By Tom Pullar-Strecker
New Zealand Infotech Weekly
NEW ZEALAND — The Corrections Department has bought intelligence software designed for spy agencies to combat crime in prisons.
The Security Intelligence and Investigation System, SiD, was developed by Wellington firm Superstructure and is now being used by crime prevention managers in New Zealand’s 19 jails, after a trial in Auckland.
The software records and analyses information about individuals and groups and the relationships between them at different times, making it useful for tracking gang-related activities.
A spokesperson for the department says Corrections won’t comment on the purchase as it would “jeopardise information and intelligence gathering”, and wouldn’t say whether the investment was a response to recent concerns over prison security.
Corrections Minister Damien O’Connor announced an overhaul of jail legislation two weeks ago. Guards, visitors or inmates found in possession of contraband such as drugs, weapons or mobile phones face three months jail or fines of up to $5000.
SiD is based on a security intelligence standard called Anacapa, developed 13 years ago in the United States. Anacapa sets out a common set of definitions that intelligence software can use to classify “entities” and the relationships between them, as well as conventions on how these entities and relationships are graphically represented on computers.
The latest version of the system lets users quickly conduct complex searches, even if the target groups or individuals are using different names or aliases.
Other users of SiD include the police and the Defence Force.
Warren Tucker, head of New Zealand’s Security Intelligence Service, recently spoke at a conference organised by Superstructure. The company will not comment on whether the SIS is also a customer.
Copyright 2007 Wellington Newspapers Limited