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Anti-Polygraph Instructor Who Was Targeted By Feds Goes Public

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."

197 comments

  1. First rule of passing a Lie Detector test by jennatalia · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't talk about passing a lie detector test.

    1. Re:First rule of passing a Lie Detector test by SJHillman · · Score: 1

      In other words, "Don't ask me no questions and I won't tell you no lies."

    2. Re: First rule of passing a Lie Detector test by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Slashdot is lying, still says 0 comments.
      Anyways, sucks for this guy. Penn & Teller already covered polygraphs on Bullshit so he's basically going down for info that's been out for decades.

    3. Re:First rule of passing a Lie Detector test by Joce640k · · Score: 3, 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.

      --
      No sig today...
    4. Re:First rule of passing a Lie Detector test by mjwalshe · · Score: 1

      Ah you mean when the UK tested the polygraph they got a unbelievable 37% fail rate on the 250 people in the sample (security service officers)

    5. Re: First rule of passing a Lie Detector test by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So it ok ok to teach people how to cheat on a government job test?
      How about how to cheat on a government missle officers test?
      How about how to cheat on a Long Island Rail Road Disability test?

      He did not provide people free information. He was paid to teach them how to cheat on a test. Otherwise who would pay him money for that.
      You forget the law not only deals with actions, it deals with intent.
      There is how many levels of Homicide? The difference is all about intent.

      I a glad I do not live the oppressive police state some of you think you live in.

    6. Re:First rule of passing a Lie Detector test by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Don't ask me no questions and I won't tell you no lies."

      But if you want to talk fishin', I guess that'll be OK.

    7. Re:First rule of passing a Lie Detector test by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      they also do that in those "racism tests", they ask you if you ever took one before, just say no. then they show you a bunch of creepy pics that look like mug shots so if you just let your mind blank it's going to say you're racist,so start thinking about jazz musicians, black churches and whoopie goldberg while you take it, you'll pass.

    8. Re: First rule of passing a Lie Detector test by ganjadude · · Score: 1

      apples and oranges.

      Polygraphs already are inadmissible in court as they have been proven to be bullshit. As such, how can one get in trouble for teaching someone how to beat something that is not admissible in court anyway?

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    9. Re: First rule of passing a Lie Detector test by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So it ok ok to teach people how to cheat on a government job test?
      How about how to cheat on a government missle officers test?
      How about how to cheat on a Long Island Rail Road Disability test?

      I do not know what that last one is, but yes, all three of those things should be perfectly legal. If you have a problem with cheating, I feel for you, but trying to suppress the information isn't going to fix your problem. It will only make it worse.

      You forget the law not only deals with actions, it deals with intent.
      There is how many levels of Homicide? The difference is all about intent.

      Murder is bad, whether accidental or not. Speech is not, no matter how much you might hem and haw that it should be.

  2. Obligatory by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

    Tip from the master, George Costanza.

  3. Total Obedience is Required ! by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Don't ask me no questions and I won't tell you no lies."

    I am afraid to the government of United Police State of America this is no longer enough.

    What is going on in the supposedly Western Democracy nowadays is that it is marching towards fascism. From the United States to France to England to many more lapdog countries, fascist tendency of the various governmental entities have arisen.

    Used to be that one is innocent until found guilty, but no longer.

    These days, we are all guilty, no matter if we have done everything. We are so guilty that they can charge us with _anything_ they like.

    In other words, the difference between Russia/China and the Western Democracy is shrinking, and shrinking fast.

    But at the very least, China and Russia never pretend to be "democratic".

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
    1. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by amiga3D · · Score: 3, 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.

    2. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by dbIII · · Score: 4, Informative

      They are improving while other places are going the other way, which is making it difficult to say "as bad as China" even though the crossover point has not yet been reached.

    3. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by LordLimecat · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I take it youve never been to Russia or China.

      I guess my objection to the comparison isnt that we dont have major problems, its that when someone busts out a comparison like that it makes a mockery of the whole discussion. I would rather the real problems be discussed than that we get hysterical to the point that noone wants to hear about it anymore. I would rather, for example, that instead of hordes of people claiming that we're no more free than china, that people instead pressed their representatives for real action regarding NSA overreach.

    4. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You've always been able to be charged with anything, doesn't mean you're found guilty. But keep going with the conspiracy.

    5. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Just FYI, from past posts taco is clearly a chinese refugee that obtained US citizenship. So he's more qualified than most to say whether or not this is becoming People's Republic of America or whatever. Possibly even moreso than me as a lifelong US citizen. They're only worse in that there is no shame in what they do, but otherwise we are the worse ones. By building an illusion of "land of the free". But then again at least we have shame in that.

    6. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by students · · Score: 2

      Both China and Russia hold elections. They pretend to a degree.

    7. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Both China and Russia hold elections. They pretend to a degree.

      Let's see ...
       
      When was the last time Russia told the world that it is "The Land of the Free" ?
       
      When was the last time China berated other countries of "violating the human rights" of its own citizens ?
       
      Now, kindly tell us who is the biggest hypocrite of all ?

    8. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In truth though, we're all guilty of something. I'm guilty of eating the last of the Nutella. That's a crime beyond a crime but i have to live with the guilty conscience because it's not the laws that dictate what we should feel good and bad about, it's our personal moral dogma and for me, that dogma hurts me every time I think of that nutella. But I'm glad on the other hand that it was me and not one of those socialist pigs at the top that ate it.

    9. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by dunkelfalke · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Well, what about yourself? Have you ever been in Russia, for example? Doesn't seem to be the case, to be honest.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    10. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      how is this paranoid bullshit "insightful?"

      "marching towards fascism?"

      really?

      this get marked as +5?

      taco cowboy, that fucking moron, is completely ignorant of history. what about the house un american activities committee? the alien and sedition acts? the espionage act of 1917?

      every fucking generation thinks that they invented crises and history. yes, these events agianst he lie detector crusaders are important. yes, we should always be vigilant to protect our rights. but no, the usa is not "marching towards fasism" in any sense more meaningful than "I am marching towards china" when i walk eastward to the store.

      fuck you, taco cowboy, and fuck the historically clueless goth alarmists who marked you up.

    11. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by Ihlosi · · Score: 1
      I'm guilty of eating the last of the Nutella.

      And you probably licked the knife, too?

      Guilty, I say. Guilty as ****.

    12. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by erikkemperman · · Score: 1

      Why the scare quotes around "people's"?

      Anyway, I think the comparison with places like China and Russia is less than helpful. In stead, let's compare with the US of, say, three decades ago -- when there were still two superpowers and the US had to at least pretend to be the good guys, to maintain support of its allies and at least some good will on the part of the non-aligned bloc.
       

      --
      Gosh, thanks. That must be why the other ships call me Meatfucker -- GCU Grey Area (Eccentric)
    13. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by SerpentMage · · Score: 2

      The US has like in your comments always had a checkered past when it came towards certain "non-freedom" acts. I think we could agree that all countries have certain tendencies. However, and this is the big however, there were always moments when the Americans stood up and said enough is enough. I am not saying it cannot happen again. What is different this time is that you have an America divided and polarized. Look at voting, that is absolutely insane.

      You are either an MSNBC friend and hater of Fox news or vice versa. Fox news spreads the propaganda and calls it the news. Yes yes the "left" is doing this as well. You have movements in the US where and this is really funny in a sad way, that it is legal to shoot somebody and kill them because they "looked" at you the wrong way (I am looking at your Florida). It is acceptable to wave a machine gun around and accumulate rounds and rounds of bullets.

      Take a step back remove the American flag, the cheering and so on. What would this be representative of? I will tell you a third world developing country run by a pseudo dictatorship. Americans are not willing to step up and admit this. Sure there are some that say things need to be changed, but they as in America on the whole doesn't want to change. It is always the "other" person who has to change not them. EXCUSE ME the "other" person is you.

      Call the hippies lazy, dirty, smelly, etc. BUT they did change America and in many aspects for the better. Where are the Americans willing to stand up now? Oh yeah they are being branded as idiots and lazy slobs and one step away from Nazi-dom because they don't like having a two tier bus system. Again step back remove the constitution, remove the flag and think hard about what the country compares to. I always say if it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, its an effen duck.

      BTW I am not happy or shadenfreude as I am a foreigner. I am actually quite sad and disappointed for I like America... America the concept is a very nice place...

      --

      "You can't make a race horse of a pig"
      "No," said Samuel, "but you can make very fast pig"
    14. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually yes, have been to Russia and actually people are more free for certains aspects. Free of speech is a serious problem, mind you, we are way better off. However the extreme inefficency and bureacracy makes it so, that as long as you do not bother a powerful person, you can do whatever you want. Really if you happened to build a nuclear power plant in your appartment nobody would notice/care. Where I live, if I fart too loud, I will be held suspect of dealing with explosives...

    15. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

      I am afraid to the government of United Police State of America this is no longer enough.

      What is going on in the supposedly Western Democracy nowadays is that it is marching towards fascism.

      OK ... that would make one Barack H. Obama the fascist leader for over five years now. Right? He is in charge of these agencies.

      But at the very least, China and Russia never pretend to be "democratic".

      Um, yeah they did ... Communism always maintained that it was the "true" democracy, that it truly spoke for the will of the common people, who needed bold leaders to speak and act for them, and were incapable of successfully working their will through the regular machinery of democracy.

    16. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Um, yeah they did ... Communism always maintained that it was the "true" democracy, that it truly spoke for the will of the common people, who needed bold leaders to speak and act for them, and were incapable of successfully working their will through the regular machinery of democracy.

      Which was actually true. The average Russian now complains that the government does not "give" him a job. Private industry is almost completely absent, all big companies are state sponsored and small ones are close to non-existent. They never grew out feudal arrangment and Communism was spot on for them.

    17. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The more prefixes like "People's", "Democratic Republic", "Free" etc a country appends to their name, the more suspicious you should be. Something about protesting too much.

    18. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by Imrik · · Score: 1

      "People's" is a reference to the economic policy (communist) rather than the political structure.

    19. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You have movements in the US where and this is really funny in a sad way, that it is legal to shoot somebody and kill them because they "looked" at you the wrong way (I am looking at your Florida). It is acceptable to wave a machine gun around and accumulate rounds and rounds of bullets.

      Citation needed. Your terminology is so off this last sentence doesn't even make sense and it's complete bullshit. "Wave a machine gun around" Really? I'm pretty sure you've never even seen a real machine gun since you obviously don't even know what that term means. More biased bullshit.

    20. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by jythie · · Score: 1

      "These days?"

      Go back to any decade and one will find comments like this one, go back a century and one finds comments like this one. Things only seem better in the past because problems in the present are fresher in our memories.

    21. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by kilfarsnar · · Score: 5, Insightful

      how is this paranoid bullshit "insightful?"

