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Essentials of Criminal Justice 9th Edition by Larry Siegel ,John Worrall
Edition 9ISBN: 978-1285441528Essentials of Criminal Justice 9th Edition by Larry Siegel ,John Worrall
Edition 9ISBN: 978-1285441528 Exercise 1
Using Biometrics to Fight Terrorism: US-VISIT
Is it possible to identify people by computer-based recognition of their facial characteristics or their fingerprints? Sounds like science fiction, or is it? Biometrics, the science of using digital technology to identify individuals, has been installed in airports, land border points (border crossings), and seaports. The Department of Homeland Security's US-VISIT program uses biometric scans to determine the identity of all travelers from foreign countries who attempt to enter the United States.
HOW IT WORKS
Nearly all foreign citizens, regardless of country of origin, who wish to travel into the United States must comply with US-VISIT requirements. The process of registering for travel into the United States sometimes starts far from US soil. Individuals who wish to travel to the United States must first visit the US consular office in their country and apply for a visa. When they apply for the visa, they have their biometrics collected in two separate ways. First, photographs are taken of every applicant, and those photographs are entered into the US-VISIT database, along with digital finger scans. The digital finger scans are taken of both index fingers of the applicant. This information is loaded into a database and then checked to see whether the individual matches any criminal or suspected terrorist already in the system. In 2009, DHS announced that it had completed an upgrade from 2-fingerprint to 10-fingerprint scanners at major US ports of entry, increasing scanning accuracy. Once an applicant passes the database check, he or she can be issued a visa to travel to the United States. Upon arrival at a US point of entry, the traveler will be required to undergo a scan to determine whether he or she is the same person who applied for the visa.
Homeland Security believes that implementing these security procedures will result in fewer criminals or terrorists entering the country and will also reduce the incidence of identity theft and fraud that may occur upon entry into or exit from the country. However, there are critics who say that the process violates ethical standards and makes too much personal information about travelers and US citizens available to US Customs and Immigration. Despite privacy concerns, the Department of Homeland Security is committed to using the US-VISIT program, in conjunction with other government programs, to increase the security of the United States, and Congress has increased funding for the program to more than $300 million per year.
ARE THERE ETHICAL PROBLEMS?
Recently, the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released the findings of their investigation into US-VISIT and detected some significant problems with the program, including 825,000 instances where the same fingerprints were linked to different biographical data, such as name and date of birth. Most of these errors were the result of incorrect data entry. For example:
• One individual's name was spelled 17 different ways over the course of five years.
• One individual's first, middle, and last names were recorded in different combinations.
• Another individual had 14 different combinations of months, days, and years for the birth date recorded.
• In another case, the same fingerprints were mistakenly used when processing seven different individuals who entered the United States over the course of a few hours.
• Nearly 400,000 records for women had different last names attached to the same first name, date of birth, and fingerprints because the women had likely changed their names when they were married or divorced.
The OIG concluded that these data errors make it difficult for US-VISIT to achieve its goal of identifying individuals who are trying to enter the United States fraudulently using different names or birth dates. The OIG reports indicates that efforts to control people through technology can produce errors that can harm people. Is it ethical to use such a program even though mistakes are routinely made? The threat of terrorism is real, and any method of reducing threats can serve the public good. In this case, do the ends justify the means?
CRITICAL THINKING
Are you afraid that futuristic security methods such as biometric technology will lead to the loss of personal privacy and the erosion of civil liberties?
Is it possible to identify people by computer-based recognition of their facial characteristics or their fingerprints? Sounds like science fiction, or is it? Biometrics, the science of using digital technology to identify individuals, has been installed in airports, land border points (border crossings), and seaports. The Department of Homeland Security's US-VISIT program uses biometric scans to determine the identity of all travelers from foreign countries who attempt to enter the United States.
