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Technology Is Making Its Way Into The Everyday Lives Of Americans

Decent Essays
For many generations the idea of a device that could recognize you simply by your eyes has been the stuff of science fiction. It was an invention that seemed intangible. However, over recent years this imaginative and seemingly futuristic technology has become a thing of the present. Each iris has a unique pattern, like fingerprints, however iris scans have proven to be more accurate and distinct. Slowly but surely, this novel technology is making its way into the everyday lives of Americans. For example, colleges, such as George Mason University have begun to use iris scans as a form of identification in cafeterias; even airports have started to introduce this innovation (MacRumors, 2014). Not only this, but the invention has been…show more content…
This shows just how efficient the new scans really are and how quickly it works. The device works using algorithms and iris codes, collected in phasors (FBI, nd). Once a picture is taken of an individual’s iris these algorithms can be used to encode the pattern into a database which can be used again to match their identity in the future (MacRumors, 2014). Each iris can be described by 256 bytes (FBI, nd). This device can impact many areas, just as the standard iris scan was able to do. However, despite the many areas this new technology is beginning to effect, the criminal justice field is one of the regions most primarily impacted. Security within the justice field is a major area the IOM handheld iris scan impacts. In past years, there have been issues reported regarding escaped prisoners; with iris scans such as these this occurrence becomes extremely unlikely. An example of this is Raymond Taylor. Taylor was a convicted murderer who escaped in using the cover of his cellmate’s identity to pass through security unnoticed (Welte, 2010). Not only is this a breach of safety, but it is also a wide wake up call to the level of precaution that is necessary to take in a community in order to ensure the continued wellbeing and the maintenance of peace in a population. Police officers strive to maintain this and the justice system as a
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