      "marching towards fascism?"

      really?

      this get marked as +5?

      taco cowboy, that fucking moron, is completely ignorant of history. what about the house un american activities committee? the alien and sedition acts? the espionage act of 1917?

      every fucking generation thinks that they invented crises and history. yes, these events agianst he lie detector crusaders are important. yes, we should always be vigilant to protect our rights. but no, the usa is not "marching towards fasism" in any sense more meaningful than "I am marching towards china" when i walk eastward to the store.

      fuck you, taco cowboy, and fuck the historically clueless goth alarmists who marked you up.

      I'm sorry, who the fuck are you, again? If you are over 40 and don't see the direction this country has taken over the last 15 years or so, I don't know what to tell you. Yes, we had a House Un-American Activities Committee. Now we have a Department of Homeland Security with nebulous jurisdiction and authority. And we call our country the "Homeland". We never did that before 2001. We have militarized police and "enemy combatant" status. We have the NSA looking at all of our communication.

      Like I said, if you are over 40 or so, you should be able to see the change. This is not the same country we grew up in.

      --
      "What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
    22. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "You have movements in the US where and this is really funny in a sad way, that it is legal to shoot somebody and kill them because they "looked" at you the wrong way."

      This is a massive exaggeration, and confirms you as not knowing and/or understanding US self defense/stand your ground laws. At least spend a few minutes familiarizing yourself with something before parroting inaccuracies that make you sound clueless.

      Additionally, as a foreigner (with all due respect), you really don't have a valid opinion as to the state or effect of US law. Your culture and upbringing and way of life is so different that you don't have a working point of reference.

      "It is acceptable to wave a machine gun around and accumulate rounds and rounds of bullets."

      Stop focusing on the tool (yes, guns are tools, nothing more) and start focusing on the people using said tool. Guns are fun, they're very useful, and they're solid investments. They're also a large part of the fundamental rights that made America what it is/was today (though admittedly we've had far better years). Guns are NEVER going to go away in America, even if they're somehow someday (unconstitutionally) rendered illegal, so stop trying to make them. /offtopic

    23. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 0

      I wish people noted well this point in history, learnng from China that there is a hell of a lot more feedoms that are crucial than just speech and First Amendment stuff. Economic freedom, even when speech is somewhat lacking, makes the lion's share of difference in improving the quality of life.

      Yet blabbity-type freedom has spent a hundred years relegating economic freedom as a second-tier freedom and right, completely subservient especially in principle.

      Economic theories based on tbis repeatedly predict it successfully, but yet more evidence is ignored because it doesn't meld with certain internal worldviews not amenable to repeated successful predictions.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    24. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd rather not be on the slope at all.

    25. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by ganjadude · · Score: 1

      You have movements in the US where and this is really funny in a sad way, that it is legal to shoot somebody and kill them because they "looked" at you the wrong way (I am looking at your Florida). It is acceptable to wave a machine gun around and accumulate rounds and rounds of bullets.

      "machine guns" are pretty much outlawed. There are some that were grandfathered in, but you need to pay a fee of something crazy like 1/2 a million dollars to buy it. So I Have to say quite frankly that line is totally false and you sound like you are full of shit when you make a claim like that.

      As for being allowed to kill someone in FLA for "looking at you wrong" again, either you are being told wrong information, as I do see you are not american, or you are misrepresenting the facts. A FLA resident is only allowed to kill someone if their life is in direct danger, and there is no other option.

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    26. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I would rather the real problems be discussed than that we get hysterical to the point that noone wants to hear about it anymore.

      That's annoying, please stop. It's two fucking words, not one word pronounced "noon". If I see you do that when I'm moderating, automatic "-1 overrated", as any comment showing gross illiteracy shoud be.

    27. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm 32 but I see it. I never used to get nervous when cops were around. Now I can't stand to be near them, and I'm the same "keep my nose clean" law abiding dude I've always been. They think they're warriors, but doesn't that mean they need a war? I don't need it to be against my ass.

    28. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by Paul+Jakma · · Score: 1

      This would be the China where a *lower* proportion of the population are in jail than the USA? I.e. you've a significantly better chance of being free in China than in the USA.

      --
      I use Friend/Foe + mod-point modifiers as a karma/reputation system.
    29. Re:Total Obedience is Required ! by Paul+Jakma · · Score: 1

      FWIW, Chinese state TV is running news stories at the moment about the mass surveillance programmes that operate in the West. The Chinese state generally seems weaker in influence, than Western states like the US, UK, etc. Also, given that the US gaols a far greater number of its population than China, or pretty much any other country in the world, a random Chinese resident has a much better chance of being free than a US resident. To call the USA the land of the free smacks mildly of Orwellian double-think.

      (Note: There are a good number of things I admire about the US, and things I don't).

      --
      I use Friend/Foe + mod-point modifiers as a karma/reputation system.
  4. Re:To Quote Ben Franklin... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    " Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

    He actually said, "No one deserves Liberty. All Persons are beotches."

  5. This is why people hate the USA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If your own government does this to its own people, we can expect way fucking worst things to happen to us foreigners.

    I hope I never have to go to the USA again. Nice people on the east and west coasts, but the ones who control everything are crazy motherfuckers.

    1. Re:This is why people hate the USA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Ones Who Control Everything are not to be trifled with. They are not of this Earth. Beware.

  6. Divided Opinions by CopaceticOpus · · Score: 5, Funny

    Critics of this federal investigation have claimed that it has the potential to trample free speech, create an atmosphere of fear, and could lead to the wrongful imprisonment of those that the government deems troublemakers.

    However, unnamed sources within the government have taken a more positive outlook, stating that this investigation has the potential to trample free speech, create an atmosphere of fear, and could lead to the wrongful imprisonment of those that they deem troublemakers.

    1. Re:Divided Opinions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Critics of this federal investigation have claimed that it has the potential to trample free speech, create an atmosphere of fear, and could lead to the wrongful imprisonment of those that the government deems troublemakers. However, unnamed sources within the government have taken a more positive outlook, stating that this investigation has the potential to trample free speech, create an atmosphere of fear, and could lead to the wrongful imprisonment of those that they deem troublemakers.

      Government response: "As part of a double-blind experiment, we sent 50 fifth-columnists and 50 diehard supporters of the government to a lie detector test and discovered that every one of them was telling the absolute 100% truth, so we hired them all."

    2. Re:Divided Opinions by fatphil · · Score: 1

      You, sir, have won this thread. Personally I've have made it +5 insightful, but +5 funny's better than nothing.

      --
      Also FatPhil on SoylentNews, id 863
  7. anti-polygraph-instructor-is-bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    as much as I believe that polygraph's are BS that entire site screams snake-oil-salesmen
    from the annoying red text screaming BUYNOW to the autoplay video-advert
    he basically has no credibility anybody that really gave a fuck would take the time to setup a webpage thats NOT basicly a full-page ad-for his "product"
    and the old " I am trying to put my self out of business" schick has been around for ages

  8. The article makes this an intriguing issue by GodfatherofSoul · · Score: 3, Insightful

    He wasn't just teaching people how to pass a lie detector. He was instructing people (undercover agents) who he knew would be committing all kinds of illegal acts including statutory rape and drug smuggling. That's where you cross a fuzzy line between crime and blissful ignorance. In the same way, if I walk into a pawn shop and buy a cheap TV, it's not a crime. But, if the owner tells me it's cheap because his cousin stole it, then I'm engaging in an illegal transaction..

    --
    I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
    1. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by mysidia · · Score: 1

      But, if the owner tells me it's cheap because his cousin stole it, then I'm engaging in an illegal transaction..

      And if he tells you this after you already paid, or after you already loaded it into your car and just need to pay the debt?

      "No returns, exchanges, or refunds"

    2. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by GodfatherofSoul · · Score: 1

      No, receiving stolen goods is a crime. The act of paying is irrelevant.

      --
      I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
    3. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by Charliemopps · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Ugh... you're missing the plain and simple truth that polygraphs DONT WORK. They are complete horseshit, like Organic food, Chiropractors and astrology. If the FBI declared that only "Leos" could be entrusted with drug cases, and this guy was teaching people how to trick the FBI into thinking they were "Leos" so they could steal the drugs, would he be helping them in any way? No, because astrology is bullshit.

    4. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by zippthorne · · Score: 1

      I thought only the guy who went to prison took the "were going to use the knowledge to get away with a crime and we're totally not cops trying to bait you" bait.

      --
      Can you be Even More Awesome?!
    5. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by TrollstonButterbeans · · Score: 4, Funny

      " He was instructing people (undercover agents) who he knew would be committing all kinds of illegal acts including statutory rape and drug smuggling."

      This raises a bigger question --- if these undercover agents are known to be going out and statutory raping people, why aren't the Feds arresting them?

      I am rather disappointed and concerned that these drug smuggling, statutory raping, undercover agents are getting off scot free --- when the Feds should be arresting these undercover scoundrels who are trying to beat these polygraph tests.

      --
      Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
    6. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Paying may be enough to trigger receiving stolen property, even if you don't physically posses it.

      In the case where you find out after the fact:
      1) The entire transaction would be void as the seller did not have the right to sell. Regardless of his policies, he would need to give you your money back. Now, if you are dealing with people who deal in stolen property, this may not be possible or even safe to request.
      2) You would not be automatically guilty once you found out it was stolen, provided you took appropriate action, e.g. took the goods to the police within a reasonable time period (after consulting a lawyer first), since even though you knew the goods were stolen at some time when they were in your possession, you did not intend to deprive the owner of the property.

    7. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Organic food just means food without pesticides, it's not something that can be bullshitted or not.

      It either has pesticides on it or it doesn't. That's it.

    8. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by GodfatherofSoul · · Score: 1

      The question is answered...in the FA.

      --
      I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
    9. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by GodfatherofSoul · · Score: 1

      That is absolutely not the point. He was effectively aiding and abetting guys (undercover agents) who were trying to subvert lie detectors for nefarious means and he was *aware* of it. If there's a door in the bank with a shitty lock and you give someone advice on how to pick it, that doesn't make you any less of a criminal if the door had a good lock.

      --
      I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
    10. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by mysidia · · Score: 1

      No, receiving stolen goods is a crime. The act of paying is irrelevant.

      However, you received them before learning they were stolen. Book 'em danno!

      And that's just a simple scenario.

      Imagine the pawn shop owner tells you (after you signed the credit card slip, and he loaded the TV in your car), that the television was so cheap, because his brother stole something the shop traded to get the TV, or robbed a bank, and the shop used the money to buy extra televisions -- or - the pawn shop reported "vandalism"; tricked the insurance company into reimbursing them for their entire inventory.

      Consider the latter cases, where the shopper has still facilitated a crime, which they were unaware of until after the fact, despite the goods themselves not being stolen goods.

    11. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by GodfatherofSoul · · Score: 1

      Irrelevant if you keep them and don't report it. The act of buying them has no bearing on the crime.

      --
      I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
    12. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It doesn't matter. Polygraphs are about as scientific as palm readings and horoscopes.

