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Leaked Documents Confirm Polygraph Operators Can't Detect Countermeasures (antipolygraph.org)
George Maschke writes: AntiPolygraph.org has published a document (14 MB PDF) on polygraph countermeasures that is allegedly derived from classified information. The document suggests techniques that polygraph operators might use in an attempt to detect efforts to beat the polygraph, but fails to offer any coherent strategy for detecting sophisticated countermeasures such as those outlined in AntiPolygraph.org's The Lie Behind the Lie Detector (1 MB PDF) or Doug Williams' How to Sting the Polygraph. Ominously, the leaked document avers that an examinee's stated lack of belief in polygraphy is a marker of deception. AntiPolygraph.org has also published an older U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations polygraph countermeasure handbook (3.2 MB PDF) that similarly offers no methodology for detecting sophisticated countermeasures (such as any actual spy, saboteur, or terrorist might be expected to use).
Really, there is zero scientific processes behind "lie detectors". They are intended as an intimidation tool to coerce a confession, nothing more. There's a reason they are not admissible as evidence.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Polygraph operators can't detect that the magic devices they claim work are nothing but voodoo.
The stunning lack of science and empirical evidence for a lie detector "fails to offer any coherent strategy" for this being real in any meaningful sense of the word.
There's a reason it's not admissible in court.
And what they're trying to do is suggesting their useless tool is an utterly useless tool is evidence that you are being deceptive. So, it's saying "I think your lie detector is crap" is being equated with being dishonest.
Tell you what, prove the fucking thing works first. What's that? You can't?
Then piss off and stop blaming your own incompetence and reliance on bogus technology on the rest of us.
Basically this is a tool, which doesn't work as advertised, which is used to bully people into giving the answer you have decided they should be giving. It in no way has anything at all to do with detecting the truth, and never has.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
But the idiots will keep believing it works. Or there is a 'truth serum'. Or that the FBI can read minds. Or whatever.
Those unfamiliar with all of this will actually confess while connected to the magical device, so it's wonderfully useful against a large mass of civilians. One would think the Scientologists would be accumulating lists of such people, as they would clearly be prime for a sales pitch.
Find a book called "Big Secrets". It's got recipes for coke, kfc, etc.and a whole chapter on polygraphy: the whole sordid story. I loaned it to a friend that was really worried about a mandatory polygraph for job. When the interview started _exactly_ as described in the book she almost broke out laughing. Aced the test, took the job.
Then maybe I should inform everyone that phrenology has been debunked, too. Can I please get a /. headline?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
What do they do if you are honest about all the control questions?
Yes. Have you ever stolen something? Yes. (when I was 6 I took an extra cookie from the cookie jar.) Have you ever been dishonest? (I totally lied to my mom about eating the cookie) etc.
It's been well known for decades that polygraphs are a pseudo-science at best but yet they persist in these organizations.
It's not because of their efficacy that they persist but because these are old institutions and the polygraph is considered a ritual or right of passage.
And like all religious rituals, those who control the church who proctors such rituals has a lot of power. It's easy to understand while they attack people that threaten their institution.
It may not work against sophisticated countermeasures, but it may still detect unsophisticated ones.
The argument implied by the write-up is like trying to say, soldiers should dispense with personal weapons altogether, because they can't penetrate the armour of some of their targets anyway.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Find a book called "Big Secrets". It's got recipes for coke, kfc, etc.and a whole chapter on polygraphy: the whole sordid story. I loaned it to a friend that was really worried about a mandatory polygraph for job. When the interview started _exactly_ as described in the book she almost broke out laughing. Aced the test, took the job.
Did she lie?
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
It never worked on sociopaths, that's why so many of them work for the CIA.
I had a whole series of polygraph tests due
to some rather nasty legal trouble; and I kept
coming over as deceptive.
Turns out that I'd typically drink five or six cups of coffee
before going through the questioning - always scheduled
for late morning.
The difficult part was I had to pass the tests to stay
within the conditions of my probation; and that
stressed me out to the point where I'd fail, I'm quite
certain.
So for the final tests, I skipped the coffee, ate enough
aspirin to offset the headache and BS'd the crap out of
the examiner. For example:
Q: "Have you taken drugs since the last exam?"
A: "Sure, aspirin, caffeine pills, sudaphed.... They are
all drugs, right?"
The next time they asked about "illegal drugs".
The whole system is a load of steaming dung, but
the officials want to interrogate people, without
calling it such - and have it done under the guise of
science; and also, *without* any legal support.
Well, that's what they say...
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
I wonder how many relationships have been ruined because the show "determined that was a lie" when testing it's guests?
A plain Top Secret clearance does not require a polygraph test. A Top Secret with polygraph is a level above the plain TS. There are other variations as well.
Polygraph is nothing more than an interrogation prop, a placebo for lack of a better term. If you believe it works, it does. The polygraph operator is a trained con-man, whose sole purpose is to sell "The Box" as a working lie detector. The ultimate countermeasure against the polygraph is just "Don't Believe". If you stop the adrenals from releasing into the body, the "Fight or Flight" reactions are eliminated from the process. Without the "Fight or Flight" being activated, nothing changes, no blood pressure rise, no increase in respiration, no breathing changes, and no galvanic skin responses (sweating). It actually becomes quite humorous at watching the operator try and sell you on "The Box". Fear and anxiety are the operators "Bread and Butter", Knowing how to beat interrogation techniques, and how not to give any "Tells" (Kinesic Analysis) are also great tricks to have in your black magic bag. Relax, do some research, understand the process, beat the dweeb trying to BS you. The brain has no moving parts, therefore none of his countermeasure detection sensors, or techniques will work. Worst case is "No Opinion". Give these fools exactly nothing.
You are correct, I have beaten the machine many a time knowing its nothing but bunk !! Operator was really frustrated when it wasn't working !!