By Sergio Santamaria / Editor’s Assistant
By Sergio Santamaria / Editor’s Assistant
Information in today’s world is everything to everyone.
Not only is information being gathered for someone’s use, but someone’s important information is being gathered for misuse.
Many devices have been used for security purposes and have occasionally been overcome, but newly announced Iris Scanners might just stop criminals.
The Department of Homeland Security plans to test Iris Scanners that store digital images of a person’s eyes in a database.
This futuristic technology is considered a quicker and safer alternative than fingerprint scanners.
Just walking up to the camera is all that’s needed to identify someone.
This gives hope to the stop of identity fraud, but it could also mean the exposure of the community without knowledge.
The department will run a two-week test in October of commercially sold iris scanners at a Border Patrol station in McAllen, Texas, where they will be used on illegal immigrants, said Arun Vemury, program manager at Homeland Security’s Science and Technology branch in an interview.
The tests will be able to show if the technology will be useful for the company in the future. Other departments should test out the scanner due to its improvement to security.
The American Civil Liberties Union fears that the cameras would be used covertly saying, “If you can identify any individual at a distance and without their knowledge, you literally allow the physical tracking of a person anywhere there’s a camera and access to internet.”
Homeland Security will also test cameras that will be able to take photos from 3 to 4 feet away, even as someone walks by.
This technology will surely be able to improve security, but it pushes the boundaries of privacy for many people.
The cameras have been used by the U.S. military in 2007 to track militants in Iraq.
Not only will it be capturing images of people to help the military, but for whatever else might happen in the area being watched.
This is a big help for the cameras to be able to scan everyone and be able to find the suspects.
In which case the positive of the technology outweighs the negative, and gives more reason to expand it.
The technology was also used in about 20 U.S. airports from 2005 to 2008 to identify passengers in the Registered Traveler program who could skip in front of the security lines.
Depending on how it’s used, the cameras can be useful to the community, rather than a menace.
Homeland Security has the most power over the technology and what it does, but it could get more advanced over a couple of months.
If the technology grows, so does the interest of the government.
The biggest fear is for the technology to be misused and have the public in full view at all times.
Probably the biggest question to be answered is, can it stop identity fraud?
It will be able to do this if the technology is used wherever someone’s identity can be compromised.
Whether it is banks, an ATM, or wherever else your identification needs to be proven.
The Iris scanner takes a picture and determines if you’re who you say you are in a matter of seconds.