    13. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by Sique · · Score: 1

      It's not that easy. Organic food has less pesticides. Pesticides are everywhere, they are in the soil, they are in the ground water. You don't find a spot in the whole U.S. where no pesticides can be detected. Thus there are limits of how much of which pesticide can be in organic food to be still called organic. And different labels require different limits and use different testing methods, so you actually can be bullshitted.

      --
      .sig: Sique *sigh*
    14. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by Sique · · Score: 2

      No. Polygraph testing gets you a certain chance of passing (independent of your real intentions), and he just increased the chance of passing (still independent of your real intentions). So the intentions of the people who wanted to be taught passing the polygraph detector shouldn't play any role -- and if it was just so the own career is not spoiled by the results of a completely botched test. And in general: People who want to successfully work undercover have to have the ability to withstand an attempt to blow their cover -- including a completely erratic test like the polygraph detector. So I would call police officers trying to get educated how to keep calm in such a testing situation more fit for the undercover job than the others, which I guess might be somewhat too naive.

      --
      .sig: Sique *sigh*
    15. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And if he tells you this after you already paid, or after you already loaded it into your car and just need to pay the debt?

      That isn't a moral or legal dilemma. The correct procedure is to go to the police and report the crime. You can't keep the TV, it will be kept as evidence.

    16. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The accuracy of the test is only a secondary consideration. I object to the idea in general, and will continue to object even if they develop one which does really work.

    17. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by Paul+Jakma · · Score: 2

      The lie detector test is based on ignorance. Teaching people how to pass it amounts to telling them the scientific truth about the polygraph's efficacy: It has none, so don't worry about it, and don't volunteer information.

      If it's a crime to tell the truth about pseudo-scientific quackery, then we're fucked.

      --
      I use Friend/Foe + mod-point modifiers as a karma/reputation system.
    18. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > like Organic food
      Sigh, organic food doen't *need* to 'work'. Organic food is not about your health, it's about the health of the farm on which it is grown. Now I agree there are a lot of crackpots/quacks in the 'roganic inustry', but we *need* to change the exploitative way of creating our food to make it sustainable in the long run.

    19. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except, organic food is not bullshit.

    20. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, it means not tampered with in a lab. Botany and cross-breeding/cross-pollination is different from genetic engineering. You can't make a catfish fuck a piece of corn and impregnate the corn.

    21. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by Penroze · · Score: 1

      He wasn't just teaching people how to pass a lie detector. He was instructing people (undercover agents) who he knew would be committing all kinds of illegal acts including statutory rape and drug smuggling. Can you link to any evidence that supports that claim? That's certainly the law he's charged under, but I'd like to see the evidence. The article only briefly mentions the details of the sting operation. One of these guys had been doing this for 30 years, and appeared on 60 minutes. If he's such a master criminal and a major problem, why did the government let him get away with it for 30 years before conducting this sting? Even if he was helping them pass the polygraph test, the "voodoo comment" applies here. What if the government had a voodoo test, where they stuck needles in dolls, and if you jumped, you weren't hired? Then someone comes along and teaches you how to pass the voodoo test by not being afraid of it. Some of those people tell you they're going to do bad things when they pass the voodoo test. Are you really committing a crime if you help someone pass a test that has little or no bearing on whether you're truthful or not? As the article states, that's something that belongs in law school classrooms, not prosecutors offices.

    22. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by moeinvt · · Score: 1

      On what basis do you conclude that organic food is not about health? Look carefully at who conducted and funded any study which makes such claims. Then, look at exactly what they are asserting.

      I've seen a study which analyzed the nutritional content of organic food vs. other food. i.e. vitamin and mineral content, and the conclusion was that there was no difference. However, the study did not take into account pesticide residue or any other harmful contents in the non-organic food.

    23. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I get that you didn't stoop to summarizing the answer in your reply, but was it too hard for you to add a link?
      Do you really require us to actually scrall all the way back up???

      You bastard. Just for that, I'm not going to.

    24. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He should have given them a polygraph first and asked them if they were federal agents.

    25. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by gnasher719 · · Score: 1

      Consider the latter cases, where the shopper has still facilitated a crime, which they were unaware of until after the fact, despite the goods themselves not being stolen goods.

      The crime is knowingly receiving stolen goods. Bizarrely, buying goods that you _think_ are stolen even though they are not (for example if I told you that all the TVs in the pawn shop are cheap because they are stolen and you believe me) is an attempted crime in the USA and illegal as well. Just difficult to prove.

      "Knowingly" doesn't mean that you have 100% proof, it means that a reasonable person would suspect that theft was involved. And whether you know it or not, the stolen goods don't become your property so the real owner can take them back without paying you any compensation. On the other hand, this only applies to stolen goods. And that means it must be the same goods that were actually stolen. If I steal $10,000 and use it to buy a car, the car isn't "stolen goods". Actually, the $10,000 isn't stolen goods because cash is not an identifiable good. So if I sell you my car for $10,000 that I know you have stolen, I don't think that selling the car to you is illegal. Not reporting a crime may be illegal, but selling the car isn't.

    26. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Organic doesn't mean less pesticides, it only means no synthetic pesticides. Also, there is only one organic label - not multiple as you claim.

      http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/food/organics.htm

    27. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Organic food can contain pesticides. The only difference is that organics can only use non-synthetic pesticides which can still be toxic (disproving the naturalistic fallacy that natural = healthy or better).

      Related to that - there have been repeated outbreaks of e coli in organic produce because of the heavy use of manure as a fertilizer (since synthetic fertilizers are forbidden).

      In any case - the pesticides that are used in conventional farming have been very well studied and approved by the government as safe when used correctly.

    28. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Penn and Teller would like to have a talk with you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5amLAMRQk5I

    29. Re: The article makes this an intriguing issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Consider this.
      All those what ifs Are why we have lawyers and courts and judges.
      Are the any languages that do not have a word for "loop hole"

    30. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes. It becomes conspiracy to commit a crime. If you're selling someone gasoline, and he confides that he'll use the gasoline to burn a house down, then you should not sell him the gasoline. Of course, that example you provided a material benefit. How about this: you're talking with a crazy guy who confides that he's going to blow up a school, but the only thing preventing him is something you personally consider to be BS. He wants you (and only you) to bless him because you're "chosen". Instead, you somehow convince him that being blessed by you is BS, and wish him well in his endeavor. Without your help, those kids would live.

    31. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by Reapy · · Score: 1

      Not to mention that washing your fruit will result in roughly the same amount of pesticides remaining on your food.

      If anything you miss out on specifically engineered and probably more effective pesticides with less environmental impact by choosing to only use natural poisons that may target and harm more than the is intended.

    32. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If polygraphs actually detected lies, how could you be trained to beat them? And if someone can be trained to defeat the polygraph, that's proof that it is NOT a "lie detector". What difference does it make what the lie is about?

    33. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by Charliemopps · · Score: 1

      Actually, the pesticides used on Organic food are usually highly carcinogenic. But considered better because they're "Natural" (usually made from flower extracts) The whole point to synthetic pesticides was to make them safer, and more targeted. Rather than killing damn near everything they touch, modern pesticides target specific bugs. You cannot farm on a large scale without pesticides. You can not have that large of a food source in one place without having the insect population balloon out of control as they devour your crop. We didn't have pesticides 200 years ago, but farms were usually just a few acres then.

    34. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      By the way, Scot Free would have preferred to remain anonymous....

    35. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, because astrology is bullshit.

      Until you said that, I thought you meant LEOs. As in Law Enforcement Officers.

    36. Re:The article makes this an intriguing issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes. It becomes conspiracy to commit a crime. If you're selling someone gasoline, and he confides that he'll use the gasoline to burn a house down, then you should not sell him the gasoline.

      The premise is that people or machines can detect lies. I suspect people are better at it than machines. I also suspect that when a total stranger "confesses" their crimes they are full of shit ("Whatever buddy!") or joking (usually joking). Or if I do believe them then I fear for my fucking life and want nothing more than to complete the business and have them leave.

  9. Re:To Quote Anonymous Coward... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Write a wise saying and your name will live forever.
    -- Anonymous

  10. if you know how a polygraph works... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    it only takes about 30 seconds to think up ways to circumvent it, which is why they aren't permissible in court.

    1. Re:if you know how a polygraph works... by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The idea is to create a concept of a "lie detector." Then you tell your suspect, "If you didn't do it, just take a 'lie detector' test. If that comes out clean, then you'll be off the hook. You can go home right away. No need to spend a few more hours sitting here with us going over this stuff over and over and over again."

      Plug him into the "lie detector." Ask him some questions. Then have the police come in and say, "The lie detector says you were lying. Why don't you tell us what really happened? We can be here all night until you decide to tell us the truth..."

    2. Re:if you know how a polygraph works... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The idea is to create a concept of a "lie detector." Then you tell your suspect, "If you didn't do it, just take a 'lie detector' test. If that comes out clean, then you'll be off the hook. You can go home right away. No need to spend a few more hours sitting here with us going over this stuff over and over and over again."

      Plug him into the "lie detector." Ask him some questions. Then have the police come in and say, "The lie detector says you were lying. Why don't you tell us what really happened? We can be here all night until you decide to tell us the truth..."

      You could hook someone up to any dumb contraption like an e-meter and try that ruse.

      What a polygraph does and how you use it seem to be over your head.

    3. Re:if you know how a polygraph works... by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 1

      No, the idea is to sell everyone else on the idea of a "lie detector" and then use everyone ELSE'S belief in its infallibility against the victim.

      --
      A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
    4. Re:if you know how a polygraph works... by Ihlosi · · Score: 3, Informative
      it only takes about 30 seconds to think up ways to circumvent it, which is why they aren't permissible in court.

      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.

    5. Re:if you know how a polygraph works... by MoronGames · · Score: 1

      Obviously your lawyer would be present, however, to confirm otherwise.

      --
      hey!
    6. Re:if you know how a polygraph works... by Sockatume · · Score: 1

      Alas polygraphs are also used by the likes of the FBI as an actual operational tool. Real operational decisions, including the hiring, firing, and criminal investigation of personnel, have been made on the basis of a machine that demonstrably pumps out garbage.

      --
      No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    7. Re:if you know how a polygraph works... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They did that with a suspended flower basket cage and a photocopier. The suspect went into the detectives office, saw the chains and cage, panicked and asked the detective what those were for. Seeing his opportunity, he told the not-so-bright criminal that it was a lie detector, and made him put the basket over his head, and used a marker pen to write LIE TRUE on a sheet of paper. Every time he asked the suspect a question that he already knew the answer to, he'd press the start button and photocopy either LIE or TRUE .

    8. Re:if you know how a polygraph works... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Every time he asked the suspect a question that he already knew the answer to, he'd press the start button and photocopy either LIE or TRUE .

      Would that be a photocopier with 2 start buttons and 2 originals feeds?

