Various Perspectives and Opinions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Various Perspectives and Opinions - Essay Example Biometrics technology has been widely employed in governments and corporations worldwide for security, particularly since the terrorist attacks of 9 September, 2001. Travel documents have security features which use biometrics to identify and verify. Airports and government agencies alike have used these technologies to screen passengers so as to ensure security of all passengers and verify their passes. It has also been used in forensics by the police to verify signatures used when signing credit receipts. This technology has been extended to elections, where voters would be barred from voting more than once, a similar application as for those being verified to access welfare benefits (Cole, 2005). Biometrics technology systems have been largely accredited for assuring citizens of their security. With screening at airports and borders of various countries, only persons that do not pose a security threat would be travelling and get to a particular destination as required. Corporation s have also appreciated the importance of this technology in keeping data safe and allowing authorized access only. The citizens who have been susceptible to fraud would better appreciate the importance of fingerprint biometrics technology. ... The FBI later retracted the case and admitted that the results were erroneous despite having been confirmed by about five senior latent fingerprint officers. More so, Opinion Research Foundation (2002) found out in his research that adults were skeptical that information stored in biometrics systems would have been used in ways to threaten their privacy. Since the technology involves use of radiations, health practitioners have had reservations on the eventual implications on the health of the public. For instance, iris biometrics uses near infrared radiation which would be illuminated to the iris so as to obtain the right data. The fear has been that retinal scanning could damage tissues in the eye. This argument has persisted despite the assurance from technologists and radiologists that the radiation is too weak to cause considerable damage to body tissues. Contact sensors have also been widely viewed as being contaminated. Since these sensors would be used by various persons, the risk of contamination by various microbes could be probable. But most organizations regularly irradiate UV light on these sensors so as to sterilize them. There are technologists who have however argued the lack of sense in this argument as the same persons who raise these fears use door knobs and rails on a daily basis which present a similar risk. Workers also feel that these systems have inhibited their movement at work places as their employers monitor their movements in corporations where they have to log in and out of work areas using biometric systems. Albeit the public has its reservations on the use of biometrics technology, it has still been widely utilized with Opinion Research Foundation (2002) finding that 82% of adults in America have at least one ID