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DHS To Use Body Odor As a Lie Detector

The US Department of Homeland Security is studying lies, damned lies, and smells. They hope to prove that human body odor could be used to tell when people are lying. The department says they are already "conducting experiments in deceptive behavior and collecting human odor samples" and that the research it hopes to fund "will consist primarily of the analysis and study of the human odor samples collected to determine if a deception indicator can be found."

4 of 206 comments (clear)

  1. Re:A pack of dogs by IWannaBeAnAC · · Score: 3, Informative

    Will they care? The primary motivation is arrest statistics, and acting nervous infront of a federal agent is, by itself, probably enough for that.

  2. Re:Best reply by howardd21 · · Score: 3, Informative

    That is great if you have time to be escorted to the security area for further questioning and investigation, but they are not going to let you get on a plane with that answer.

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    no comment
  3. DHS Emulates East Germany's Stasi by George+Maschke · · Score: 3, Informative

    As the co-founder of a website dedicated to exposing and ending waste, fraud, and abuse associated with supposed "lie detectors," I think this project stinks. It's redolent of the old East German secret police -- the Stasi -- who maintained a "smell register" of dissidents. For a short video commentary, see Smellograph.

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    George W. Maschke
    AntiPolygraph.org

  4. Re:Beanz meanz fartz by jimicus · · Score: 4, Informative

    You can be denied entry onto a flight for any reason whatsoever - even "the security inspector x-raying your hand luggage didn't get laid last night".