    9. Re:if you know how a polygraph works... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The idea is to create a concept of a "lie detector." Then you tell your suspect, "If you didn't do it, just take a 'lie detector' test. If that comes out clean, then you'll be off the hook. You can go home right away. No need to spend a few more hours sitting here with us going over this stuff over and over and over again."

      Plug him into the "lie detector." Ask him some questions. Then have the police come in and say, "The lie detector says you were lying. Why don't you tell us what really happened? We can be here all night until you decide to tell us the truth..."

      You could hook someone up to any dumb contraption like an e-meter and try that ruse.

      What a polygraph does and how you use it seem to be over your head.

      Look! The pigs are here!

    10. Re:if you know how a polygraph works... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is the right answer. Regardless of whether the instructor in question was helping bad people beat the test, the bottom line is that the test doesn't even work. The government is protecting what is essentially snake oil, because it's useful to keep people living in fear of polygraphs.

    11. Re:if you know how a polygraph works... by Paul+Jakma · · Score: 1

      Polygraphs are unreliable generally in scientific tests, regardless of whether subjects know anything about how to circumvent them, for the simple reason that polygraphs are a load of bull.

      The only way they produce reliable information is where the subject volunteers it, out of fear the polygraph actually works, or desire to please the interrogator.

      --
      I use Friend/Foe + mod-point modifiers as a karma/reputation system.
  11. Bin Laden by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    One of Bin Laden's goals was to turn the US into an oppressive country like the ones in the Arab World,

    Even after stating the goal, here we are going that way. It's amazing how easily people can be manipulated.

    1. Re:Bin Laden by triclipse · · Score: 1

      Especially believing in that fairy tale starring "Osama Bin Laden" ... if you have believed that much then it is probably too late for you anyway.

      --
      No Inflation Taxation without Representation
    2. Re:Bin Laden by l0ungeb0y · · Score: 2

      You do know who Mr. Laden's biggest backer and financier was don't you?
      It was the US Gov't. So of course we've "fallen for it".

    3. Re:Bin Laden by Frankie70 · · Score: 0

      One of Bin Laden's goals was to turn the US into an oppressive country like the ones in the Arab World,

      Citation, please?

    4. Re:Bin Laden by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That should not be a question, it should be a demand.

      Citation, Please!

    5. Re:Bin Laden by lucien86 · · Score: 1

      Look to closely at the motivations for things and things can get a bit uncomfortable.

      The real reason for 9/11 was quite simple - revenge, America had supplied the Israelis with bombs and other weapons and helped them in their attacks on the Palestinians in Lebanon in the mid 80's. A lot of people died in those attacks, at least several times more than 9/11. Don't worry though 'we' got revenge back, in Afghanistan and Iraq, even if Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.

      One of the curious things that no one seems to remember now is that the old American patriot movement had identified three primary targets that would get attacked to free America from the 'oppressive' power of the federal government. Guess what they were? The WTC, The White House, and The Pentagon - I've always wondered if Bin Laden chose them as some kind of joke.. It would just figure if Islamic terrorists had more of a sense of humour than our poluticians..
      (Interesting aside If your a conspiracy theory nut, one of the signs of heavy brainwashing is a total lack of humour..)

      Think I will return to sanity now.. :D

      --
      Below the speed of light Special Relativity is one of the most accurate theories in physics - above the speed of light..
  12. Show me ... by PPH · · Score: 4, Interesting

    .... the man and I will find you the crime.

    -- Lavrentiy Beria, Stalinâ(TM)s head of the secret police

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
    1. Re:Show me ... by Tokolosh · · Score: 2

      "If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him." - Cardinal Richelieu

      Three felonies a day: http://harveysilverglate.com/B...

      --
      Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
  13. Presently means 'soon' by sandbagger · · Score: 1

    As in it will happen presently.

    Grrr.

    --
    ---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
    1. Re:Presently means 'soon' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      YES!! It doesn't mean at present. And momentarily means for a (brief) moment in time, not "in a moment". Thank you, thank you so much,

    2. Re:Presently means 'soon' by Rob+the+Bold · · Score: 3, Interesting

      As in it will happen presently.

      Grrr.

      Merriam-webster.com states this in usage notes:

      Both senses ["without undue delay"] and ["at the present time"] are flourishing in current English, but many commentators have objected to sense 2 ["at the present time"]. Since this sense has been in continuous use since the 15th century, it is not clear why it is objectionable. Perhaps a note in the Oxford English Dictionary (1909) that the sense has been obsolete since the 17th century in literary English is to blame, but the note goes on to observe that the sense is in regular use in most English dialects. The last citation in that dictionary is from a 1901 Leeds newspaper, written in Standard English. Sense 2 is most common in contexts relating to business and politics (the fastest-rising welfare cost is Medicaid, presently paid by the states and cities — William Safire)

      The American Heritage Dictionary's note:

      Usage Note: An original meaning of presently was "at the present time; currently." That sense is said to have disappeared from the literary language in the 17th century, but it has survived in popular usage and is widely found nowadays in literate speech and writing. Still, there is a lingering prejudice against this use. The sentence General Walters is ... presently the United States Ambassador to the United Nations was acceptable to only 48 percent of the Usage Panel in the 1999 survey.

      And Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary:

      The meaning “now” of presently dates back to the 15th century; it is currently in standard use in all varieties of speech and writing. The sense “soon” arose gradually during the 16th century. Strangely, it is the older sense “now” that usage guides sometimes object to. The two senses are rarely if ever confused. presently meaning “now” is most often used with the present tense (The professor is presently on sabbatical leave) and presently meaning “soon” often with the future tense (The supervisor will be back presently).

      In other words, there exists a small cadre of Grammar Nazis that are presently objecting to the original usage of "presently" for the sake of objecting. Because for an "obsolete" word, it's still getting pretty good mileage.

      --
      I am not a crackpot.
    3. Re:Presently means 'soon' by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 2

      Pretty much every "rule" of grammar that people get angry over has no factual basis. Starting a sentence with "and" or "but" dates back to the equivalent of a miss manners column, and the "split infinitive" is based on a combination of self-righteousness and total ignorance of the fact that infinitives were one word in latin but already split in english.

      --
      A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
    4. Re:Presently means 'soon' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's almost as if the rules of language are formed by the people who produce it.

    5. Re:Presently means 'soon' by AthanasiusKircher · · Score: 1

      In other words, there exists a small cadre of Grammar Nazis that are presently objecting to the original usage of "presently" for the sake of objecting.

      You're absolutely right. Thanks so much for providing all the usage quotations.

      I agree with you that GP is completely misguided on this question, but there actually *IS* a situation where the usage of "presently" is confusing, and where careful writers and speakers should take care.

      Take a look at the last usage guide you mention:

      The two senses are rarely if ever confused. presently meaning "now" is most often used with the present tense (The professor is presently on sabbatical leave) and presently meaning "soon" often with the future tense (The supervisor will be back presently).

      This is important advice that actually distinguishes the idiomatic usage of the two meanings. No one but a grammatical Nazi moron should object to the summary's "one of the two men known to have been targeted is presently serving an 8-month prison term." Here, "presently" is effectively a synonym of "currently." If you can replace "presently" with "currently" in a sentence in the present tense, chances are you're following the traditional historical usage of the word.

      However, when you use "presently" with a future tense verb and generally following the verb, as in the example from your source "The supervisor will be back presently," the standard English idiom says it definitely means "soon" here. It does NOT mean "right now" or "immediately." A short delay is often to be expected.

      I have sometimes heard the misuse of this "soon" meaning when people are giving a talk or presentation or something, and they'll say, "And we'll discuss topic X in detail presently."

      If you look through all the examples given in your usage guides, you'll note that this phrasing means "soon," and if you say this as a speaker, you should mean, "This brings up topic X, which I'll get to soon, but before that, we need to have a further digression or finish up what we were talking about" or something like that.

      "I will discuss topic X presently" does NOT mean "I'm NOW going to discuss topic X." If you say "I will discuss topic X presently" and then immediately start talking about X, some segment of your audience will be confused, and the judgmental literate people among them might think you're an idiot. (I'm not a judgmental type usually, but I've heard other grammatical wackos complain about this sort of thing.)

      The thing is -- on this point the "grammar Nazis" are correct. Contrary to the way dictionaries organize words, they are not "atomistic" in this their meaning. Words only make sense in context, and it is not unusual for them to mean different things in different contexts.

      So, yes, "presently" can mean "now" and it can mean "soon." But those meanings tend to occur in different linguistic contexts, and that has mostly been roughly consistent historically. If you're not sensitive to that, be prepared to be labeled as ignorant by people who actually know how to use language (as opposed to the GP, who was making a baseless objection).

    6. Re:Presently means 'soon' by coinreturn · · Score: 1

      Pretty much every "rule" of grammar that people get angry over has no factual basis. Starting a sentence with "and" or "but" dates back to the equivalent of a miss manners column, and the "split infinitive" is based on a combination of self-righteousness and total ignorance of the fact that infinitives were one word in latin but already split in english.

      Anyone who objects to starting a sentence with and should be given this fine example of a sentence:

      And is a conjunction.

    7. Re:Presently means 'soon' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They object to starting a sentence with 'and', not with 'and'!

      (Use-mention distinction, look it up).

    8. Re:Presently means 'soon' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And if you really want to rile them up, tell them you don't care about the grammar. But, don't be surprised if they lash out at you, in exactly the same way as the slashbots are going to lash out at this post.

    9. Re:Presently means 'soon' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And is a conjunction.

      There are many good reasons why one may start a sentence with "and," but yours is not one of them.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use%E2%80%93mention_distinction

  14. The Emperor's New Clothes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Lesson learned: *NEVER* point out that the Emperor is actually stark raving naked.
    Or you'll get you head chopped off.

  15. Passing is easy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    To pass a lie detector test, you must 'believe' the lie is true. This uses the same form of imagination that actors use to give a performance. For the Human mind, both reality and memories of reality are but an illusion. We have no direct contact to the 'real world'. Our 'senses' are physical mechanisms of our body that are minds cannot directly perceive. An internal 'reality' is created using different types of memory, heavily processed versions of the data provided by our sense systems, and 'thought'.

    So, creating false realities through practice is child's play for most people. 'False' or alternate memories are trivially implanted if a person has pre-awareness of the lies they will need to tell. Training the imagination even allows for spontaneous false realities to be created in real-time.

    And then you have bio-feedback training, which means learning to consciously adjust breathing rates, heart rate, and sweat response. I recall this kind of thing was popular in the 60s, 70s and early 80s as a method for improving meditation and relaxation. It is not unexpected that when bio-feedback was a technique commonly known by the average sheeple, lie-detectors fell into disrepute, but now the term is probably unknown to most of you, the pseudo-science of lie detection has made a comeback.The 'usefulness' of lie-detectors is EXACTLY the same as the usefulness of those phony bomb detectors (made from novelty golf-ball detectors) that were in the news recently.

