Ethical Issues of Biometric Technology in the Workplace

Running Head: RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Research Proposal
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Table of Contents
1.Background...................................................................................................................................3
2.Research Questions.......................................................................................................................3
3.Literature Review.........................................................................................................................4
3.1Overview of Biometric Technology.......................................................................................4
3.2 Benefits of the Biometric systems.........................................................................................5
3.3 Ethics of using biometric information...................................................................................5
3.4 Disadvantages of Biometric technology................................................................................5
3.5 The biometric technology in the UK.....................................................................................6
4.Methodology Review....................................................................................................................6
4.1Questionnaires........................................................................................................................7
4.2Interviews...............................................................................................................................7
4.3Surveys...................................................................................................................................8
4.4The Focus Group....................................................................................................................9
4.5The case studies....................................................................................................................10
4.6Chosen Methodologies.........................................................................................................10
4.6.1.Interview...........................................................................................................................10
4.6.2.Survey...............................................................................................................................11
5.Conclusion..................................................................................................................................12

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Abstract
In the modern world of digitalization, people are completely surrounded by the technologies and
the tools. From the entrepreneurs to the enterprises, technology supports in the empowerment at
all levels. The information and communication technology has hugely affected people’s lives in
the modern world. The information empowers people and the information technology facilitates
the access to it. In the recent years, the rise of the smartphones, internet and the computing
devices have transformed the way people connect and collaborate with others. Biometric is one
such technology which emerged quietly and crept into the lives of people. The biometric is used
in the Airport security, the attendance system is the workplaces, in bank security, criminal
identification, cash-less shopping, the financial transaction management, internet banking and
many others. The primary research question is how much the biometric technology has been
helpful in the workplace. The proposal investigates the ethical issues related to the use of
biometric technology in the workplace.
Key words
The workplaces, monitoring, workplace punctuality, biometric technology

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1.Background
There are various reasons of the biometric technologies gaining popularity in the
workplaces. The technology has different advantages over the authentication methods. In the
past few years, various organizations have solely relied on the four digit pins and passwords to
access the different sets of data in the workplace. It is quite often that the hackers can easily
penetrate through breaking the passwords. The sensitive data have been stolen through breaking
the passwords. The handling of the sensitive data through wrong hands can result in critical
problems. The data access can be restricted through the biometric technologies. Recently, the
iPhone X has launched the face recognition as a way for checking authentication. The business
owners use the biometric technology to maintain the data related to employee attendance along
with the overtime payments. Through the biometric technology, the employee reaching time can
be tracked accurately. Moreover, the companies can also use the biometric technology
integration along with the automated time management systems for saving both time and money.
This proposal will investigate the ethical issues related to use of biometric technology in the
workplace.
2.Research Questions
How much the biometric techniques are helpful in the workplace?
Are the employees aware of the benefits of the biometric technology in the workplace?
Do the employees support the use of biometric technology in the workplace?

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3.Literature Review
3.1Overview of Biometric Technology
The tern biometric is related to the application of the measurable physical characteristics
of the human body. The biometric scanners were limited to the spy stories and the science
fictions. Now, the technology is commonly used in relation to the security devices. The
techniques have been used for the security purposes. The methods include the matching of a
person with their photograph or matching with the passport descriptions such as weight, height,
skin colour, eyes and hair. With the development of the advanced technologies, various
electronic scanning devices have also been developed for the security purpose. The devices are
the voice recognition recorders, the fingerprint, thumbprint and handprint scanners, the retinal
scanners, the facial recognition systems and keystroke dynamic recognition software.
The conventional forms of identification have been subject to fraud and manipulation. Taken for
example, there are various card systems which proven to be highly vulnerable. The chances of
forgery in the card systems are high. Hence, the biometric technology has proven to be far more
efficient and effective form of identification.
The increase in the availability of such equipment, the employers are utilizing within
their access control systems. The implementation of the biometric security in the workplace,
initiated the ethical and the legal concerns. Taken for example, the investigation of the criminals
uses the fingerprints as the source of identification. It has raised the apprehension regarding a
loss of dignity. However, there might arise questions on the ability of an employer to compel the
staffs for providing appropriate samples that allows the biometric systems to operate. There are
also some other particular issues which arise in relation to the security and privacy.

