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DIA Polygraph Countermeasure Case Files Leaked

George Maschke writes AntiPolygraph.org (of which I am a co-founder) has published a set of leaked Defense Intelligence Agency polygraph countermeasure case files along with a case-by-case analysis. The case files, which include polygraph charts and the exact questions used, suggest that the only people being "caught" trying to beat the polygraph are those using crude, unsophisticated methods that anyone who actually understood polygraph procedure and effective countermeasures (like, say, a real spy, saboteur, or terrorist) would ever use. AntiPolygraph.org has previously published polygraph community training materials on countermeasures that indicate they lack the ability to detect countermeasures like those described in our free book, The Lie Behind the Lie Detector (PDF) or in former police polygraph examiner Doug Williams' manual, How to Sting the Polygraph. Williams, who was indicted last year after teaching undercover federal agents how to pass a polygraph, is scheduled to stand trial on May 12 in Oklahoma City.

114 comments

  1. Kangaroo Court! by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    A clear violation of 1st Amendment rights. Ah, well... It's what people want

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    1. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Lumpy · · Score: 2

      No people want to feel like they are safe at the revocation of all freedoms.

      Feeling safe is the most important thing to them. Help me feel safe Government! Bad people are allowed to buy electronics without a license! Bad people can build things! They must be TERRORISTS!

      Save us from the people that have an IQ above 100 oh holy government!

      Dumb people want security Smart people want freedom.

      Sadly the smart are outnumbered by the dumb 3 to 1

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    2. Re:Kangaroo Court! by oodaloop · · Score: 1

      WTF are you talking about? It's not a court, it's part of a hiring procedure. And what does freedom of speech have to do with trying to make sure an intelligence agency isn't hiring double agents?

      --
      Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    3. Re:Kangaroo Court! by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      It's not a court...

      FTFS(!):

      Williams... is scheduled to stand trial on May 12 in Oklahoma City.

      Really?

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    4. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Noah+Haders · · Score: 1

      technically, a kangaroo court would violate 4th amendment due process rights.

    5. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If the smart can't manipulate the dumb to do their will, maybe they aren't that smart after all

    6. Re:Kangaroo Court! by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      Well yes, the indictment itself is a violation of due process. He has to spend money and time to defend his clearly defined rights. There should be a counter suit for compensation.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    7. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Technically, a kangaroo court would be a jury of my peers.

    8. Re: Kangaroo Court! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Problem is that smart ppl don't like to manipulate others and expect others to use their brain as they do. This in principle is similar to why bad ppl always think evil of others' thoughts and actions while normal, non bad, ppl don't even consider evilness in others' thoughts and actions as a possibility.

    9. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Save us from the people that have an IQ above 100 oh holy government!
      [...]
      Sadly the smart are outnumbered by the dumb 3 to 1

      Your grasp of statistics confirms which group you belong to, Lumpy.

    10. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      What, are you a kangaroo?

    11. Re:Kangaroo Court! by anagama · · Score: 2

      And what does freedom of speech have to do with trying to make sure an intelligence agency isn't hiring double agents?

      Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

      http://constitution.findlaw.co...

      This is not a "yelling fire in a crowded theater" situation involving immediate clear harm. Rather, it's about freedom of the press in exposing polygraphy as a pseudoscience that is as valid as drowning women to find out if they are witches. The polygraphy book does this by showing exactly how polygraphy doesn't work.

      The Government is using its substantial power to suppress this information contrary to the mandatory dictates of the First Amendment. When the US government ignores the Constitution, that is a far graver threat to America and its purported values than any terrorist or double agent could ever achieve, because it decouples the massive power the Feds have from any limitations at all -- it is in essence, the destruction of America from within.

      Think about it like this: There is USA, the place, and America the vision as embodied by our Constitution. Given the US Federal Gov's all-out assault on the Bill of Rights, it's fair to say that _it_ is the greatest threat to the freedoms we as Americans are said to hold dear, in favor of protection of USA the place. It is of course a totally dubious assertion that the pseudoscience of polygraphy is even effective at protection of USA the place, but even if it was a valid technique, we should be asking if we want to have a Federal Government that is totally unrestrained in its exercise of power. If that is where we are heading, we should just acknowledge that post-constitutional USA is just another authoritarian dictatorship, and quit giving lip service to being a constitutional republic that values freedom and justice. It would save a lot of people a lot of prison time to know we are just another China, and to keep their mouths shut.

      --
      What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
    12. Re:Kangaroo Court! by davester666 · · Score: 1

      He's on trial for being stupid. If he had just stuck with "I can teach you how to beat a polygraph test", he would be still be fine.