    Lie detectors are NOT used because they are accurate, but as tools of oppression when security theatre is used as an excuse to target 'enemies' of the State. Team Obama and Team Blair push such disgusting nonsense, so the incredibly evil abusive regimes that the UK and USA support can deploy the same pseudo-scientific equipment in their constant war against democracy activists, and use 'positive' results as an excuse for torture, imprisonment and execution. How many people do you think suffered the most horrifying ill-treatment because of the 'positive' results given by the fake bomb-detectors that MI6 distributed in Tony Blair's various war-zones?

    1. Re:Passing is easy by Anonymous Coward · · 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.

    2. Re:Passing is easy by tragedy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      To pass a lie detector test, you must 'believe' the lie is true.

      Actually, to pass a lie detector test, the tester must believe what you are saying is true. They're not objective tests.

    3. Re:Passing is easy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To pass a lie detector test, you must 'believe' the lie is true.

      No, you have to give verifiable answers, most easily done by telling the truth.
      It's not the machine, it's the interview. This is FAR from a pseudo science.

      Picture a lawyer doing a cross-examination, and imagine how each of these next two things could give him a successively better advantage.

      (A) Interrogating the witness in an environment where they have no legitimate reason to be nervous, like one-on-one.
      (B) Using a machine that precisely tells when the witness might be nervous.

      So sure, attempting to believe in your own lies _might_ defeat those advantages, B being a little trickier than just A.
      However, lawyers regularly tear people apart with neither of those, and that's the part you're missing.

      I don't see how you got off on using polygraphs to oppress people, they aren't going to do much if someone is legitimately stressed out. If you just want to fuck with people, you'd skip A and B. Polygraphs are for people already on the inside.

    4. Re:Passing is easy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem with relying on meditation and "mind/body control" type stuff is that you can't really practice it. Kind of the same way there is no real way to prepare for exactly what fight night is like as a boxer or mma fighter. sure, you can do hard sparring in the gym for a month before the fight but when the bright lights are on, the crowd is cheering and cash is on the line...suddenly your heart rate goes up, your muscles are tense and you're burning energy before the first bell even rings. I'm sure the same thing happens with lie detectors. You might be able to pass it easily in an office with your buddy or instructor administering the test but when you get picked up by the Egyptian government and they want to know what exactly you think you're doing in Egypt, all bets are off.

    5. Re:Passing is easy by grep+-v+'.*'+* · · Score: 1

      One trick is to make all your responses correspond to extreme and erratic indicators of "lying," completely throwing off the baseline

      Accurate, but not exactly new. I learned about this trick from Harry Harrison's "The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge" published in 1970 (I had to look it up; I've slept since then.)

      Fooling a polygraph takes skill, practice and training. All of which I had. It can only be done in certain circumstances and this one had been ideal.

      A sudden interview without normalizing tests being run on the subject.

      Therefore I began the interview in a near panic--before any questions had been asked. All of this must have peaked nicely on his graph. I was afraid. Of him, of something, anything. But when he had asked the loaded question meant to uncover a spy--the question I knew was coming--I had relaxed and the readout had shown this.

      --
      If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
    6. Re:Passing is easy by im_thatoneguy · · Score: 1

      One thing I've always wondered is whether or not you could just carry on an internal dialog to defeat them.

      Q: "Is your name John Smith?"
      Internal Q: "Are you a murderer?"
      Answer: "Yes."

      "Were you at the scene of the crime?"
      "Is your name John Smith?"
      "No."

      Q: "Are you 20 years old?"
      QI:"Is the sky green?"
      A: Yes.

      You would be lying no matter what. You're just lying to every internal questions.

  16. Polygraphs are bullshit. by jcr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There's a reason they're not admissible in court.

    -jcr

    --
    The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    1. Re:Polygraphs are bullshit. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's a reason they're not admissible in court.

      -jcr

      You apparently don't understand what they are, because they are a tool used in interrogations.
      In a court, the nearest things would be cross-examinations, but the witness stand is not the place for a polygraph.

      The results of the interrogation and the results of the polygraph are the same thing, so when you say inadmissible you mean some magical printout from a "lie detector" and not the video tapped interrogation. If you don't understand how interrogations work, you'll never figure out how a polygraph is used.

      Lawyers would LOVE to use polygraph exams if they could.

  17. More than meets the eye by TrollstonButterbeans · · Score: 1

    The article is from August. It's old and crusty and from a "Washington's insider website" --- translation = sensationalize the role of government including exaggerate and glamorify the role of government agencies to larger than life proportions to preach to the demographic choir = sell up the significance of all the departments including the law enforcement and homeland security ones.

    So, uh, what is the significance and recentness of this? Or this is a tinfoil hat link or what?

    It's a beltway, freebie, gets stuffed in your Congressional mailbox flyer to pump up the Washington-centrism in Washington DC.

    --
    Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
  18. Some words of advice: THINK BEFORE YOU POST by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    Consider one thing:

    If they can put away a man for TALKING about how easiy it is to bullshit your way through a polygraph ... how many smart-alec remarks do you think YOU have left before they come and kick your ASS??

    I'm sure most of you will want to post something negative here but before you do.. consider this:

    IF YOU DO and the more you do it, the more likely iit gets It's going to be your ASS that's going to get arrested and get disappeared into a FEDERAL DETENTION CENTER. There, you can be DETAINED FOR YEARS without even seeing a judge, without your family knowing where you are and NO WAY to make a phone call.

    Nobody will care about you and you will not be mentioned on slashdot nor will there be human rights campaigners whining for your release.. you're just not that famous.

    THINK.. and THEN POST. America is over, now you need to get over it as well.

    1. Re:Some words of advice: THINK BEFORE YOU POST by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      IF YOU DO and the more you do it, the more likely iit gets It's going to be your ASS that's going to get arrested and get disappeared into a FEDERAL DETENTION CENTER.

      There is a reason why they call it haveass corpus, you know. ~

    2. Re:Some words of advice: THINK BEFORE YOU POST by Badlight · · Score: 1

      There is always that risk, but I would ask you to consider two points:

      1. There is safety in numbers, not to mention lack of influence. When they start offing opposing Senators, then I'll worry. Er, I hope: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P...

      2. "It may be that my role in life is only to serve as a warning to others" is something you need to accept. We value life perhaps too much, these days. It has made us selfish, as well as complacent about evil, as your pathetic comment shows.

    3. Re:Some words of advice: THINK BEFORE YOU POST by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You seem like a sane and well balanced individual. I would like to subscribe to your newsletter in exchange for a book on how to not write every third word with capital letters.

  19. Re:To Quote Anonymous Coward... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "Those who get their panties in a twist at that Franklin quote need to put on their pajamas and get a refill on their hot chocolate."

  20. faux objectivity FTW by epine · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ugh... you're missing the plain and simple truth that polygraphs DONT WORK. They are complete horseshit ...

    No, you're missing the point.

    Imposing the polygraph protocol on the polygraph subject forces the polygraph subject into a highly disadvantaged mode of engagement. If the horseshitness of the polygraph test were to become the subject of public outrage, the powers-that-be would lose a valuable interrogation tactic.

    It runs deep. The cloud of uncertainty over being convicted by a fallible machine with no viable recourse or defense adds to the psychological stress of the subject. This effect would be greatly lessened if the damn thing actually worked. Basically the polygraph examiner gets to sit there and decide your fate in an elaborate ritual of faux objectivity.

    How could you say that this doesn't work? Faux objectivity practically bats clean-up in the fine-grinding mill of democratic disempowerment.

    Do you consent to a polygraph test?

    Absolutely, so long as I'm not forced to hang my head and grunt monosyllables.

    Are you refusing to take the polygraph test?

    No. I'm refusing the invasive, fucked up protocol that you've willingly elaborated around the idiotic, frightening wires. Wire me up, then engage me in normal conversation, eye to eye. Not my fault if your machine has no technical merit once stripped of the demeaning ritual. If that bugs you, work harder. Innovate. Get the captains of industry on the blower. To hear them tell it, they innovate twice a day and thrice on Saturdays. Surely simple eye contact does not exceed your far-reaching dystopian prowess?

    Hardly anyone would consent to answering questions within these bizarre strictures without the quasi-religious deference to the cult of the coloured wires. It's such a Milgramesque whitecoat scam, which nevertheless works a treat if your subject complies.

    1. Re:faux objectivity FTW by fishybell · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Basically the polygraph examiner gets to sit there and decide your fate in an elaborate ritual of faux objectivity.

      So the FBI read the handbook on giving an audit with an e-meter?

      --
      ><));>
    2. Re:faux objectivity FTW by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      no no no no..

      who loses most if faith of the government on the polygraph tests is lost? the guys selling polygraph snake oil, of course. almost all cases they do is for the government for job applicants. it doesn't work for that and simply gives the polygraph guys a) a lot of power about who gets in(bj's galore) and b) gives them a lot of money to spend on booze and hookers.

      I'm pretty sure they took a polygraph test saying that they really believe polygraphs work though!

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    3. Re:faux objectivity FTW by El+Puerco+Loco · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That's not at all how they are used. They are treated as an objective and reliable instrument for revealing deception. They ask you some control questions, ones that they know you will answer truthfully and ones that they assume you will lie about. If your response to the real questions matches the ones that they figured you lied about, then they declare that you are lying, and you don't get whatever job or security clearance you applied for. If there wasn't enough differences in your physiological response between the assumed truth and lie responses to determine which is which, they declare it inconclusive and you don't get the job or security clearance you wanted. Despite the fact that numerous controlled studies have shown that they don't work at all, they are treated as infallible by the investigators. Otherwise squeaky clean applicants are denied police jobs all the time based on polygraph results. Yet somehow police corruption is still rampant.

    4. Re:faux objectivity FTW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Sounds almost like hazing. I bet some people come out of it forever more committed to it as a way to enter their club, whether they think it works or not.

    5. Re:faux objectivity FTW by idontgno · · Score: 1

      I just wish Voigt and Kampff would hurry up and invent their machine.

      Then again, given current trends, the authorities would probably start "retiring" normal citizens as well as real replicants.

      --
      Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
    6. Re:faux objectivity FTW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Polygraphs are used on job applicants and those seeking security clearances. You're perfectly free to refuse to participate but you won't be getting the job or clearance.

      I've sat through several poly sessions, as well as a couple of CVSA (computer voice stress analyzer) sessions. It's an interrogation tactic. They told me that the machine showed I was being deceptive, and they were going to give me one more chance to come clean and admit what I did, or it was game over. I just sat there and kept repeating the truth. Eventually they gave up. A couple of people I knew said they "passed" the poly when they finally blew up at the examiner and told them to stuff the machine up their ass or something.

      The poly is not used to "detect lies", it's used to convince you that they'll know if you lie so you'll break and tell them what they want to hear. The poly is completely useless unless used in conjunction with a skilled interrogator.

    7. Re:faux objectivity FTW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ugh... you're missing the plain and simple truth that polygraphs DONT WORK. They are complete horseshit ...

      No, you're missing the point.