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3.2 Benefits of the Biometric systems
There are few specific reasons to use the biometric technology in the workplaces. In the
past years, many organizations used to rely on the passwords and the four digit security codes.
The hackers can easily break the passwords and penetrate into the secured places. The sensitive
data such as trade, customer information reached in wrong hands might create critical issues. The
biometric technology is far more effective because it uses the personalized identifications. The
technology helps to save huge time because in the past years, it was difficult to keep record of
the attendance and punctuality of each employee. The biometric technology is helpful in
tracking the entry and exit time of the employees accurately. Apart from these, the biometric
technology has helped the organizations to increase the security levels.
3.3 Ethics of using biometric information
There are some of the ethical concerns related to the use of the biometric information in
the workplace. The employer having the biometric information of an employee or a visitor
should use the information only for the security purpose and not for others. There must be a
contractual agreement between the employer and the person providing the biometric information.
In the past, the employers in the organizations used to introduce the surveillance cameras into the
workplace with the intention of protecting the staff’s physical properties. The footage could be
extracted from the surveillance cameras for monitoring. There have been developed some of the
industry codes for protecting the personal information.
3.4 Disadvantages of Biometric technology
Although biometric technology has gained huge popularity in the organizations, there are
some de-merits too of the technology. One of the biggest disadvantage of biometric is , it cannot
be altered remotely. When a person loses access to an email, it can always initiate a remote way

6RESEARCH PROPOSAL
of recovering it. During the process, the person becomes able to change the password or add the
two-factor authentication that doubles the security of the account. The way biometric works, the
person has to be near the device for securing the data set. When the first fingerprint is registered
in a device, the device asks to give multiple presses taken from different angles. The samples are
used as the original data for comparing subsequent unlock attempts. One disadvantage is that the
passwords can be changed whenever needed but the fingerprint, retina and Iris can never be
changed. The copy of these when taken by someone can do anything and nothing can be
changed. The fingerprint can be easily copied by creating fake fingers. The copy of the finger
line patterns can be helpful in opening up the device.
3.5 The biometric technology in the UK
In the UK, the biometric identification are being rapidly used in maximum of the public
and the private sector organizations especially in the Border Agency. The biometric
identification is also being used in the schools of Britain. In the year 2012, it has been reported
by BBC that almost 33 % of the secondary schools are requiring the parents to use the biometric
identification. Reports also suggest that millions of pupils are getting fingerprinted. In the
public and the private sectors, there are various purposes to use the biometric technology such as
the payment processing, the automated cash dispensers, work permits, healthcare, driving
licensing, voting and any other reasons. It is assumed that in the coming years, the security
factors in the biometric will increase around Britain and in other countries.
4.Methodology Review
In a research project, there are various approaches to be used. The main objective of the
approaches is to answer the research questions. The approaches can be divided into two types,

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the qualitative and the quantitative. The methodologies include the interviews, the surveys,
questionnaires, case studies and others. Each methodology either qualitative or qualitative has
its own merits and drawbacks too. In every research project, the selection of the suitable
methodology is important and it should be based on the type of data- collection method used in
the research project.
4.1Questionnaires
The questionnaires can be considered as both the qualitative and quantitative method. It
depends on the nature of the questions. The questions with the close ending are analyzed with
the quantitative methods. It may include the bar-charts, the pie-charts and the percentages too.
The open-ended answers are analyzed with the qualitative method which involves critical
analyses and discussions too. It is without using the calculations and the numbers. The
questions should be formulated having used an unambiguous and straightforward manner. The
questions should be prepared in a logical order. There are various benefits of the questionnaires.
It increases the speed of data collection with low or almost no cost. There are certain
disadvantages too such as the respondents often randomly answer the questions without reading
them.
4.2Interviews
The interviews are the qualitative research techniques that involve the conduction of
intensive individual interviews among small number of respondents. It helps to explore their
perspectives on a specific idea, situation or program. There are different formats of interviews
such as the structured, semi-structured and unstructured. The structured interviews are a series
of pre-determined questions which are used at the time of interview. The interviewees answer to
the questions in the same order is in which they are set. The data analysis is considered to be a