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US Gov't Circulates Watch List of Buyers of Polygraph Training Materials
George Maschke writes "Investigative reporter Marisa Taylor of the McClatchy newspaper group reports that a list of 4,904 individuals who purchased a book, DVD, or personal training on how to pass a polygraph test has been circulated to nearly 30 federal agencies including the CIA, NSA, DIA, DOE, TSA, IRS, and FDA. Most of the individuals on the list purchased former police polygraphist Doug Williams' book, How to Sting the Polygraph, which explains how to pass or beat a polygraph test. Williams also sells a DVD on the subject and offers in-person training. In February 2013, federal law enforcement officials seized Williams' business records, from which the watch list was primarily compiled. Williams has not been charged with a crime."
When will they realize that their entire polygraph system is flawed in principle? It's mumbo jumbo! Might as well be reading tea leaves. It only works if the person being "tested" believes that it works.
Well.. I guess they'll get to put the book to good use real soon now..
That is pretty shady that they seize his materials, use it to their advantage, but then don't charge him with any crime. That's basically tyranny.
SURELY NOT!!!!!
Since the job obviously involves repeatedly lying to the American public.
BitTorrent?
VKh
Thanks for the advertisement! Once that hits the 'tubes in ebook form, thousands or even millions of us will get a copy. They can't put all of us on the watch list, right? Right?
What about the 4th Amendment? This is a matter of national importance, damnit! We don't have time to let your petty rights get in the way.
It's quite possible someone could 'react' to sensitive questions just out of fear. There's a lot at stake.
False positives, not so good--trash a probably innocent person. I think FMRI has a chance of determining truthfulness, but polygraphs, not so much.
--PM
. . . .that now you can be a suspect for owning a book or DVD. Good thing I never bought a copy of the Constitution . . .
Police states suck. That is all.
"How to Sting The Polygraph" is not on The Pirate Bay yet, but there are several other titles along the same lines. And of course some porn with polygraph in the title, which I'm going to check out "for professional reasons only".
Sheldon
Hit them with copyright violation shit for copying his business records with their list of people that question this stupid polygraph voodoo.
I have blatantly admonished the polygraph as being junk science online for close to 20 years now. I've pointed out how traitors from Ames to Snowden all passed the Polygraph with flying colors. I've also pointed out how there isn't a courtroom in this country that will accept the use of one. I've talked about how the scientific community considers them absolutely rubbish and no better than snake oil. I really can't think of a better way of how to illustrate that security theater is an active danger to this country than by citing the polygraph as example number 1.
It makes me wonder if I'm on this list of theirs too...
The polygraph is an interrogation device. Nothing more, nothing less. Based on someone's theory that certain measurable physiological responses accompany the human act of lying, it's primary function is to wring a confession out of a suspect the 'authorities' believe is spewing falsehoods from his lie hole. It is not admissible in court for a reason.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Next up: A watch-list of people who have failed to purchase dream-catchers, healing crystals, Ouija boards, homeopathic "medicine," magic 8-balls, or religious paraphernalia in the past ten years.
Thank you, Edward Snowden.
"Arguments from authority are worthless." —Carl Sagan
Youtube search penn and teller bullshit lie detectors. It's all explained there. You don't need a book or a DVD to learn it.
I should have mentioned in the original post that investigative reporter Marisa Taylor of the McClatchy newspaper group has a PGP public key (7DCA14DC) that can be used to securely contact her. I've signed it with my own key (316A947C).
George W. Maschke
AntiPolygraph.org
Surely he's sold more than 5,000 copies of that book. Books on noodling (an activity primarily carried out by illiterate people) sell more than 5,000.
I thought this country was secured by constitutional right to privacy from registering individual book reading/buying.
I know your a flamebating troll... But anyone considering Obama a left wing politician needs to go out of America and take a look at the world. Even for Canada, the nearest country to American from the geographical and political and social point of view, Obama could be considered a far right politician.
Just mentioning that, giving this troll some food (for thought).
Easy! convince yourself deep down that your lie is in fact not a lie. With enough training, you can internally legitimize even the most absurd nonsense you can think of. There are 6 million Mormons, living proof.
WiN!
Mod me down because THE FUCKING TRUTH HURTS.
I'm sorry if it hurts you so bad, but I already posted, thus can't mod you down.
May I humbly suggest you take some painkillers instead?
Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
Shouldn't there be a watch list of people dumb enough to think polygraph tests are actually useful for anything?
Just more ammunition to justify a search warrant should they so desire. Pretty soon, we'll all be on a list of one sort or another.
Not on a list, you say? We have a list of your kind!
Have gnu, will travel.
Every government wants to know who read books they don't approve of. Libraries (and library software) carefully protect borrower privacy by only keeping borrowers names recorded with the book borrowed until they have been returned.