      But [allegedly], he claimed he could help one or more people specifically beat a FBI polygraph test, and presumably there is an antiterrorist law about how you can't help someone lie to the FBI when they are required to tell the truth.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    13. Re:Kangaroo Court! by davester666 · · Score: 1

      Just to repeat my earlier post, my understanding is that he is on trial not for teaching people how to beat a polygraph test, but for claiming he would teach one or more people specifically how to beat a FBI polygraph test.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    14. Re:Kangaroo Court! by epyT-R · · Score: 1

      Which would imply the fbi thinks the polygraph test has merit when they really shouldn't.

    15. Re:Kangaroo Court! by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      claiming he would teach one or more people specifically how to beat a FBI polygraph test.

      Perfectly within the rights protected under the 1st Amendment.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    16. Re:Kangaroo Court! by davester666 · · Score: 1

      I'm sure the FBI is aware of the limitations of the polygraph test.

      But it was dumb of him to tell an FBI agent he would help the person lie to the FBI.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    17. Re:Kangaroo Court! by davester666 · · Score: 1

      I'm not exactly sure what he volunteered/was goaded into saying, but it could be a reasonable limitation of the 1st amendment that you can't help someone intentionally lie to the FBI...

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    18. Re:Kangaroo Court! by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      You can't go around implying 'limitations' that are not written into the law. And you sure as hell shouldn't be able to lock up people over it.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    19. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Cederic · · Score: 1

      He's not on trial for what he said. He's on trial for what he tried to do : Fraudulently subvert federal security.

      Fuck all to do with the first amendment.

    20. Re:Kangaroo Court! by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      What he was going to do was speak. It has everything to do with the 1st.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    21. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Cederic · · Score: 1

      So by your logic I can legally promise to pay someone a few thousand dollars to kill you, because I'm just using words?

      Luckily the law disagrees.

    22. Re:Kangaroo Court! by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      You can promise anything. If you want the law to reflect something else you need to put it in writing, in the constitution. The 1st Amendment codifies free speech into law. The triggerman is responsible for his actions. He alone make the choice to take the money and pull the trigger. What you are offering up is no different than the *I was just following orders* routine.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    23. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      A clear violation of 1st Amendment rights. Ah, well... It's what people want

      Fraud was never part of "freedom of speech." Never.

    24. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Aighearach · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It is funny you're calling people "dumb," since your comment doesn't at all have any connection to the story or the events in the story.

      This story is not about any of the things you talk about. It is about a guy selling anti-polygraph training, which itself is indisputably legal in the US, and who was also advertising his service as a way to defraud the FBI. That part is totally illegal, and doesn't implicate the "war or terror," or any supposed balancing between security and freedoms. Instead, it balances the freedom of the FBI to set their hiring practices against a person accused of advertising a service to assist people in tricking the FBI into hiring people they don't want to hire, and who their policies would successfully reject without this guy's services.

      This particular story is about data that was leaked in relation to the case that shows that his services are probably highly effective, because everybody the government has caught cheating the test were really bad at cheating it. The test is obviously stupid and is an ineffective hiring practice. However, that in no way changes the fraudulent nature of this individual's accused actions.

      Moral of the story: if you're offering innocent services, and your target demographic are criminals, don't actually advertise that your intent is to assist criminal behavior. Plausible deniability is a vital part of any attempt to do business in "grey areas." Grey areas rarely exist naturally. Being in a grey area implies that your actual intent is something illegal, but you're doing it in a way that can't be punished. In the case of assisting fraud, you just have to be subtle enough that you might have meant something else. If you think you're in a grey area but then you come right out and say what your honest intent is, well gee, now you just shined a spotlight and made it black and white.

      Sadly, the ignorant outnumber the literate by at least an order of magnitude.

    25. Re: Kangaroo Court! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You have a really poor understanding of Constitutional law -- you're talking put of your ass.

      Not everything is Constitutionally-protected speech. Supreme Court interpretations and precedents are as legally binding as the words of the Constitution itself. In fact, in a very real way, Supreme Court rulings become extensions of and addendums to the Constitution.

      For examples, please see every Supreme Court ruling in free speech cases.

    26. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      No, absolutely not. That is, frankly, moronic. You haven't even read a basic article about this case.

      He's not accused of helping people beat polygraphs. He's not accused, as you say, of "exposing polygraphy as a pseudoscience."

      He's accused of actually advertising specifically that he can help people beat an FBI polygraph that is part of a hiring process. That is clearly fraud.

      There are lots of people selling the same information as him. It is totally legal. The difference is that the others are advertising it as a method of fraud. The others are advertising it as simply "exposing polygraph as a pseudoscience." For informational purposes only.

