There was a police lockout on Tuesday afternoon. The police were locked out of their IBM supplied computers when a component of INCIS failed, Labour police spokesperson George Hawkins said.

"The Police Master Security Server went down. It meant police officers were unable to log on - the computer didn't recognise their passwords.

"Officers who were already logged in were asked to leave their terminals switched on, and to handover to the next user.

"This completely negated the reason for having a security system in the first place.

"Stage one of INCIS, which is all the police have ended up with after spending well over
$100 million, offers none of the 'bells and whistles' that police were promised. But even this basic system is already falling over.

"Ironically, it is IBM, which the Government is taking to court, that has had to come in and to try and sort out the problems," George Hawkins said.

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>