HOW IT WORKS
Nearly all foreign citizens, regardless of country of origin, who wish to travel into the United States must comply with US-VISIT requirements. The process of registering for travel into the United States sometimes starts far from US soil. Individuals who wish to travel to the United States must first visit the US consular office in their country and apply for a visa. When they apply for the visa, they have their biometrics collected in two separate ways. First, photographs are taken of every applicant, and those photographs are entered into the US-VISIT database, along with digital finger scans. The digital finger scans are taken of both index fingers of the applicant. This information is loaded into a database and then checked to see whether the individual matches any criminal or suspected terrorist already in the system. In 2009, DHS announced that it had completed an upgrade from 2-fingerprint to 10-fingerprint scanners at major US ports of entry, increasing scanning accuracy. Once an applicant passes the database check, he or she can be issued a visa to travel to the United States. Upon arrival at a US point of entry, the traveler will be required to undergo a scan to determine whether he or she is the same person who applied for the visa.
Homeland Security believes that implementing these security procedures will result in fewer criminals or terrorists entering the country and will also reduce the incidence of identity theft and fraud that may occur upon entry into or exit from the country. However, there are critics who say that the process violates ethical standards and makes too much personal information about travelers and US citizens available to US Customs and Immigration. Despite privacy concerns, the Department of Homeland Security is committed to using the US-VISIT program, in conjunction with other government programs, to increase the security of the United States, and Congress has increased funding for the program to more than $300 million per year.
ARE THERE ETHICAL PROBLEMS?
Recently, the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released the findings of their investigation into US-VISIT and detected some significant problems with the program, including 825,000 instances where the same fingerprints were linked to different biographical data, such as name and date of birth. Most of these errors were the result of incorrect data entry. For example:
• One individual's name was spelled 17 different ways over the course of five years.
• One individual's first, middle, and last names were recorded in different combinations.
• Another individual had 14 different combinations of months, days, and years for the birth date recorded.
• In another case, the same fingerprints were mistakenly used when processing seven different individuals who entered the United States over the course of a few hours.
• Nearly 400,000 records for women had different last names attached to the same first name, date of birth, and fingerprints because the women had likely changed their names when they were married or divorced.
The OIG concluded that these data errors make it difficult for US-VISIT to achieve its goal of identifying individuals who are trying to enter the United States fraudulently using different names or birth dates. The OIG reports indicates that efforts to control people through technology can produce errors that can harm people. Is it ethical to use such a program even though mistakes are routinely made? The threat of terrorism is real, and any method of reducing threats can serve the public good. In this case, do the ends justify the means?
CRITICAL THINKING
Are you afraid that futuristic security methods such as biometric technology will lead to the loss of personal privacy and the erosion of civil liberties?
Explanation
Verified
Verified
Case synopsis:
The given case reveals the impact of technology used in migration process. This case describes about the use of biometric technology to visit US from a host country. This has created severe problem like different names and date of birth for a same person in the different travelling time.
These difficulties reduced the accuracy of system to reduce malpractices. Hence, US plans to implement strict technology base for security check. This system is under threat of abolishing personal privacy and liberty.
Attitude on biometric technology that distorts personal privacy:
Day by day the scope of technology expands. This development of technology is highly influenced in the security check like biometric security check. This can drastically reduce the smuggling from country to country and chance of terrorism from different countries. However, new technological development in security check is not only considering the public information.
It considers all kind of information (private information). New technology is also used to scan their entire body to validate the innocence. Thereby, this system extremely abolishes the right of personal privacy and individual liberty. Therefore, system which abolishes the personal privacy and liberty is not recommended for any kind of security check.
The given case reveals the impact of technology used in migration process. This case describes about the use of biometric technology to visit US from a host country. This has created severe problem like different names and date of birth for a same person in the different travelling time.
These difficulties reduced the accuracy of system to reduce malpractices. Hence, US plans to implement strict technology base for security check. This system is under threat of abolishing personal privacy and liberty.
Attitude on biometric technology that distorts personal privacy:
Day by day the scope of technology expands. This development of technology is highly influenced in the security check like biometric security check. This can drastically reduce the smuggling from country to country and chance of terrorism from different countries. However, new technological development in security check is not only considering the public information.
It considers all kind of information (private information). New technology is also used to scan their entire body to validate the innocence. Thereby, this system extremely abolishes the right of personal privacy and individual liberty. Therefore, system which abolishes the personal privacy and liberty is not recommended for any kind of security check.
Essentials of Criminal Justice 9th Edition by Larry Siegel ,John Worrall
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