      If you advertised accounting services to help trick the FBI into hiring you, that would be exactly the same accusation as here. Or if you offered on-site breakfast services specifically and explicitly to people robbing banks. You'd be offering to be an accomplice in robbing banks. OTOH if you customer was merely a bank robber, and you didn't tell an undercover cop that you knew it and that was the nature of the service you were offering, then no problem.

      Think about it like this: if you have no idea what the details are, it isn't fair for you to bloviate about them.

    27. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      He literally told somebody that his service can help beat the FBI hiring test, and that that indeed is what many of his customers have successfully used it for.

      It isn't just helping somebody lie, which would be a smaller crime, but helping people fraudulently obtain employment.

      If he had instead said, "well, no, I can't help you break the law, but I can still help you learn about beating a polygraph for informational purposes, so that you understand what the test is really about," then he'd be fine.

      Intent is almost impossible to prove in a way that would let them charge people with this crime. Unless they open up their mouth and are totally honest while being recorded. Then we might know pretty well their intent. As in this case.

    28. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      Fraud was never part of "freedom of speech," and it is no implication. It is explicit. He's not accused of saying words, he's accused of assisting illegal actions. Fraud, specifically.

      Did you really think that if you make sure to only speak words, that your actions can't amount to a crime? If somebody says, "Give me all the money in the till or I'll kill you all," did you presume there is no crime unless he actually kills somebody?

      Did you really think that if you lie to the bank about your name and information in order to get a loan, that there is no crime, because it was only speech? No, it isn't just speech, it is the action.

      For somebody claiming to care about freedom of speech, you sure haven't spent much time learning about the issues. You seem totally clueless about both the law and the philosophy.

    29. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Copid · · Score: 1

      What you are offering up is no different than the *I was just following orders* routine.

      No, he's not saying that the hitman is innocent. He's saying that the hitman and his employer are both guilty.

      --
      An interesting anagram of "BANACH TARSKI" is "BANACH TARSKI BANACH TARSKI"
    30. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The fact the FBI even thinks for one second a polygraph is a valid tool for hiring anyone says your "point" is crap. The guy exposing the polygraph for what it is is completely in the right.

    31. Re: Kangaroo Court! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So basically he says one thing and provides information and it's a crime. He says something else and provides THE SAME INFORMATION and it's not a crime?

      How is this not about speech?

    32. Re: Kangaroo Court! by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      For examples, please see every Supreme Court ruling in free speech cases.

      Precisely my point. All those cases should be reversed. The law is explicit and precise. They can be wrong, like when they upheld the property rights of slave owners.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    33. Re:Kangaroo Court! by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      Where/are his methods not effective? Where is the fraud? Words are not action.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    34. Re:Kangaroo Court! by epyT-R · · Score: 1

      It might've been dumb of him given the current climate, but that doesn't mean he was wrong. If the polygraph is bogus, then he's not helping anyone to lie to the fbi. The fbi is guilty of using pseudoscience to fish out lying.

    35. Re:Kangaroo Court! by anagama · · Score: 1

      Oh come on -- that's baloney. The Feds can dream up any reason they want to go after people they don't like. The free book linked to in the summary gives advice to CIA/NSA/FBI test takers too, no different than what is being prosecuted. You seem to fail to understand that a tool of our tyranny is for the Feds to _say_ you have the right to X -- and then nail your ass for some seemingly irrelevant violation of A. The advantage of our massive criminal code base for tyranny, is that the Feds can take you down anytime they want if they don't like you and they don't care if they are sending you to PMITA prison for the reason they hate you, they just care to take you down.

      --
      What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
    36. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm no fan of the FedGov and think it's stupid that the government even uses polys but the guy really did violate a law. It's a crime to knowingly aid someone else who wants to commit a crime. That's what happened here - he aided an FBI investigator who specifically said he wanted the information to commit a crime.

      I do believe the prosecution is malicious and retaliatory but the guy would have been fine had he used a bit of common sense in dispensing his products/information.

      Contrary to your post, we still do have a very strong standard for freedom of speech; there may be some bad rulings here and there but for the most part, we're doing good.

    37. Re: Kangaroo Court! by davester666 · · Score: 1

      It's the difference between "I will train you to do X" and "I will train you to do X so you can do Y, which is illegal"

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    38. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nobody in this case assisted others to lie or to fraudulently obtain employment through deception. It is the test itself that is deceptive. Doug Williams' service simply prepared people by educating them in self-composure and interview techniques.

      There is no such thing as a magic truth-telling machine, so the results of a polygraph are, at best, dubious, and they should not be bona fide occupational qualifications. If our government bases its hiring decisions on "passing" that test, which has no proven reliability or credibility, then they are acting foolishly and deceiving themselves.

    39. Re: Kangaroo Court! by davester666 · · Score: 1

      Really? Yelling fire in a crowded theatre is fine? Going into a bank and saying "give me all your money or I'll kill you" is fine? I'll give you $50000 to kill my wife?