      Imposing the polygraph protocol on the polygraph subject forces the polygraph subject into a highly disadvantaged mode of engagement. If the horseshitness of the polygraph test were to become the subject of public outrage, the powers-that-be would lose a valuable interrogation tactic.

      No they wouldn't, they'd just have to buy new props and come up with a new name for their "magic lie detector".

  21. You're of course assuming... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    That he wasn't working for the 'family business' all along, and that Bush's family hadn't been colluding with bin Laden's in order to bring exactly this about.

    With the WTC knocked down 3/5 of the tallest skyscrapers in the world are now Muslim, at least 1 of them was build by bin Laden construction firms, and between 'preferential access to oil' and Halliburton's recent relocation to Dubai, the whole situation begins seeming overly suspect. Nevermind the fact that 9/11 happened just in time to keep Bush from getting impeached (does anybody remember what his approval rating were looking like pre-9/11? Clinton had a high approval rating AFTER lying to congress about getting his dick sucked and spooging all over an intern's dress.)

    Combined with the fact that the majority of the terrorists were Saudis and none of them were Iraqi (were any Afghan?), it begs the question of why exactly our targets were chosen as such if not due to conspiracy.

    1. Re:You're of course assuming... by Anonymous Coward · · 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.

    2. Re:You're of course assuming... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Iraq was in the neocon's crosshairs well before 9/11. See PNAC, which published manifestos to the effect that "if only there was some kind of crisis we could exploit to further the American hegemony, by force if need be". Signatories include folks like Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Armitage, and so on.

      Then 9/11 happened, with no Iraqi connection whatsoever, the manifestos were unpublished and lo and behold, the US administration -- now composed of pretty much the same people -- conned their country and the UN to start (another) illegal war. People were hanged for this kind of thing in the past.

      Please notice I am not arguing these people were somehow behind the attack, as some seem to think, or allowed it to happen despite intelligence that something was afoot.

      You might also like to read up on Carlyle Group which had a meeting on the morning of 9/11 which included folks like Bush Sr, James Baker, and apparently a member of the Bin Laden clan.

    3. Re:You're of course assuming... by coinreturn · · Score: 1

      Nevermind the fact that 9/11 happened just in time to keep Bush from getting impeached (does anybody remember what his approval rating were looking like pre-9/11?

      You may not be aware, but low approval ratings are not an impeachable offense.

    4. Re:You're of course assuming... by Type44Q · · Score: 3, Interesting

      it begs the question of why exactly our targets were chosen as such if not due to conspiracy

      Not to mention, you've summed up only a mere ten percent or so of all the "inconvenient aspects" of the official version... but good luck reaching those with their heads stubbornly and desperately buried in the sand; their thoughts and beliefs on the subject (all having been well-vetted by the media for comfort-inducing consumption, of course) are profoundly resistant to common sense, the nature of cause and effect, physics/engineering knowledge... not to mention brutally-obvious lessons of history *cough* Reichstag fire *cough.

    5. Re:You're of course assuming... by kilfarsnar · · Score: 1

      it begs the question of why exactly our targets were chosen as such if not due to conspiracy

      Not to mention, you've summed up only a mere ten percent or so of all the "inconvenient aspects" of the official version... but good luck reaching those with their heads stubbornly and desperately buried in the sand; their thoughts and beliefs on the subject (all having been well-vetted by the media for comfort-inducing consumption, of course) are profoundly resistant to common sense, the nature of cause and effect, physics/engineering knowledge... not to mention brutally-obvious lessons of history *cough* Reichstag fire *cough.

      Well said. And I applaud you for posting under your username. Posts on this topic are often done as AC, since it is not a popular topic for most. The official account of that day is lacking, leaving us to wonder what is really going on. The thing is, coming to that realization is disconcerting, because it calls into question what we know and how we know it. If such a thing could be covered up, what else could be? Most people will not believe such a thing because it does not fit into their world view. Put plainly, they don't want to live in a world in which stuff like that happens. So, they don't.

      --
      "What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
    6. Re:You're of course assuming... by floobedy · · Score: 1

      With the WTC knocked down 3/5 of the tallest skyscrapers in the world are now Muslim, at least 1 of them was build by bin Laden construction firms, and between 'preferential access to oil' and Halliburton's recent relocation to Dubai, the whole situation begins seeming overly suspect.

      To me, this seems like a series of very loose associations.

      Why does it support your point if 3/5 of the tallest skyscrapes are in Muslim countries?

      Nevermind the fact that 9/11 happened just in time to keep Bush from getting impeached

      Bush was not about to be impeached when 9/11 happened.

      does anybody remember what his approval rating were looking like pre-9/11?

      According to Gallup, Bush's approval ratings were above 50% right before 9/11.

    7. Re:You're of course assuming... by NoImNotNineVolt · · Score: 1

      If you find this stuff interesting, I recommend the book Dirty Wars by Jeremy Scahill. It was recently recommended by someone on slashdot (in a similar context), so I went and ordered it on Amazon. I'm only a quarter of the way through, and holy fuck is it eye-opening.

      It goes pretty far back to show how Iraq was in the crosshairs a looong time before 9/11. It also shows what lengths Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc. went to to corrupt our intel to ensure that we'd end up in Iraq, regardless of whether they had anything to do with it. A truly fascinating read, I highly recommend it.

      --
      Chuuch. Preach. Tabernacle.
    8. Re:You're of course assuming... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it begs the question of why exactly our targets were chosen as such if not due to conspiracy

      Not to mention, you've summed up only a mere ten percent or so of all the "inconvenient aspects" of the official version... but good luck reaching those with their heads stubbornly and desperately buried in the sand; their thoughts and beliefs on the subject (all having been well-vetted by the media for comfort-inducing consumption, of course) are profoundly resistant to common sense, the nature of cause and effect, physics/engineering knowledge... not to mention brutally-obvious lessons of history *cough* Reichstag fire *cough.

      Wow. And here I thought /. up votes could be trusted. A sad day that this post and it's parent have scores of 4 and 5 respectively. MY personal favorite was your reference to physics and engineering knowledge. That one gave me quite a chuckle.

  22. Confucious say: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    'Man remember by number of quotes.'

  23. The cause for not being able to share information by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All devices and software have you agree to a license of how you will use that device, collect information gathered from it and how you can distribute that information if it is even possible.

  24. The power that be has no shame ! by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    They're only worse in that there is no shame in what they do, but otherwise we are the worse ones. By building an illusion of "land of the free". But then again at least we have shame in that.

    Tell you a secret ...
     
    We, the people, at least _some_ of us, are feeling shameful of the situation our country is marching towards.

    However, those who rule us, the ones in the Washington D.C. and _their_,/i> masters, not only do not feel any shame whatsoever, they actually are feeling so damn proud of their so-called accomplishment !

    Amongst the hundreds of Senators and Congressmen/women, how many of them actually feel that they have wronged the country, by voting in all these draconian laws, and by allowing the White House (no matter who's the POTUS), the NSA (and all the spooks) to violate the Constitution the way they have ?

    When I wrote to my representatives (state and federal) exclaiming my exasperation of what is happening in America and to the Americans, do you know what they told me ?

    The same old "We are doing that to fight terrorist" bullshit !

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
    1. Re:The power that be has no shame ! by NoImNotNineVolt · · Score: 2
      A famous quote from the Vietnam War was a statement attributed to an unnamed U.S. officer by AP correspondent Peter Arnett in his writing about Bn Tre city on 7 February 1968:

      "It became necessary to destroy the town to save it", a United States major said today. He was talking about the decision by allied commanders to bomb and shell the town regardless of civilian casualties, to rout the Vietcong.

      This isn't much different than what we're being told today. "We need to sacrifice our freedom in order to preserve it."

      Write to them again. Keep writing to them until they understand that their justification makes no fucking sense.

      --
      Chuuch. Preach. Tabernacle.
    2. Re:The power that be has no shame ! by LaughingVulcan · · Score: 1

      "My life had changed that day. For the first time I realized, and I think we all realized, that we were involved in criminal activity, that if the truth became known we could all go to jail.No one ever considered that there would NOT be a cover-upthere was no sense of embarrassment or shame as we planned the cover-upAfter the Democrats nominated Senator McGovern, we felt that we were protecting the honorable peace that the President was bringing to Vietnam and avoiding the national disaster that would follow if McGovern became President. We were not covering up a burglary, we were safeguarding world peace."

      Jeb Magruder, on Watergate.

      Ain't history grand? At least Magruder had the integrity to cooperate and served time for his role.

  25. You may be surprised to know who's the REAL BOSS by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Do you know who financed the invasion of Iraq ?

    The Saudis.

    Yes, our boys and girls who serve in the Army, Navy, Marine and Air Force of the United States of America, went to fight a war in Iraq, because the Saudis are paying for it.

    In other words, our military became a mercenary force, at least in the Desert Shied / Desert Storm era.

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
  26. The Feds Are Probably Kicking Themselves by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That they didn't just use secret courts to convict these guys and then render them to an overseas prison.

  27. What exactly did the other guy go to jail for? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

    one of the two men known to have been targeted is presently serving an 8-month prison term.

    I'm having some trouble ascertaining exactly what this guy went to prison for. Several news stories repeat the above while failing to specify that the charges were , as best as I can tell, "obstruction and wire fraud." Was the obstruction charge specifically to do with the polygraph training? Other news sites say things like "Lie Detector Fraud" which suggests it's the fraud that got him jailed, rather than the lie detector part.

    So, was the obstruction charge actually because he obstructed justice by teaching others to beat the system (not that polygraphs are admissable in court) or was it something else entirely?

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    1. Re:What exactly did the other guy go to jail for? by coinreturn · · Score: 1

      one of the two men known to have been targeted is presently serving an 8-month prison term.

      I'm having some trouble ascertaining exactly what this guy went to prison for. Several news stories repeat the above while failing to specify that the charges were , as best as I can tell, "obstruction and wire fraud." Was the obstruction charge specifically to do with the polygraph training? Other news sites say things like "Lie Detector Fraud" which suggests it's the fraud that got him jailed, rather than the lie detector part.

      So, was the obstruction charge actually because he obstructed justice by teaching others to beat the system (not that polygraphs are admissable in court) or was it something else entirely?

      If polygraphs are bullshit, aren't all polygraphers committing wire fraud? After all, they involve wires.

    2. Re:What exactly did the other guy go to jail for? by Badlight · · Score: 1

      He took a plea bargain of wire fraud and obstructing an agency proceeding. 8 months.

      "The details are sealed," and I have no personal knowledge of the case, but I imagine that he took the plea to avoid a kangaroo court charging him with a count of misprision of felony for each of the several undercover officers who had posed as drug dealers and corrupt federal employees seeking his help.

      He did appear to have knowingly taught people to lie about crimes, but the entire nature of the argument, "We are accusing this guy of exposing our ability to lie to people who are trying to lie to us in order for us to trick them into admitting to crimes that they may or may not have actually committed, and have managed to trick him into admitting to it," should have been thrown out on the grounds that it is not clear which side should be prosecuted.

