Anti-Polygraph Instructor Who Was Targeted By Feds Goes Public 197
George Maschke writes "Last year, the McClatchy newspaper group reported on a federal criminal investigation into individuals offering instruction on how to pass polygraph tests. The ongoing investigation, dubbed 'Operation Lie Busters,' has serious free speech implications, and one of the two men known to have been targeted is presently serving an 8-month prison term. The other, Doug Williams, himself a former police polygrapher, has this week for the first time gone public with the story of federal agents' February 2013 raid on his office and home (video). Williams, who has not been charged with a crime but remains in legal jeopardy, is selling his story in an e-book. Public interest website AntiPolygraph.org (which I co-founded) has published a synopsis."
Re:Total Obedience is Required ! (Score:4, Informative)
"People's" Republic of China?
They're way worse than what we've got here. I don't like the current trend but it's a long slide down the slope yet to go.
Re:Total Obedience is Required ! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Passing is easy (Score:5, Informative)
Easy methods to defeat lie detectors do not even require body/mind training so that you can present a "truthful" facade to the machine. One trick is to make all your responses correspond to extreme and erratic indicators of "lying," completely throwing off the baseline "normal." You clench internal muscles even when you're answering the "easy" initial calibration questions. This way, you don't even have to worry about maintaining perfect calm mind/body control when they spring an unexpected twist on you; go ahead and freak out, but the machine's readings will already be all over the place.
Re:You're of course assuming... (Score:4, Informative)
They were all Saudis and Egyptians. Ironically, from perhaps the best "allies" the US had in the Arab world at the time. Egypt is of course different now.
Re:if you know how a polygraph works... (Score:4, Informative)
The reason why they're not permissible in court doesn't have anything to do with ways of circumventing them. It's that they do not work as advertised in the first place.
Re:First rule of passing a Lie Detector test (Score:4, Informative)
Don't talk about passing a lie detector test.
You jest, but that actually *is* the first rule of passing a lie detector test.
In the 'informal' pre-polygraph chat they'll usually fish for how much you know about polygraphs.