      It's all good until you actually pull out the weapon, sign on the dotted line, hand over the cash?

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    40. Re: Kangaroo Court! by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      Strawman's on fire!

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    41. Re: Kangaroo Court! by davester666 · · Score: 1

      I'll help you lie.
      I'll help you lie to the FBI.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    42. Re: Kangaroo Court! by davester666 · · Score: 1

      You are saying the SC is completely wrong on this and that all those statements are perfectly fine. That you have to actually do something besides talk to actually do something wrong.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    43. Re: Kangaroo Court! by Noah+Haders · · Score: 1

      You meant I'll train you to do x, or I'll show you Y OS you can do ex

    44. Re:Kangaroo Court! by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      Well, actually he was trying to save those government agencies from their own stupdity. If professional criminals can pass the test as readily as psychopaths can, than exactly who are the fools, fooling, except themselves. So what is the court case going to be, a plea from the Fucking Bloody Idiots to help save them from their own stupidity (the lie detector test a way to ensure psychopath CIA agents can readily infiltrate the FBI to obstruct any investigations of criminal activity being conducted by the CIA, cough, cough, Anthrax, cough, cough).

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    45. Re:Kangaroo Court! by spire3661 · · Score: 1

      Its hard to call it fraud when the device has no scientific basis.The FBI shouldnt even be using the damn things in the first place. They have a HUGE culture problem of only hiring like-minded drones instead actual humans.

      --
      Good-bye
    46. Re:Kangaroo Court! by someone1234 · · Score: 1

      But... your very advice is fraudulent. By giving the advice you have given, you possibly help criminals helping criminals to do their job better.

      --
      Patents Drive Free Software as Hurricanes Drive Construction Industry
    47. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      I'm not offering to assist anyone in a plot. I'm just providing general information about the subject, for informational purposes.

    48. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      The fraud is the person applying to be an FBI agent, who is telling them that they agree to the conditions and the polygraph testing, and then practice how to trick them in violation of their hiring conditions. It is true that the test doesn't detect lies, but unless you intentionally learn how to fool the test, you'll have to tell the truth anyways.

      So what his customers are doing is plainly fraud. There is no way around it. If they were really against the test, they'd just refuse to take it, and not work at the FBI.

      That is no problem for him, if he's careful. But he wasn't. He was on tape advertising his service as being for the purpose of tricking the FBI employment test for a specific person, and claimed his experience in this as having helped many others in it.

      If he had instead carefully described his service as being for information or entertainment purpose only, then he would have stayed out of trouble. Obviously, he thought promising to be an accomplice in fraud was a better sales pitch. If he pretends hes doing something legal, then it actually is legal. But potential customers are already wondering, "does this really work?" So a soft sell is not going to resolve that. Leaving it unresolved is what keeps him far enough away from the crime. If he knows the service will be used for a crime before he even takes the money, well now he's just helping. He's not any sort of bystander.

    49. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      That's absurd. That is like saying it isn't stealing if it turns out you didn't need it.

    50. Re:Kangaroo Court! by sjames · · Score: 1

      There's a lot of wiggle room there. In spite of what the FBI would have us believe, the polygraph frequently gives false positives as well as false negatives. Many people taking the test fear it will give a false positive and might well went training/coaching on making sure it doesn't do that.

      It isn't fraud as long as you just want it to read truthful when you are truthful.

    51. Re:Kangaroo Court! by StikyPad · · Score: 1

      I think his argument is that he's advertising that he will prevent false positives, not that he will suppress actual positives. That's little different than advertising that you can help prevent audits -- by making sure the forms are filled out correctly.

    52. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What?

      He is telling people something like this -> The FBI, NSA, CIA, believes that Earth is flat and asks flat earth questions in the hiring process. And I can teach to you that the earth is really round object, not flat. And when FBI goon ask you - do ye believe in one god and that the earth is flat, you must answer without laughing - yes you mighty wizard from FBI, your esteemed knowledge is beyond measure, I believe in the flat earth!

      How can this thing be fraudulent? If FBI thinks that cavemen lived with friendly dinosaurs, and somebody points out that - No they were not living together?

    53. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can not beat something that does not work. The thing is snake oli, bogus, childrens night story level thing.

    54. Re: Kangaroo Court! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They were not wrong, this is the most often repeated and misunderstood lie about the events leading up to the Civil War.

      At the time it was not clear that the Declaration was part of american jurisprudence and the constitution nearly explicitly allowed slavery as an extension of property rights to those able to vote and hold office, which the terms of which were basically left up to the states save for Federal offices.

      Lincoln was a Declarationist, he believed the Constitution could not be taken in a vacuum. Thankfully, his side won, but it took force of arms.