    3. Re:What exactly did the other guy go to jail for? by ZombieBraintrust · · Score: 1

      Chad Dixon was recently sentenced to eight months in prison for teaching federal job applicants how to beat a lie detector test. Dixon pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud and obstructing a government proceeding with his anti-polygraph business, reported the Star Tribune.

      - via a chain of blogs - could not access Star Tribune
      wire fraud just means using a telephone to conduct fraud. It is needed to give federal jurisdiction for the crime. Otherwise state law would apply.

      The crime of obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, refers to the crime of interfering with the work of police, investigators, regulatory agencies, prosecutors, or other (usually government) officials.

      I'm sure it is illegal to lie in these job interviews. If he knowingling helps job applicants lie then he is an accessory to that crime.

      accessory: someone who gives assistance to the perpetrator of a crime, without directly committing it, sometimes without being present.

  28. You've brought up a very interesting point ! by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In stead, let's compare with the US of, say, three decades ago -- when there were still two superpowers and the US had to at least pretend to be the good guys, to maintain support of its allies and at least some good will on the part of the non-aligned bloc.

    I arrived at USA some thirty-odd years ago. At that time, for me at least, USA was a country where liberty of the citizens were respected.

    If what you said is true... that is, USA did all that to gain support from its allies and to portray to the world that USA is the "Good Guy", then what about now ?

    Does it mean that USA no longer has to pretend to be that "Good Guy" anymore ? That it can start wantonly violating the liberty of anybody it wants ?

    If that turns out to be true, then USA no longer has the authority to criticize _anybody_else_ regarding human rights, regarding liberty, regarding democracy, regarding so many things that USA used to stand for.

    Can you comprehend what kind of world we are living in now ?

    I ran away from China precisely because they did not (and still do not) respect the liberty of the citizen. If ever USA becomes a place just like China, I do not know where else people can aspire to be, if they were to run away from tyranny !

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
    1. Re:You've brought up a very interesting point ! by erikkemperman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Does it mean that USA no longer has to pretend to be that "Good Guy" anymore ? That it can start wantonly violating the liberty of anybody it wants ?

      Well, that is sort of what it looks like from where I'm standing.

      --
      Gosh, thanks. That must be why the other ships call me Meatfucker -- GCU Grey Area (Eccentric)
    2. Re:You've brought up a very interesting point ! by dwater · · Score: 1

      me too

      --
      Max.
    3. Re:You've brought up a very interesting point ! by codeButcher · · Score: 1

      Does it mean that USA no longer has to pretend to be that "Good Guy" anymore ? That it can start wantonly violating the liberty of anybody it wants ?

      If that turns out to be true, then USA no longer has the authority to criticize _anybody_else_ regarding human rights, regarding liberty, regarding democracy, regarding so many things that USA used to stand for.

      Can you comprehend what kind of world we are living in now ?

      I guess people without any hope for something better are so much easier to control. And by "control" I mean "manipulate" into serfs and canon fodder.

      --
      Free, as in your money being freed from the confines of your account.
    4. Re:You've brought up a very interesting point ! by ediron2 · · Score: 1

      > If ever USA becomes a place just like China, I do not know where else people can aspire to be, if they were to run away from tyranny !

      Oh, if only there was another continent (or two!) of countries with the opportunities and amenities of modern cities, but with governments not as oppressive as some in Asia and North America.

      (/sarcasm... also, no insult intended yet, canada.)

    5. Re:You've brought up a very interesting point ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you implying that the EU and Australia aren't cooperating with the USA's surveillance dragnet?

  29. How long until EEGs are used? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How long until those newish EEG methods are used that can see lies forming in the brain before a person is even aware of the lie?

    I THINK the project was called Neuron, but I am not 100% sure. Wait no, that was the thing that could partially recognise and reconstruct what a person was thinking of, it could replicate letters fairly well and managed to spell out NEURON.
    I'm sure this just got an update fairly recently that I need to get around to reading.

    ANYWAY, yeah, EEG methods should clearly be more feared than trying to break the easily broken lie detectors. They ACTUALLY work.

  30. Re:To Quote Anonymous Coward... by Joce640k · · Score: 1

    "Those who would quote Ben Franklin, to seem insightful, need to find some new fucking quotes."

    Or at least put in an attribution to show that you know who said it...

    --
    No sig today...
  31. Truth and Corruption by John+Allsup · · Score: 1

    When faced with an inconvenient truth, the corrupt will try to hide that truth, and destroy those who would speak it. This is hardly a new phenomena for humankind. Thsoe who are not corrupt will, naturally, be joyously corrected and be happy to have improved their understanding of the world. Thus those who would try to suppress the truth about polygraphs can hardly be seen to be in the latter category, so why are they tolerated in government and police?

    --
    John_Chalisque
  32. +1 this Re:You're of course assuming... by marcroelofs · · Score: 1

    No mod points, please assist

  33. Re:You may be surprised to know who's the REAL BOS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Was it a loss leader? Or are you really saying the Saudis paid full price for service rendered?

  34. Organic food by fyngyrz · · Score: 2

    Organic food is not about your health, it's about the health of the farm on which it is grown

    No, it's about marketing high priced consumables to people scared to death of chemical names and with absolutely no sense of how much of what is a problem, or not.

    but we *need* to change the exploitative way of creating our food to make it sustainable in the long run.

    Again, no we don't. What we need is either more ag production, or (lots) better distribution, or (lots) less population. Going back to pre-industrial farming methods is (a), a pipe dream, (b), not called for in any way, shape or form, or (c) even on the trend line, which is steadily going precisely the other way.

    Let me just point something out. In countries with highly industrialized ag, life spans are significantly longer than in the past. This is not just a consequence of more food, it is also a consequence of the quality of the food. It is also a consequence of our learning how to use preservatives, pesticides, and manipulate genetics. These are all good things, and the proof is in the burgeoning, aging populations that consume ag products that arise from these technologies.

    "Organic food" is mostly marketing scam, with the remaining value just... food. You want something to be concerned about? There's plenty to go around. From our deteriorating political situation to the various wars of aggression and the witch hunts -- drugs, sexuality, etc. -- I'm sure you can find something of actual merit where applying your shoulder to the wheel doesn't simply prop up a useless industry.

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  35. Do you know what the price ***WE*** paid ? by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The Saudis financed the war against Saddam Hussein with cash (actually, cash they got when they sold their oil to us).

    And do you know what we paid with ?

    We paid with the LIVES of our American boys and girls.

    We paid with THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of ruined lives (those who were killed in the war, and those who came back with bodily and/or psychologically injuries)

    And most importantly, we paid with the REPUTATION of the United States of America by telling ***BOLD FACE LIE*** to the world that Saddam Hussein had a nuclear bomb.

    The people in Syria today suffered unnecessarily because of that fucking lie which has made the world suspicious of America.

    Nobody would believe the US anymore !!

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
  36. Re: You may be surprised to know who's the REAL BO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You mean the first gulf war.
    Chia a loaned us tbe money for the second.

  37. As far as I'm concerned by FuzzNugget · · Score: 1

    This guy is against junk "science" more than anything else.

  38. Re:You may be surprised to know who's the REAL BOS by coinreturn · · Score: 1

    Do you know who financed the invasion of Iraq ?

    The Saudis.

    Really? So all that massive debt we built up during that war is being paid by them? Sweet. the GOP can quit their attempts to gut the social programs.

  39. Fraud, not polygraph by tomhath · · Score: 1

    The guy was charged with fraud. It happens that the fraud he was committing involved claims about how he could teach people to beat or use polygraphs. If he was busted for claiming he could teach people how to win the lottery this would not be in the news. Now he's making up claims about a government conspiracy as his defense.

  40. Maybe this isn't so bad? by morgauxo · · Score: 1

    My gut reaction to this was that the government is going to a new level in criminalizing information. Very scary!

    Then I read this: "The agents then posed as people connected to a drug trafficker and as a correctional officer who'd smuggled drugs into a jail and had received sexual favors from an underaged girl."

    That's pretty dumb. If they told him this was why they wanted to fool a polygraph and he still went through with teaching them then I can totally see how they can prosecute. He was attempting to help people get away with crime.

    If I were teaching something like this I would at least try to cover my own ass. He should have started the class with some sort of disclaimer explaining that the effectiveness of polygraph tests is debated as are the efectiveness of techiques for beating them. This class is offered only for entertainment purposes or some BS like that. Maybe he could even make them sign something saying that they will not attempt to use this knowlege for criminal activity. Even if he KNEW criminal activity was the main reason people would pay him and he didn't care he could still make them sign that. What does someone trying to get away with something care about signing a promise not to? What is going to happen, extra prison time for breaking their promise to the teacher? hardly!

    Finally, he should have had an unwritten, unspoken "don't ask, don't tell" policy for how people wanted to use their new polygraph defeating ability. The moment someone opens their big fat mouth about comitting a crime... refund their money and show them the door. It isn't worth prison time, go find another student.

    Dumb Ass!

    1. Re:Maybe this isn't so bad? by PolygraphCom · · Score: 1

      For the record: The "agent" did not tell me he "wanted to fool a polygraph". I did not teach him how to lie on a polygraph! The "agent" told me he was just worried about losing his job as a deputy WHEN he told the CBP that he had "smuggled drugs into a jail and had received sexual favors from an underaged girl". He did not tell me he was going to lie about it, and I did not teach him how to lie about it! In fact he indicated to me that he was going to tell this to the CBP polygraph operator when he took his polygraph test. He just said he was worried about what the sheriff would do - he was afraid he would lose his job when he told CBP what he had just told me. I had never had anyone tell me anything like that, and it struck me as odd that he would volunteer that information - it took me completely by surprise. I also suspected he was either or mental patient or a polygraph operator playing games with me because it was obvious that what he was saying was bullshit because of the way he acted when he said it. I have been interrogating people for over forty years, and I know bullshit when I hear it! I knew he was bullshitting me, but I didn't know why and I didn't care why. But I was confused and also very angry that he would come it my office and say something like that. So I did tell him to stop playing games, and if you read the book you will see that I started playing head games with him. I turned the tables on him and started acting like a crazy man - it was very amusing for me and very frightening for him and in the book I tell about it in detail. Finally after my crazy act was concluded I told him to quit with the nonsense and get out. That is why I wrote about this in the book - to set the story straight. And I had never seen the need to have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy since I don't teach people how to "defeat" the polygraph - I teach them how to pass because just telling the truth only works about half the time. But, since the government has tried to play these silly games as a ruse to use criminal charges to silence me, I have instituted my "terms of service agreement" which is clearly posted in my manual, and my website - and I read it to everyone prior to letting them take practice tests - and I make them agree to my terms which are as follows: "As long as the polygraph is used to frighten and intimidate people - and as long as truthful people are falsely accused of lying, I will provide this information so they can protect themselves. If you are going to take a polygraph test, you must have the KNOWLEDGE you need to be PROPERLY PREPARED TO PASS YOUR POLYGRAPH TEST! When you come to me for personal training and to take some practice polygraph tests, I assume that you are a truthful, honest person who knows that nervousness can cause you to fail - and you do not want to be falsely accused of lying. And I also assume that you know that just telling the truth only works about half the time unless you are properly prepared. I will get you PROPERLY PREPARED TO PASS - NERVOUS OR NOT - NO MATTER WHAT! But I will not knowingly train you or assist you in any way if you tell me you plan to lie. I will not listen to any admissions or confessions of wrong doing. And if you violate any of the terms of this agreement I will tell you to leave immediately." According to what Schwartz is quoted as saying, it is obvious that this investigation was an attempt by one vindictive polygraph operator to stop me because I have been "protesting the loudest and longest against polygraph testing". It is clearly an attack on my 1st Amendment rights to free speech - nothing more, nothing less!

