Writing Style Fingerprint Tool Easily Fooled

Urchin writes "Some of the techniques used by literary detectives and courts of law to identify the authorship of text are easily fooled, say US researchers. They found that non-professional writers could hide their identity from 'stylometric' techniques by writing in the style of novelist Cormac McCarthy. Stylometric methods have been used in a number of high-profile legal cases in recent decades, including the 'Unabomber' trial. 'We would strongly suggest that courts examine their methods of stylometry against the possibility of adversarial attacks,' say the researchers."

Comments

Re:Could have told you writing analysis was bogus.

[Anonymous Coward]

Some analysis of handwriting can be useful. In forgery, for instance, a signature can show as false when compared to an authentic one by the presence of a "forger's tremor", because the forger must proceed more slowly to produce the signature than the person to whom it properly belongs.