    55. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      It isn't fraud as long as you just want it to read truthful when you are truthful.

      If you agree to the test, and then intentionally cheat the test, in order to gain something you would not otherwise get, then that is fraud.

      It does not matter if you don't respect the test. The fraud has nothing to do with the quality of the test.

      It isn't hard to understand what it means to be truthful. The fraud isn't just happening during the test. The main part of the fraud is agreeing to take the test, and agreeing to the rules, and signing in to take the test, knowing that you're conspiring to secretly alter the result. You can't take the test without claiming you didn't cheat on the test. They make you say all that stuff. This is not a hypothetical, narrowly constructed test that just happens to have the loophole you imagine. There is no way to try to cheat the test without lying. That said, unless you're an idiot and admit to lying and cheating, it is easy to succeed at foiling the test. But you do have to remember to consistently lie about it, and not end up on tape talking about it.

    56. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      I'm sure his lawyer will want to argue all that now, but my advice to you is to read the transcript of the recording from the other story about it. He was bragging about his past success in bold, unambiguous terms, in the context of promising to help somebody pass.

      And the technique isn't about filling out forms, you put a tack in your shoe and use it to throw off the baseline measurements. You also do certain core exercises during those baselines, when you're supposed to be sitting still and relaxing. When you get into the details, it is neither innocent nor passive.

      It is also not a technique for avoiding false positives, because if it does do that it achieves it by creating false negatives; negatives that are false, even if the answer the person gave is true. (that's because polygraphs aren't "lie detectors," and a "false positive" isn't a falsely detected lie, but accurately detected discomfort that is for an innocent reason) Having manipulated the test is a real deception, there is no way to attempt to mask a presumed test error (that hasn't even happened yet) with a deception that better matches what a person expects the result to be, and then say that was innocent, it was somehow corrective or preventative.

      To follow your metaphor, it is like offering to help people avoid audits by fraudulently altering all the paperwork to remove any obvious red flags. If you actually come right out and say that that is your service, then you are indeed an accomplice.

      If a mobster comes into your laundry service with a dripping red bag of laundry, and you just want the cleaning fee, don't ask questions just clean the laundry. If you didn't know, you weren't an accomplice. You're just the dry cleaner in the same neighborhood as the killers. It was probably brake just fluid, you figured.

    57. Re:Kangaroo Court! by sjames · · Score: 1

      If you agree to run a marathon, is there an implication that you may not also train for the run? Would running for the weeks leading to the marathon be cheating?

      When you agree to a subject matter test, is it cheating if you study?

    58. Re:Kangaroo Court! by spire3661 · · Score: 1

      Its not absurd. What is absurd is the idea that the FBI using the device is in any way productive. Its not fraud if the procedure is not based in fact. Its a LIE, we should not allow our law enforcement to lie outside of very specific need. EVER. You are arguing a point of law, im arguing a point of morality.

      --
      Good-bye
    59. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      You're just creating straw men. *yawn*

      If you offer a service to help people cheat at the marathon, and you admit that is what your service is for, then yes it makes you an accomplice to fraud.

      If you agree not to do certain training, whether it is anti-polygraph training, or taking performance-enhancing-drugs, then violating that agreement in order to get or keep a job is fraud.

      If you're lying in order to get/keep a job/money, that is fraud.

    60. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      If it is productive is not in any way implicated in this case.

      It is like the guy that got arrested for stealing rennet from a farmer. Once the cops told he stole something useless and without resale value, he thought it lessened his crime. But it didn't.

      There is no moral argument where fraud becomes less bad if you were tricking somebody with a policy you dislike.

      However stupid polygraphs are, fraud is still however bad fraud ever is.

    61. Re:Kangaroo Court! by sjames · · Score: 1

      If you offer coaching for a marathon, you are doing nothing wrong. Nor is the runner who hires you.

    62. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      That isn't what I said, though. You're having some comprehension issues.

      And it is not a reasoned metaphor for this situation.

    63. Re:Kangaroo Court! by sjames · · Score: 1

      No, but it *IS* what I said that you apparently didn't comprehend the first time.

    64. Re: Kangaroo Court! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why all the fuss over something that is inadmissible? Or is it the loss of a coercive tool?

    65. Re: Kangaroo Court! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lol! So true. By definition 100 IQ is the arithmetic mean of intelligence.

    66. Re:Kangaroo Court! by spire3661 · · Score: 2

      The lie detector itself is a fraud on the American citizen. Your example is poor. The FBI should not be allowed to use fraudulent devices in their hiring practices. It should not be considered fraud to evade the fraud perpetrated by the FBI. The entire thing comes down to might vs right. The FBI feels that whatever policy it sets is lawful, thus any break in that is a crime. We The People should remind the FBI that they have a duty to act ethically, including not using fraud as SOP.

