 rangatahi investigated how Māori use digital channels. Key findings include: Type of technology used to access … Read more
Recently I was asked what my long term vision of Māori Data Sovereignty would look like. Interestingly this was asked at a Māori Data Sovereignty hui where: Facebook is used to promote the group, despite Facebook claiming all IP and ownership of anything you share on it 1. By using Facebook, all New Zealand laws … Read more
Superseded. As of 1 October 2026, this page has been replaced by the Compendium of Māori Data Sovereignty, the current consolidated source. This page is kept for the historical record. Update: All Māori Data Sovereignty posts have been combined and updated into a Compendium of Māori Data Sovereignty – https://www.taiuru.co.nz/compendium-of-maori-data-sovereignty/ Data sovereignty is: The concept that … Read more
After serving a 3.5 year term on Te Huarahi Tika Trust and 3 years on its commercial arm Hautaki Limited, I tendered my resignation at the previous AGM (November 2015) to take effect April 01 2016. As with any Māori organisation there are rumors and scaremongering among our own. So I thought I would take this unrestricted opportunity to … Read more
Snapchat is the latest social media company to claim Intellectual Property Rights with your data, pics and info including your voice and facial recognition. Under these Terms of Service, if you had recorded your elder sending family a message does so in a traditional chant, wearing traditional clothes and accessories and the face has traditional tattoo, … Read more
Free services such as Google, Microsoft Office 365, Facebook, Cloud, web hosting etc, are risking Indigenous Data Sovereignty issues and ownership of their own data and knowledge. Wherever your digital information is stored, it is subject to the laws, or legal jurisdiction, of the country in which it resides. The USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, … Read more