  41. Cory Doctorow's Homeland by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hey all you rebels, Cory Doctorow's latest novel Homeland has a lot of info about beating lie detector's built in as part of the plot. It's DRM-free... and actually offered for free also (pay if you like it, or donate a hard copy to a library). Cory packs loads of other info about hacking, cryptography, etc into his fiction...

  42. Got to love evil AND stupid by Badlight · · Score: 1

    The worst part is that the real people you want to keep out of sensitive positions don't even need training to pass the polygraph; a true sociopath will lie with no more concern than normal people have ordering a cup of coffee, and even the old soldiers' trick of "brassing it out," i.e. you have to have brass balls to stick with that story, seems to work.

    As Mr. Williams says, it's honest people who get nervous that get branded as liars, mostly, and maybe that's the trick. Everyone running the government since they started relying on polygraphs is evil, and they all know that they can keep good people out by continuing to use it.

  43. What types of Lie Detector tests were used? by gurps_npc · · Score: 1
    I see two distinct issues. First of all, if his training works, than that just means the tests were never really that effective. You can't 'train' to beat an "Hepatitis" test, but you can train to beat an "Are you Christian test?"

    But more importantly, one of the problem with Lie detectors is that certain methodologies are more effective (not perfect) than others.

    In particular, "confirmation tests" (Confirmation example: the victim was shot in the face, so you ask did you shoot them in the arm, did you shoot them in the belly, did you shoot them in the face.) are far better than "fishing expeditions." (Fishing example: Have you ever committed a felony? Have you ever made a deal with a foreign power.)

    But those tests are not always possible. You can't do a confirmation test unless you are investigating a specific crime that you know happened.

    So one of the things the Lie Detector people do is use studies done on "Confirmation" tests to show how accurate a "Lie Detector" is and then use it for a Fishing Expedition.

    --
    excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
  44. I know something about this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Most of the usefulness of these tests is the interrogation prior to the test. The interrogator instructs the subject that there are consequences for failing the test and asks them to reveal anything useful beforehand. Fear of the failing the test often makes the subject confess which is much more valuable than any indicator on the graph.

  45. Salient Quote from Side Meier's Alpha Centauri by idontgno · · Score: 1

    Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.

    -- Peacekeeper Commissioner Pravin Lal

    --
    Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
  46. Chapter on "countermeasures" FROM COP TO CRUSADER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    FROM COP TO CRUSADER, by Doug Williams

    COUNTERMEASURES? THAT’S
    JUST BULLSHIT!
    Describing my training as teaching "countermeasures" so liars
    can pass the polygraph "test" is the same thing as describing the
    polygraph as a "lie detector"! Both descriptions are PURE,
    UNADULTERATED BULLSHIT! The word "countermeasures"
    can only be used to describe polygraph chart manipulation by the
    subject of a polygraph "test" when two conditions are met: 1) The
    polygraph "test" must be proven to be 100% accurate and reliable
    as a "lie detector", and 2) the person is attempting to deliberately
    lie. There is never a case where BOTH of these conditions are
    met. In other words, you could only claim "countermeasures" are
    being used to thwart the polygraph operator's ability to detect
    deception IF the polygraph is able to detect deception accurately
    100% of the time and that that deception would be detected were it
    not for the use of "countermeasures" by a person intent on being
    deceptive. But, since many people know that just telling the truth
    only works half the time - i.e. the US Supreme Court, and the NAS
    report, among others, saying it is no more accurate than the toss of
    a coin - then a prudent person would try to mitigate the very strong
    probability of being falsely branded as a liar by learning how to
    produce a "truthful" chart. That would not be using
    "countermeasures" - that would be using common sense!
    Why do polygraph operators tell people not to research the
    polygraph before they take their test? It is very simple - the only
    way they can intimidate people with the polygraph is to keep them
    ignorant about how it works. When polygraph operators say I
    teach people "countermeasures" in order for them to "beat the
    test". I simply say, that's bullshit, because polygraph operators
    routinely call truthful people liars - and my technique is the only
    way for honest, truthful people to protect themselves from being
    falsely accused of lying. Go to the MEDIA page of my website
    www.polygraph.com and watch the CBS 60 MINUTES
    investigative report I helped to produce and see the proof yourself -
    257
    three out of three polygraph operators called three different truthful
    people liars on a crime that never even happened! You may also
    enjoy watching me prove THE LIE DETECTOR IS BULLSHIT
    on Showtime's PENN & TELLER: BULLSHIT!
    So, let me emphasize this - I DON'T TEACH SO-CALLED
    "COUNTERMEASURES" - I simply teach people how to
    ALWAYS PASS by knowing how to show a perfect "truthful"
    polygraph chart! The word "countermeasures" is a word that has
    been misappropriated by polygraph examiners - it is used to
    describe what they say is a means to thwart their ability to detect
    deception. But polygraph operators have always maintained that
    they can tell when a person is using these so-called
    "countermeasures". If that is true, how can anyone use them "beat"
    the test? But, for the sake of argument, let me ask a few more
    pertinent questions: If people can indeed be taught to use
    "countermeasures" to "beat the test", wouldn't that prove the
    polygraph is not a "lie detector"? Does the validity and reliability
    of the polygraph test demand that the subjects of the test must be
    ignorant about how it works? If anyone could be taught how to
    produce and/or prevent a reaction on the polygraph at will,
    wouldn't that make the whole idea of a "lie detector" a fraud? And
    wouldn't polygraph operators have to admit their little machine is
    actually just a sick joke - and that the polygraph instrument is
    simply a prop used by an interrogator to frighten people into
    making admissions and confessions? And would it not be prudent
    for the government to quit wasting money on something that is
    nothing but a fraud and a con job? The fact is the answer to all
    these questions is a resounding YES!
    Polygraph operators do not want to debate the validity of the
    polygraph as a "lie detector

  47. The Socratic Method by SinisterEVIL · · Score: 1

    there is only one good knowledge and one evil ignorance

  48. Right of Exit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Refugees flee their homes whenever social and political circumstances become unbearable. They seek greater opportunities in other countries because they sometimes have no choice. The United States is now trying to close its borders to prevent an invasion of such refugees, while at the same time, building walls around those borders to prevent unhappy American citizens from emigrating elsewhere to pursue happiness. The "right to exit" should be inviolable, but Congress is going to increase its grip on citizens to prevent them from fleeing to the "greener pastures" found outside of North America. Perhaps http://www.seasteading.org/ is a step in the right direction.

  49. Re:You may be surprised to know who's the REAL BOS by dwpro · · Score: 1

    That's absurd, even if the Saudis funded the entire invasion it was hardly only their interests at stake. You may be surprised to know that virtually the entire world supported stopping Saddam/Iraq from taking over Kuwait and reducing the military power of the psychopathic ruler.

    --
    Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. -- Susan Ertz
  50. Countermeasures? That's just BULLSHIT! by PolygraphCom · · Score: 1

    Describing my training as teaching "countermeasures" so liars can pass the polygraph "test" is the same thing as describing the polygraph as a "lie detector"! Both descriptions are PURE, UNADULTERATED BULLSHIT! The word "countermeasures" can only be used to describe polygraph chart manipulation by the subject of a polygraph "test" when two conditions are met: 1) The polygraph "test" must be proven to be 100% accurate and reliable as a "lie detector", and 2) the person is attempting to deliberately lie. There is never a case where BOTH of these conditions are met. In other words, you could only claim "countermeasures" are being used to thwart the polygraph operator's ability to detect deception IF the polygraph is able to detect deception accurately 100% of the time and that that deception would be detected were it not for the use of "countermeasures" by a person intent on being deceptive. But, since many people know that just telling the truth only works half the time - i.e. the US Supreme Court, and the NAS report, among others, saying it is no more accurate than the toss of a coin - then a prudent person would try to mitigate the very strong probability of being falsely branded as a liar by learning how to produce a "truthful" chart. That would not be using "countermeasures" - that would be using common sense! Why do polygraph operators tell people not to research the polygraph before they take their test? It is very simple - the only way they can intimidate people with the polygraph is to keep them ignorant about how it works. When polygraph operators say I teach people "countermeasures" in order for them to "beat the test". I simply say, that's bullshit, because polygraph operators routinely call truthful people liars - and my technique is the only way for honest, truthful people to protect themselves from being falsely accused of lying. Go to the MEDIA page of my website www.polygraph.com and watch the CBS 60 MINUTES investigative report I helped to produce and see the proof yourself - three out of three polygraph operators called three different truthful people liars on a crime that never even happened! You may also enjoy watching me prove THE LIE DETECTOR IS BULLSHIT on Showtime's PENN & TELLER: BULLSHIT! So, let me emphasize this - I DON'T TEACH SO-CALLED "COUNTERMEASURES" - I simply teach people how to ALWAYS PASS by knowing how to show a perfect "truthful" polygraph chart! The word "countermeasures" is a word that has been misappropriated by polygraph examiners - it is used to describe what they say is a means to thwart their ability to detect deception. But polygraph operators have always maintained that they can tell when a person is using these so-called "countermeasures". If that is true, how can anyone use them "beat" the test? But, for the sake of argument, let me ask a few more pertinent questions: If people can indeed be taught to use "countermeasures" to "beat the test", wouldn't that prove the polygraph is not a "lie detector"? Does the validity and reliability of the polygraph test demand that the subjects of the test must be ignorant about how it works? If anyone could be taught how to produce and/or prevent a reaction on the polygraph at will, wouldn't that make the whole idea of a "lie detector" a fraud? And wouldn't polygraph operators have to admit their little machine is actually just a sick joke - and that the polygraph instrument is simply a prop used by an interrogator to frighten people into making admissions and confessions? And would it not be prudent for the government to quit wasting money on something that is nothing but a fraud and a con job? The fact is the answer to all these questions is a resounding YES! Polygraph operators do not want to debate the validity of the polygraph as a "lie detector" because they will lose! In a previous chapter of this book you saw the pathetic attempt by a polygraph "expert" to make a case for the use of the polygraph as a "lie detector". And these con men certainly don't want to answer any of the questions I have pos