      --
      Good-bye
    67. Re:Kangaroo Court! by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      Adding wrongs together don't make rights.

      It does not matter if what the FBI is doing is also literal fraud. It isn't, they're the ones paying the employee, not the other way around, and they clearly tell applicants about the policy.

      Fraud "on the ____ people" is not legal "fraud," it is just literary hyperbole. But even if it was the same word as the legal jargon word "fraud," it simply would not help him at all.

  2. What a bastard by Hognoxious · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He put a curse on my magic anti-unicorn rock and now it doesn't work. The bastard!

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    1. Re:What a bastard by Megol · · Score: 1

      Cool! How many unicorns have you seen since?

    2. Re:What a bastard by onepoint · · Score: 1

      mine still works.
      but the anti magic starts failing when i add more acid into my drink

      --
      if you see me, smile and say hello.
    3. Re:What a bastard by cold+fjord · · Score: 2

      You don't really need that extra twist of lemon.

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
  3. Did you mean "*n*ever use"? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

    The case files [...] suggest that the only people being "caught" trying to beat the polygraph are those using crude, unsophisticated methods that anyone who actually understood polygraph procedure and effective countermeasures [...] would ever use.

    Did you mean "never use"?

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    1. Re:Did you mean "*n*ever use"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The case files [...] suggest that the only people being "caught" trying to beat the polygraph are those using crude, unsophisticated methods that anyone who actually understood polygraph procedure and effective countermeasures [...] would ever use.

      Did you mean "never use"?

      I thought he meant, "no one who"

    2. Re:Did you mean "*n*ever use"? by George+Maschke · · Score: 1

      The case files [...] suggest that the only people being "caught" trying to beat the polygraph are those using crude, unsophisticated methods that anyone who actually understood polygraph procedure and effective countermeasures [...] would ever use.

      Did you mean "never use"?

      Yes! Thank you.

      --

      George W. Maschke
      AntiPolygraph.org

  4. Crystal ball by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hope they don't catch me cheating the magic crystal ball. They might send the leprechauns after me.

    1. Re:Crystal ball by Noah+Haders · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Hope they don't catch me cheating the magic crystal ball. They might send the leprechauns after me.

      that's just it, right? the ultimate polygraph countermeasure is to understand it's a psychological trick to get you to confess to things you wouldn't have confessed to otherwise. if they get you to confess to something, then you "failed" the polygraph. If they can't manipulate a confession out of you, then the polygraph is "inconclusive". it's impossible to "pass" a polygraph test.

      an exception may be one where a) the testers actually believe in the polygraph test themselves and b) they don't need a confession. like imagine a job interview at ABC Shizzface Company. some company head hocho dodo says we should do polygraph, so middle management dodo gets a consultant and totally believes anything the consultant tells him because he believes that polygraphs are objective truths. Then they don't need to get a confession, they just need to get any sense of unease and they will deny you the job.

    2. Re:Crystal ball by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's also the digging for blackmail material. The cult of Scientology digs up blackmail material this way, and uses it against you if you ever leave. The process is called "dead agenting".

              http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...

      Scientologists are very difficult to reliably polygraph, because of the hundreds or thousands of hours of "E-meter" training, which is a simple polygrpah device. It's a simple Wheatstone bridge, with a copy of the patent at:

              https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/E-...

    3. Re:Crystal ball by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maury Povich: "You stated that you have never cheated on your fiance, and our lie detector expert determined That was a lie! "

      Don't know how many of you have had to stay home sick and watched an episode of "White trash theater", but their polygraph machine declares everything a lie because they're asking very uncomfortable questions in an uncomfortable environment.

  5. If Polygraphs are infallible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Then why is someone on trial for teaching how to beat them? Makes no sense, unless they are beatable, in which case they are only security by obscurity - aka useless against a real threat.

    1. Re: If Polygraphs are infallible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bomb-sniffing dogs

    2. Re: If Polygraphs are infallible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Something could be less than infallible, but still useful. e.g. bomb-sniffing dogs. And if someone ran around saying, "I'll train you to beat detection by bomb-sniffing dogs." then I could see how that would be worrisome. I didn't know someone could be indicted for that, though.

    3. Re:If Polygraphs are infallible by Cederic · · Score: 1

      Polygraphs have no basis in reality. They're purely a psychological tool.

      I find it confusing that one would be used during the federal hiring process. At least it tells me I wouldn't want to work there; anybody with recruitment processes that fucked up isn't someone I want to work for.

    4. Re:If Polygraphs are infallible by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 1

      in which case they are only security by obscurity - aka useless against a real threat.

