Steve McAlpine draws our attention to the wider implications of a data hack that's exposed the personal information of 40% of Australia's citizens. 

The attack on the data vaults of Australian telco Optus seems alarming, but a far greater amount of data is being released daily - willingly - by the digital citizens of the West.

It's already being 'hacked' by political parties and corporate giants, and is likely to be sifted to a greater extent in the not-too-distant future.

So what should we be doing if we don't want to end up living in a state where our information is used to shape and shift our beliefs?