Indiana Man Gets 8 Months For Teaching How To Beat Polygraph Tests

A week ago, we posted news that federal prosecutors were seeking jail time for Chad Dixon, an Indiana man who made money teaching others how to pass polygraph examinations. Now, reader Frosty Piss writes that Dixon "was sentenced Friday to eight months in prison. Prosecutors described Chad Dixon as a 'master of deceit.' Prosecutors, who had asked for almost two years in prison, said Dixon crossed the line between free speech protected under the First Amendment and criminal conduct when he told some clients to conceal what he taught them while undergoing government polygraphs. Although Dixon appears to be the first charged publicly, others offering similar instruction say they fear they might be next. 'I've been worried about that, and the more this comes about, the more worried I am,' said Doug Williams, a former police polygraphist in Oklahoma who claims to be able to teach people to beat what he now considers a 'scam' test."

So what about Penn and Teller?

[ethicalcannibal]

I thought this was kind of common knowledge. Penn and Teller's Bullshit even showed how they beat the polygraph.

Re:federal overreach, as usual

[grahamwest]

Because he was charged with advising and helping people lie to the federal government when they told him they were involved in illegal activity (eg. one of them said his brother was a "violent Mexican drug trafficker" for example. He was essentially involved in a conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice and that's what they put him in jail for.

Polygraphs are tantamount to phrenology and graphology in my opinion, but that's not what this case was truly about.

Criminal conduct my ass.

[wjcofkc]

I still say this falls under freedom of speech. This doesn't even fall under the dictionary definition of sedition, which itself is illegal and about as close as the powers that be could make a claim for in this case. It might be criminal conduct to use the techniques, but last I checked the Anarchist Cookbook is still legal to own and read. For those remaining who know and teach these techniques, I can only hope they write guides on this subject and put them on the internet to propagate while a helpless government looks on. It's funny, techniques for messing up polygraph tests have never been too big a deal until now and some aren't exactly obscure. I have seen crime dramas where valid polygraph interfering techniques are discussed and depicted.

By the way, did I mention that polygraph tests are all around bullshit pseudo science to begin with? But that subject is too big for my lazy fingers to type out. Regardless, they might as well be auditing people while their at it.

Re:Some FA

[pongo000]

Lying itself can't be a crime

Actually, 18 USC section 1001 [cornell.edu] does, in fact, make lying to a federal official a crime. Feds often use this law to convict people in lieu of having any evidence that a crime was committed. If you're questioned about an alleged crime, and it later turns out that you didn't commit the crime but you earlier statements don't sync up with later statements, there's a good chance you'll see jail time.

This is why you never talk to law enforcement officers [youtube.com] without competent legal representation present. And especially the Feds.

Re:proving parent right...

[Lord Kano]

do you have a citation for this?

He's most likely talking about this case.
Hits description isn't 100% accurate but he's close enough.

http://www.slashdot.org/story/184153 [slashdot.org]

LK

you mean like politicians lie every single day?

[Anonymous Coward]

Keith Alexander - the NSA has not listened to telephone calls. LIE

Dick Cheney - we had good evidence there were WMDs in Iraq - LIE

Obama - I will be the most transparent president ever - LIE

Nixon - I am not a crook - LIE

Clinton - I did not have sex with that woman - LIE