This is the law in several privacy-protective countries, and to sell software, you have to adhere to the law. Other countries don't prohibit privacy, so the software is saleable everywhere.
--dave
davecb@spamcop.net
You're making a fundamental error: you're assuming that the US Political Spectrum is the same as the rest of the planet.
That is far from the reality: the US spectrum is decidedly to the right of most other nations. What is considered Conservative in most countries is center-left at best in the US. . .
Think of it as the Fahrenheit scale of Politics. . .
I think they've already learned that, and use their knowledge of that to their advantage.
You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
If writers now feel it necessary to inform us when someone with whom any state employee is not perfectly pleased has not been arrested, we are in a sorry state indeed.
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
That should be the first question that crosses everybody's mind.
Put people on a watch list for doing something 100% legal? Sign me up.
Not only does it show those idiots we won't support that sort of nonsense (by which I mean the watch lists, although using a polygraph probably counts too) but it also drown them in noise, hopefully making the use of the list pointless.
And to answer my own question: you can place your order at Polygraph.com, with prices ranging from $20 to $60 dollars. I don't know (or care) if his methods are effective or not but it's worth shelling out a few bucks just to remind self-important lawmen that their thuggery not only is not going unnoticed, but is ultimately also is ineffective.
As this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_fingerprinting article shows there is an alternative that works. Note: I am an acquaintance of Farwell.
I worked at an ice cream store when I was 15 and yes, I took all the "free" ice cream I could when the owner was gone, as did the rest of the kids working there. Some took money too. The owner finally caught on and fired us all. Being relatively straight-laced, I felt guilty even for the money that was taken. Flash-forward to when I was 18, I wanted a job at a department store warehouse that required a polygraph, back when they were still allowed for employment.
Yes, I was nervous but I also had read quite a bit about how lie detectors work. My solution was stupidly simple. I acted like I was even more nervous than I was. During the setup and the straight questions, i would curl my toes and pinch my fingers so they would hurt but in a way that couldn't be seen. When the question came up I thought I would fail. I stopped doing it an became as calm as I could. I ended up passing the test and getting the job. Later, the subject of my polygraph came up with my boss. He stated the polygrapher wondered if I was dead during the test.
Because of the jack-booted actions of the Feds, he should "open source" it and "post it on the net for free". Then the watch list will be a moot point and everyone will have the same access. Sounds like a win-win except for the monetary end of things.
You're making a fundamental error: you're assuming that the US Political Spectrum is the same as the rest of the planet.
That is far from the reality: the US spectrum is decidedly to the right of most other nations. What is considered Conservative in most countries is center-left at best in the US. . .
Think of it as the Fahrenheit scale of Politics. . .
I disagree. Just because the dominant parties are both right-wing doesn't mean the people are. I'm further left/libertarian than Jill Stein, yet I've still voted for Democrats in the past (something that I've stopped doing,) when all of the other candidates were even further right.
Look at the candidates from the 2012 Presidential election; there were two left-of-center candidates, but many US liberals (and right-of-center "liberals") are led to believe that voting for a candidate that closely supports their views is "wasting their votes." Also note that Obama's 2008 campaign presented him as a left-libertarian, but he rules as a right-authoritarian.
Thank you, Edward Snowden.
"Arguments from authority are worthless." —Carl Sagan
Shouldn't Doug Williams have encrypted the names of his customers?
These agencies know perfectly well that it doesn't work. They are scared to death that the morons in Congress will find that out, and realize they are wasting billions on useless security theater; theater run by ex-insiders at these same agencies. At that point hell they might even begin to question really fundamental stuff like - is all the nonsensical theater at airports actually doing anything? (answer : NO - as seen in the most recent "scandal" in which sophisticated behavioral detection training costing billions is proven to be completely useless). And from their perspective the even worse possibility that more of them will figure out that all teh 10's of billions a year they spend on NSA, CIA, etc are equally useless. Gathering more and more information just makes the S/N problem worse and actually decreases the chance of detecting anything nefarious - but no one wants to hear that - especially when their livelihood depends on expanding this crap. So they will work very hard to continue to try to suppress and discredit the truth.
I am reminded of a scene from The Wire where Bunk et. al. load a copy machine with paper saying True True Lie and run a "lie Detector test" on a suspect.
After they say the machine don't miss the suspect confesses. In a similar vein, as long as people *think* a polygraph works, the questioning is more important than the results. If people will openly reveal information think the test will catch lies or deception then in a sense the work since they help uncover potentially damaging information.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
ask the horses.
"You weren't there, man!"
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
You mean everything on Jerry Springer is a lie?
There are going to be a lot of people wondering if that baby is really theirs, or if their significant (or insignificant) other has been cheating on them...