      Security by obscurity does actually work a lot of the time. Just because it is not always effectively doesn't mean it's never effective.

    5. Re:If Polygraphs are infallible by Dog-Cow · · Score: 1

      You don't seem to have a real grasp on what "real" means.

    6. Re:If Polygraphs are infallible by Cederic · · Score: 1

      Perhaps I should have been more explicit. The use of a polygraph as a means of verifying veracity has no basis in reality.

  6. What gets me. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is it seems like whenever someone gets polygraph results that support their assertions they are off and shouting how the polygraph is an inflatable and irrefutable source of proof. Change that scenario slightly to a polygraph result that is either inconclusive or counter to their assertions and the same people will decry the polygraph as fallible and incapable of either proving or disproving anything. So which is it?

    The bottom line is some people couldn't pass a polygraph to save their lives while others couldn't fail one if they tried and if anyone can learn to beat the machine then it really isn't a great baseline for making any decision.

    1. Re:What gets me. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      an inflatable and irrefutable source of proof.

      A wineskin?

    2. Re:What gets me. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In vino veritas. +1 Funny.

  7. Doug Williams - Polygraph Countermeasures? BS! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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 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. And these con men certainly don't want to answer any of the questions I have posed! They know they cannot prove the polygraph is valid and reliable as a "lie detector", and they know they can't justify their actions - so they just say that people who

    1. Re:Doug Williams - Polygraph Countermeasures? BS! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure, ... but why stay in Oklahoma?

    2. Re:Doug Williams - Polygraph Countermeasures? BS! by penix1 · · Score: 1

      The problem is people DO believe a polygraph is "accurate" or it wouldn't be used to "weed out" suspects like it is. I watch Investigation Discovery all the time and I find it disturbing that a test that is invalid in a court is still use by police for this purpose. Things get worse if you refuse to take the test or, God forbid, request an attorney be present during questioning. Guilt is then further reinforced with a suspect that invokes those rights.

      --
      This is a sig. This is only a sig. Had this been an actual sig you would have been informed where to tune for more sigs.
    3. Re:Doug Williams - Polygraph Countermeasures? BS! by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      Right, that is why you're golden and the other guy is going away for a long time.

      You pay attention to the language you use, and he honestly told people he was going to help them defraud the FBI.

      Nobody thinks it is actually a "lie detector." It is more of a measurement tool for relative discomfort.

    4. Re:Doug Williams - Polygraph Countermeasures? BS! by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      It doesn't have to be "accurate" to "weed out" some percent of undesirable applicants.

      Now, I agree it is an awful hiring practice, and probably not useful. But that doesn't mean any arrangement of words that are against it are automatically true.

      It also doesn't make television a source of reliable information about the topic.

      Nobody thinks it is "lie detector." They think it detects relative discomfort, and they have a gut feeling that that is somehow useful.

      Just like, people don't think dogs are "criminal detectors," but if their dog barks more loudly at one person than another, they'll say, "he can sense something about him." Yeah, right. Or, doesn't like his shirt. Or he smells like a cat.

    5. Re:Doug Williams - Polygraph Countermeasures? BS! by Copid · · Score: 1

      I love watching a dog lose its shit whenever it sees something new. Dogs have a highly tuned, "That ain't right," sense and they love to share it with all of us.

      "That's the tallest guy I've ever seen. That ain't right."

      "That person has wheels instead of using his legs. That ain't right."

      "A big person carrying a little tiny person in a bag? That ain't right."

      --
      An interesting anagram of "BANACH TARSKI" is "BANACH TARSKI BANACH TARSKI"
    6. Re:Doug Williams - Polygraph Countermeasures? BS! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You do know that you are responding to a post by Doug Williams, correct? You seem to be referring to Mr. Williams as "the other guy".

  8. wow, great by eyenot · · Score: 1

    it's so awesome seeing these old-timey side show barkers peddling snake oil from their wagons.

    "my goodsh are the REEEAAL goodsh!"

    "no god damnit he's a liar, he sells poison!"

    "snake oil is the best poison money can buy!"

    "see that, he's just after your money!"

    "you heard it here first, folks, he's giving his away for FREE!"

    "no wait a minute!"

    --
    "Stratigraphically the origin of agriculture and thermonuclear destruction will appear essentially simultaneous" -- Lee
  9. Sigh. by ledow · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Most developed countries do not recognise a polygraph in court, or in science.

    And haven't.

    For centuries.

    I wonder why the US still does.

    Just saying.

    1. Re:Sigh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wonder who gets tested. DoD clearance here and I've never been strapped into one of those.

    2. Re: Sigh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it depends on how high your clearance level is. some require monthly counter intelligence polygraphs as a job requirement

    3. Re:Sigh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They aren't recognized in any US courts.

      Way to show your ignorance and bigoted bias.

