Computer centre may be working in breach of act

Press, 2 December 1987, Page 31

Computer centre may be working in breach of act

PA Wellington The Wanganui Computer Centre was probably working in breach of provisions in its act which prohibited linkage with any other computer system, said the centre’s manager, Mr Doug Hornsby. Since the act was passed in 1976 computer technology had changed dramatically to the extent that it was now almost in contravention of the act, he said. The law as it stood precluded the use of “intelligent terminals” such as personal computers. Such terminals, with message switching systems if the user needed to connect with the Wanganui law enforcement computer, would enhance security of the system. The law was being breached technically now where its transmission went through computerised Post Office switching systems. Mr Hornsby said an amendment to the Wanganui Computer Centre Act was now required but it was waiting for a slot in Parliament’s legislative programme. Meetings were being held in the next month with the system’s users, the Police, the Ministry of Transport and the Justice Department, to determine their future needs. The Justice Department was putting its fines system on to the computer. This meant the present computer was now approaching full capacity. Mr Hornsby said that within three months a decision would have to be made on increasing capacity.

Consideration would have to be given to doubling its capacity with new computers costing between $5 million and $6 million.

The present five-year-old system had a capacity of 5.8 million instructions a second. A computer the next size up would give it

a capacity of 12 million. Mr Hornsby said the Justice Department and Ministry of Transport were looking at changes to the system to replace remaining manual information systems and to use the centre to provide management information. The Ministry was also looking at using the system to store vehicle registration data, for the administration of new lifetime drivers’ licences and to give local authority parking enforcement departments access to the system to check vehicle ownership and the payment of fines. The police were reviewing their systems to see whether they were still effective. One area they were likely to look at was in computer-aided despatch of their staff. Mr Hornsby said a lot of valuable management information was available in the system. This did not include personal information but it was still protected by the act. Departments were restricted from using it. “The big problem is we’ve got a network of terminals which can’t be used for getting general information. “There’s a $5 million network which can’t be used for this because it’s restricted to law enforcement. For example, the law prevents its use for a stores or accounting system.”

Mr Hornsby added that a question mark would hang over the future of the centre when the Government Computing Service became a Stateowned enterprise.

The centre did not fit comfortably with an S.O.E. operating on purely commercial lines. Although the centre provided a service for the police, M.O.T. and the Justice Department and charged them for it, the centre was effectively a monopoly. They could not go elsewhere for the service.