I have proved the polygraph is worthless as a "lie detector" - truthful people are often called liars and I can teach anyone how to control every tracing on the chart in a matter of minutes! Go to my website polygraph.com for more information about that. But, since all the scientific evidence shows there is no such thing as a "lie detector", wouldn't responsible policy makers in the government stop the use of the polygraph if they were aware of these problems? One would think they would, but the sad fact is they already know all these things - they have known since at least 1985 when I testified in Congress and got the EMPLOYEE POLYGRAPH PROTECTION ACT passed into law, (the EPPA outlawed the use of the polygraph in private industry). I testified in the U.S. Congress in support of the EPPA. Click here to read a transcript of my testimony: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015011381806;view=1up;seq=281 (My testimony begins on pg 275) Here is an interesting piece of historical trivia: When I testified in Congress, I put my manual, HOW TO STING THE POLYGRAPH into the Congressional Record, and the Senators and Representatives distributed more copies of my manual between 1984 and 1988 than anyone has ever distributed - including me! They sent them out by the tens of thousands in response to requests from constituents. (I wonder if they are going to get that "list" too?) But, there were exclusions written into the law that allowed the government - local state and federal - to continue to use the polygraph. They attempt to justify these exclusions on the grounds that the government needs this tool to protect national security and the law enforcement officials need it to protect the integrity of the criminal justice system. I have proved the polygraph is not a "lie detector" - the Congress, the Justice Department, the OTA, and all those with any scientific credibility agree with me - so there is no justification for the government to continue to use it on the pretext that it protects our national security or the integrity of the criminal justice system. But, knowing the polygraph is worthless as a "lie detector", knowing that people were wrongly accused of lying, and knowing that many were abused by polygraph operators asking illegal questions was still not enough to convince government agencies to stop using the polygraph. In fact, these agencies demanded that they be excluded from this law in order to "protect national security" and to "assure the integrity of law enforcement and the criminal justice system". The lawmakers caved and allowed the exclusions to be written into the law because that was the only way to be assured that even the watered down version prohibiting the polygraph in the private sector would pass. Why do government agencies still staunchly defend the use of the polygraph and even harass, intimidate and try to punish me for proving the polygraph is not a "lie detector" by demonstrating that I can teach anyone to easily control the results of the "test"? Why do they do everything in their power to prevent any information that discredits the "lie detector" from being exposed? Why do they intimidate applicants and others who are required to submit to polygraph "testing" by monitoring their internet activity and punishing them for educating themselves about the polygraph? Why does the government love to use this "Frankenstein's Monster", (a description given to the polygraph by its inventor Dr. Larson)? And why do they insist on continuing to use it? It is FOOLISH and DANGEROUS to use the polygraph as "lie detector" - the theory of "lie detection" is nothing but junk science. It is based on a faulty scientific premise. The polygraph operators have the audacity to say that there is such a thing as a "reaction indicative of deception", when I can prove that "lying reaction" is simply a nervous reaction commonly referred to as the fight or flight syndrome. In fact, the polygraph is nothing but a psychological billy c
I have proved the polygraph is worthless as a "lie detector" - truthful people are often called liars and I can teach anyone how to control every tracing on the chart in a matter of minutes! Go to my website polygraph.com for more information about that. But, since all the scientific evidence shows there is no such thing as a "lie detector", wouldn't responsible policy makers in the government stop the use of the polygraph if they were aware of these problems? One would think they would, but the sad fact is they already know all these things - they have known since at least 1985 when I testified in Congress and got the EMPLOYEE POLYGRAPH PROTECTION ACT passed into law, (the EPPA outlawed the use of the polygraph in private industry). I testified in the U.S. Congress in support of the EPPA. Click here to read a transcript of my testimony: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015011381806;view=1up;seq=281 (My testimony begins on pg 275) Here is an interesting piece of historical trivia: When I testified in Congress, I put my manual, HOW TO STING THE POLYGRAPH into the Congressional Record, and the Senators and Representatives distributed more copies of my manual between 1984 and 1988 than anyone has ever distributed - including me! They sent them out by the tens of thousands in response to requests from constituents. (I wonder if they are going to get that "list" too?) But, there were exclusions written into the law that allowed the government - local state and federal - to continue to use the polygraph. They attempt to justify these exclusions on the grounds that the government needs this tool to protect national security and the law enforcement officials need it to protect the integrity of the criminal justice system. I have proved the polygraph is not a "lie detector" - the Congress, the Justice Department, the OTA, and all those with any scientific credibility agree with me - so there is no justification for the government to continue to use it on the pretext that it protects our national security or the integrity of the criminal justice system. But, knowing the polygraph is worthless as a "lie detector", knowing that people were wrongly accused of lying, and knowing that many were abused by polygraph operators asking illegal questions was still not enough to convince government agencies to stop using the polygraph. In fact, these agencies demanded