Development of National Occupational Standards for Fingerprinting and Biometric Science
Introduction
Fingerprint and biometric technology is widely used in everyday life in both social and professional spheres to distinguish between individuals using their physical characteristics (Unar, Seng, & Abbasi, 2014). To ensure that the biometric data that is collected from individuals is used and stored appropriately, data scientists who handle this data are required to observer occupation standards. This paper will explore the development of national occupational standards for fingerprint and biometric science.
Current development of standards for fingerprinting and biometric science
A majority of the fingerprint and biometric occupational standards are created by standards developing organizations (SDOs) are industry-specific and usually belong private sector organizations. The occupational standards that are created by SDOs are also adaptable for Government use. OMB Circular A119 advocates for the use of standards that have been developed by voluntary standards bodies if they are beneficial to the government agencies that use them (Romine, 2013). The reason why the United States government adopt standards created by voluntary standards bodies instead of creating national occupation fingerprinting and biometric occupational standards is to avoid to the cost associated with developing these national standards. In addition, the creation of national standards by the government will also require additional resources to enforce these standards in both the private and public sector. Despite the many advantages that the United States government enjoys from the use occupational standards created by voluntary bodies there are still some significant drawbacks to using approach. The occupational standards that are created by voluntary standards bodies may only benefit one or a small group of firms. The government also gives up an important chance to make any corrective actions to the fingerprinting and biometric industry through the use of occupational standards. The development of effective national occupational standards by the government can eliminate many problems facing the public and private fingerprint and biometric industries which can be attributed to the lack of sufficient occupational standards such as the misuse of biometric data. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
Characteristics of national occupational standards for fingerprinting and biometric science
The creation of occupational standards for fingerprinting and biometric science is difficult due to the many different procedures or process that are involved across different fields. To ensure that the occupational standards which are developed are effective, they must have specific traits or characteristics. Firstly, these standards must be universal and must be applicable to a wide range of situations (Jain & Kumar, 2012). In addition, they must be accepted by the individuals working in the field which the occupational standards are to be applied. The national occupational standards which are developed must also not hinder the performance of agencies or organizations. Finally, the national occupational standards that are proposed must be reliable and cost-effective
Stages in the development of national standards for fingerprinting and biometric science
The first stage in the creation of national occupational standards for fingerprinting and biometric science is for the government to create a formal body such as the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) which will be solely in charge of developing and reviewing new occupational standards. The recommended standards development process that should be used by the formal standards body is the standards development process proposed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) follows five distinct stages (Zimmermann, 1980). The first stage in ISO’s standards development process is the proposal of a new item which involves the identification of a situation or an issue where the application of occupational standards is necessary. The next stage involves creating a working draft that captures all the information regarding pertaining to the proposed occupational standards. The review stage involves constant revision of the working draft which is presented before different government committees for evaluation (Murphy & Yates, 2009). After the evaluation process is finished the final changes are made to the draft in preparation for the final stage in the process which is the implantation and enforcement of these standards. The formal standards body will constantly monitor the impact and effects of the national occupational standards that have been implemented to ensure that they have the desired effect.
Conclusion
Evidently, the development of national ocupatoinal standards for fingerprinting is an effective way to ensure the biometric data is not misused. Currently, voluntary private sector SODs are responsible for creating occupational standards relating to fingerprinting and biometric science. However, the government can create its national occupational standards by creating a formal standards body which will use the standards development process proposed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
References
Jain, A. K., & Kumar, A. (2012). Biometric recognition: an overview Second generation biometrics: The ethical, legal and social context (pp. 49-79): Springer.
Murphy, C. N., & Yates, J. (2009). The International Organization for Standardization (ISO): global governance through voluntary consensus: Routledge.
Romine, C. H. (2013). Director Information Technology Laboratory National Institute of Standards and Technology United States Department of Commerce.
Unar, J., Seng, W. C., & Abbasi, A. (2014). A review of biometric technology along with trends and prospects. Pattern recognition, 47(8), 2673-2688.
Zimmermann, H. (1980). OSI reference model–The ISO model of architecture for open systems interconnection. IEEE Transactions on communications, 28(4), 425-432.