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European Researchers Develop More Accurate Full-Body Polygraph
jfruh writes: Despite their widespread use in industry and law enforcement, traditional lie-detector polygraphs give accurate results only about 60% of the time, barely better than the 55% accuracy people can get just by following their gut instincts. Now researchers in the UK and the Netherlands are trying to improve that. They claim a full-body polygraph based on motion-capture suits used for movie special effects can detect lies with 75% accuracy.
polygraphs are as much a science as astrology.
I have a dowsing rod with better accuracy. My coin flip is 50% accurate. But lets convince everyone here that our standards for the truth are low enough to buy a bunch of polygraph apparatus that is 75% accurate, because technology is just not good enough to get to the truth. The truth is, this is totally stupid.
...and stressful enough already. Now they'll tell you to strip and get into a silly motion capture suit. Next up is sticking a probe up our anus to measure the contraction of the sphincter muscles. After all, it's for our own good. How else will our overlords prevent another Snowden fiasco?
Exactly. There's no reliable body response for a lie. All they are measuring is nervousness, which you could have for a variety of reasons. It's the same thing the border agent does.
The purpose of the polygraph is to bully the victim into a confession. The unknowing victim thinks they are undergoing a scientific test, but they are actually being drilled by a skilled interrogator w/ no lawyer present to defuse the loaded questions.