that they be excluded from this law in order to "protect national security" and to "assure the integrity of law enforcement and the criminal justice system". The lawmakers caved and allowed the exclusions to be written into the law because that was the only way to be assured that even the watered down version prohibiting the polygraph in the private sector would pass. Why do government agencies still staunchly defend the use of the polygraph and even harass, intimidate and try to punish me for proving the polygraph is not a "lie detector" by demonstrating that I can teach anyone to easily control the results of the "test"? Why do they do everything in their power to prevent any information that discredits the "lie detector" from being exposed? Why do they intimidate applicants and others who are required to submit to polygraph "testing" by monitoring their internet activity and punishing them for educating themselves about the polygraph? Why does the government love to use this "Frankenstein's Monster", (a description given to the polygraph by its inventor Dr. Larson)? And why do they insist on continuing to use it? It is FOOLISH and DANGEROUS to use the polygraph as "lie detector" - the theory of "lie detection" is nothing but junk science. It is based on a faulty scientific premise. The polygraph operators have the audacity to say that there is such a thing as a "reaction indicative of deception", when I can prove that "lying reaction" is simply a nervous reaction commonly referred to as the fight or flight syndrome. In fact, the polygraph is nothing but a psychological billy c
http://www.polygraph.com/index.php?i-don-t-teach-countermeasures
It has been free to the public since I testified in the U.S. Congress in support of the EPPA. Click here to read a transcript of my testimony: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015011381806;view=1up;seq=281 (My testimony begins on pg 275) Here is an interesting piece of historical trivia: When I testified in Congress, I put my manual, HOW TO STING THE POLYGRAPH into the Congressional Record, and the Senators and Representatives distributed more copies of my manual between 1984 and 1988 than anyone has ever distributed - including me! They sent them out by the tens of thousands in response to requests from constituents. I wonder if the Feds will get all that "list" from Congress? You can also get it by simply Googling HOW TO STING THE POLYGRAPH. I am constantly updating it and I must charge a small amount to maintain my website and keep updating the manual, so I charge for the updated version.
It's your birthday. Someone gives you a calfskin wallet. How do you react?
You've got a little boy. He shows you his butterfly collection plus the killing jar. What do you do?
You're watching television. Suddenly you realize there's a wasp crawling on your arm.
You're in a desert walking along in the sand when all of the sudden you look down, and you see a tortoise, crawling toward you. You reach down, you flip the tortoise over on its back. The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over, but it canâ(TM)t, not without your help. But you're not helping. Why is that?
Describe in single words, only the good things that come into your mind. About your mother.
By describing my training as "countermeasures" that people use in order to pass a polygraph as a form of cheating, or something used only by liars who are trying to "beat" the "lie detector", polygraph operators are asserting something as a fact that is absolutely false - something that all evidence proves is false; i.e. that the polygraph is accurate, reliable, and effective in detecting truth and detecting deception. All the scientific evidence available proves that the polygraph is none of those things. The polygraph is no more accurate than the toss of a coin - in other words it is only able to detect deception approximately 50% of the time. This also means that unless truthful people get prepared to pass the test, over 50% of the time the polygraph con men will brand them as liars just because they are nervous. A sad irony is that often the people polygraph operators accuse people of using "countermeasures" are those who have no idea what that even means! As a matter of fact, polygraph operators are now so paranoid that one of the questions frequently asked on the polygraph test itself is if the subject has read my manual. Many of these unscrupulous jerks will fail or disqualify people just because they are suspected of the horrible Orwellian "thought crime" of educating themselves! But trying to "catch" anyone who uses the information in my manual and video/DVD to pass their polygraph test is an exercise in futility on the part of the polygraph operator, because everyone who uses the Sting Technique will ALWAYS PASS - and the only thing the polygraph operator will see is a perfect, natural truthful chart! As a matter of fact, the information in my manual is so effective, (and because the polygraph as a "lie detector" is so ineffective), the information in my manual and video/DVD is considered to be "contraband" - it is actually prohibited by Big Brother polygraphers in the government! Why do government agencies still staunchly defend the use of the polygraph and even harass, intimidate and try to punish me for proving the polygraph is not a "lie detector" by demonstrating that I can teach anyone to easily control the results of the "test"? Why do they do everything in their power to prevent any information that discredits the "lie detector" from being exposed? Why do they intimidate applicants and others who are required to submit to polygraph "testing" by monitoring their internet activity and punishing them for educating themselves about the polygraph? Because polygraph operators are today's version of the thugs employed by Orwell's Ministry of Truth! The thugs in the ministry spread a new language amongst the populace called Newspeak in which, for example, "truth" is understood to mean statements like 2 + 2 = 5 when the situation warrants – or in the case of the polygraph operators a nervous reaction ALWAYS indicates deception.
---
- I stole your sig.
I got offered to download mobogenie .apk a couple times I open slashdot on my phone. Do any of you experience this too?
It's exactly what I am saying... That the US political spectrum is not the same as in the rest of the planet.