      Just saying.

    4. Re:Sigh. by mjwalshe · · Score: 1

      Probably because Hoover liked them - a very good example of having your police force become over mighty and getting involved in areas that should be done by a stand alone agency ala MI5.

    5. Re:Sigh. by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 2

      > They aren't recognized in any US courts.

      I'm afraid they are: the Supreme Court ruled that it's up to individual jurisdictions.

                            http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P...

    6. Re:Sigh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't see any ignorance or bias in that comment. Polygraphs aren't recognized as admissible evidence in courts, yet the discovery process in some cases may still include one. The US government also compels some job seekers to take them for positions requiring security clearance, so they are codified into our culture, as if they had scientific merit.

    7. Re: Sigh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it depends on how high your clearance level is. some require monthly counter intelligence polygraphs as a job requirement

      The problem here is that because polygraphs are bullshit, an adversary's moles/spies (who we can presume to be better-trained in countermeasures) are the people least likely to be caught by them.

      Innocent worker completely clueless about polygraphs? 5% (I'm making the number up) chance of a false positive per test.
      Top-level FSB/PLA infiltrator who knows exactly what the examiner's looking for? 0.5% chance (again, making the number up) chance of a false positive per test.

      Repeat this experiment every week for 50 years and tell me what the expected distribution of moles-to-innocents is going to be in a polygraphed population versus that of an organization that doesn't use polygraphs. I'm all for security; let's find methods that actually weed out the unreliable, rather than methods that practically guarantee that moles can remain in their jobs for life.

    8. Re: Sigh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      an adversary's moles/spies .... are the people least likely to be caught by them.

      This. Plus sociopaths. Some of them would sell the secret missile plans just for the lulz.

      Plus I'm well off enough to retire any time I want. And they want me doing what I do. So f* them if they want me to start jumping through some b.s. hoops. They know polygraphs are worthless. I know it. And they know I know. So they don't bother me with it.

    9. Re: Sigh. by Copid · · Score: 1

      Add to that the percentage of the population that actuall is a spy is incredibly small and the percentage of the population that gets squeamish under interrogation is really high and you have a total classification disaster on your hands. I mean, of the thousands of NSA or CIA or FBI employees, how many of them are spies? Sure, some of them probably are. But I'm guessing it's single digits in each agency.

      --
      An interesting anagram of "BANACH TARSKI" is "BANACH TARSKI BANACH TARSKI"
    10. Re: Sigh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have a clearance that requires a few polys. But I have never heard of any agency or sub agency that does a monthly poly. Most places requires a poly every 5 years. Some of the agencies that do "random" polys have some people doing them more frequently but never than once every 2 years that I have ever seen.

    11. Re: Sigh. by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      If the "real" effect of the polygraph is a 5% reduction in security, but the placebo effect from using it is 32%, then it would be a big winner.

      Just making up numbers as a hypothetical. But it is easy for it to be bullshit and still have a rational reason that some jerk believes in.

  10. If I've read the documents, am I now a dissident? by smylingsam · · Score: 2

    I was reading the documents and went to download the software to read the polygraph results when I got "your ip has been logged ... software for ..." and I had left my referrer field on! Guess im now a registered dissident. oopsies!

  11. Don't bother by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Did you know that if you download, read or otherwise know about where to obtain such materials, it makes you ineligible to apply for any security, law-enforcement or spy agency?

    The first question asked on police exams here are "Do you know how to, read, or have in your possession any materials to use against the polygraph test?"

    Simply knowing that it exists doesn't make you ineligible, though you might be grilled on it if you answer no, but hesitate because you know that the materials exist.

  12. Lie detectors are pseudoscience .. by DougPaulson · · Score: 1

    Lie detectors don't work, all they do is give the prosecution the pretext in calling you a liar, if you are foolish enough to take one. ref.

  13. Polygraph operator is a trained interrogator by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The polygraph operator is a trained interrogator with an electronic rubber hose. Those with few brains, and much to fear are easily led to believe the polygraph really can detect deception. The polygraph is a placebo device nothing more, the supreme countermeasure to it, is just not believe the BS artist running the device. You only react to things you fear, and the operator has a great stage show, honed to perfection to sell the device as valid, accurate and unbeatable. Beating this machine in truth means beating the operator. Most (polygraph operators) have no defense against those that have the core disbelief the machine works, no matter how much song and dance they do. Worst case is always inconclusive, and IMHO that's a win, as they got nothing of use, from a useless machine. And most post test interrogations are fun to be part of as you know its coming and watching the operator spin out, always puts a smile on my face, and they still come up with nothing. Besides you came into the place without the job, no loss leaving without the job. No job is worth this level of BS.