Background
We are already living in a high-tech era where every data could already be stored in a single hard drive. These stored data could be accessed from all over the world via a network that we call the “internet”. Database management on the other hand is the management of different types of database. Databases could be classified based on their purpose. There are databases that are used for business and commercial purposes while there are also ones that are solely for justice system and security use. One of the objectives of a database management system is to ensure that all the necessary information could be accessed easily by the person who installed and everyone that is intended to access the stored data. Therefore, the security and privacy of the stored data really matters.
How Technology Affects the Communication Capabilities of Specialized Databases in the Criminal Justice System
The computers and basically all technological gadgets and programs that are to be used for storing highly confidential information should always be more secured. They should also be as private as possible so that only authorized people could access them. It is the job of the people who created a specific type of database to ensure that the process of storing the data is hacker-free and much more secured, especially for criminal justice database systems, where a majority of the transmitted information is highly classified.
It is quite evident that database developers of database systems have focused more in improving and creating new database systems for criminal justice organizations such as a regional or a high court. This is because there is always a risk of data loss in every database management no matter how perfectly developed they are (McLeod & Yanover, 1992). Every database management system has its weakness and there is no such thing as the most secured one. To support that statement here is a statement from computerworld.com: “In a recent survey of 583 U.S companies conducted by Ponemon Research on behalf of Juniper Networks, 90% of the respondents said their organizations' computers had been breached at least once by hackers over the past 12 months” (Vijayan, 2011).
Meaning, the developers of database management systems should try to elevate the quality of their database systems to the point that not a single unauthorized person will be able to access the stored information by a buyer or subscriber of that software, especially if the information stored is highly classified such as the ones being processed in courts. In general, the improvements brought about by technology such as the steady flow of computers with either a higher processing speed, storage capacity or both helped mold the database management industry. Surely without decent computers where theses software packages could run, it will all be worthless. The latest operating systems released by major operating system developers such as Microsoft and Apple Inc. could already be considered as major contributors to the current state of the industry of database development for justice systems. Using the right type of technology, database development companies could easily formulate a system that will be more effective in preventing breaches by hackers and ensure a more stable way of storing data. In a database system, system loss is usually the number one enemy. Once database software malfunctions, there is almost always a risk that the data stored in the database could either be damaged or destroyed. Business-related organizations such as banks and mortgage houses could not afford to suffer from these types of scenarios because once their customer and client records are gone; it will be extremely hard to track everything. The same actually goes for justice systems. Suppose that we are in a court and there is a convicted criminal in trial. Now majority of the present evidences against that person are stored in a database. In events of a database management system crash or a breach from a foreign entity, there will always be a tendency for the data to be lost. Imagine how the judge’s decision will be affected if the court could not have access to the information that they need considering that the database management system they installed are specifically made for justice system organizations.
Comparison
The use of devices capable of detecting the angles and other elements of an individual’s face were incorporated with database management system development as early as 1993 (Phillips et al., 2000). It simply makes use of a face recognition algorithm capable of monitoring, testing and evaluating an individual’s face for standardized government procedures. One of the problems with this type of DMS is the fact that it fails to recognize an individual’s face sometimes, especially in the early stages of development of these types of DMS.
Another prominent and growing type of DMS is the database that makes use of an iris detection algorithm. It is essentially similar with the ones that use a facial recognition algorithm only that it detects an individual’s iris instead of his face. Researches that aims to enable DMS developers provide a safe and a more secured way of storing and processing data with the use of an iris detection algorithm have started since 1990s (CBSR, 2012). Considering the number of years that passed since the iris detection algorithm-based DMS were developed and released, many still consider that it is still far from perfect. So, we could assume that such DMS could not be used for storing and processing highly classified information such as the ones being handled in court justice systems yet.
Positive and Negative Effects of New Technologies
One of the positive effects of new technology in communication is better integration. Since the invention of the first computers and the internet, communicating with other people, regardless of their location had been easy. Therefore, ease of communication and integration could be one of the hallmark benefits of new technologies.
However, hackers and other individuals with malicious intent could also make use of the latest technologies to do what they want. This is one of the negative effects of the latest technologies—it does not have a filtering feature. It basically enables all people who are adept in using computers perform what other programmers and engineers could perform (Kemme, & Alonso, 2000).
New Technology Preferences
I would want to focus more in increasing the capacity and processing speed of the computers where the DMS will be installed. Usually, businesses and even government departments blame the developers of the DMS that they use upon experiencing some minor bugs. These bugs aren’t always caused by a defective DMS. In fact it is usually more caused by low-end computers. The latest DMS demand more system resources from individual computers and without an updated computer, it will almost be impossible to run these database management software packages (McLeod, & Yanover, 1992).
Works Cited
Vijayan, J. (2011). Are Breaches becoming a statistical certainty for companies. Computerworld. Accessed March 2012. Available at http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9217853/90_of_companies_say_they_ve_been_hacked_Survey.
Phillips, P., Moon, H., Rauss, P., & Rizvi, S. (2000). The EFRET evaluation methodology for face recognition algorithms. IEEE Transactions on pattern analysis and machine intelligence.
Center for Biometrics and Security Research. (2012). Service Note on CASIA Iris Image Databases.
Mcleod, D., & Yanover, P. (1992). On Intelligent Database Systems. International Journal of Intelligent Systems in Accounting.
Kemme, B., & Alonso, G. (2000). A New Approach to Developing and Implementing Eager Database Replication Protocols.
