Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
AntiPolygraph.org has published a set of documents concerning the San Diego Police Department’s polygraph practices. These documents, which date to 2017, focus primarily on pre-employment polygraph screening. The most notable document, titled “SDPD DLST Preemployment Script” instructs the polygraph operator how to conduct the “pre-test” procedure. “DLST” stands for “directed-lie screening test.” Directed-lie “control” questions …
In July 2018, the so-named National Institute for Truth Verification (NITV) of West Palm Beach, Florida, which markets a scientifically baseless lie detector called the Computer Voice Stress Analyzer (CVSA), filed in Florida a federal lawsuit against competitor Dektor Corporation and its sole proprietor, Arthur Herring III, of Coopersburg, Pennsylvania. Dektor markets a similarly scientifically …
Longtime polygraph critic Doug Williams, himself a former police polygraph operator, is scheduled to testify as an expert witness against the admissibility of polygraph evidence in a New Mexico court hearing scheduled for 30 May 2019. Dr. Alan Vaughn Emamdee of Farmington, New Mexico faces an 11-count indictment for alleged sexual abuse of patients and …
In “An Eye-Scanning Lie Detector Is Forging a Dystopian Future,” Wired science writer Mark Harris investigates “EyeDetect,” a new scientifically unproven lie detector being hawked as a replacement for the old scientifically unproven polygraph. Converus Inc. of Lehi, Utah, which markets EyeDetect, claims without proof that it can detect lies with 86% accuracy. Mark Harris …
In “The Dangerous Junk Science of Vocal Risk Assessment,” Ava Kofman of The Intercept examines “Remote Risk Assessment,” a voice stress analysis application being marketed by AC Global Risk, a San Francisco-based company led by U.S. Marine Corps veteran Alexander Martin. The company characterizes Remote Risk Assessment as “a sophisticated system that uses unique voice …
The NSA (@NSAgov) has blocked AntiPolygraph.org (@ap_org) from following and viewing the NSA’s tweets: Curious about what may have prompted this action, we used Google to search twitter.com for matches including both “ap_org” and “NSAGov.” We found two replies that we posted to tweets the NSA made on 9 July 2018. Here is the first …
Wired has published a major investigative article on law enforcement’s use of pre-employment polygraph screening. In The Lie Generator: Inside the Black Mirror World of Polygraph Job Screenings, science/technology writer Mark Harris (@meharris on Twitter) reports based on, among other sources, data gleaned from numerous public record access law requests filed with police and sheriff’s …
On 26 July 2018, the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General published report OIG-18-68, titled “Most Complaints About CBP’s Polygraph Program Are Ambiguous or Unfounded” (PDF). The 17-page report’s findings are summarized on page 5: Review of CBP’s Polygraph Complaints We reviewed 157 complaints to determine whether CBP had an effective process …
AntiPolygraph.org has obtained a copy of a 2005 PowerPoint presentation prepared by former U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID) Supervisory Agent and American Polygraph Association past president and past chairman of the board of directors Milton O. “Skip” Webb, Jr. Titled “Nailing the Pre-Test Interview: The key to reducing no opinion tests,” this presentation has …
Among the topics addressed in the 26 June 2018 episode of the Witswatersrand (Wits) University radio program and podcast “The Science Inside” was polygraph “testing.” Those interviewed for this segment by program editor Elna Schütz include Niel Visser, a retailer who has been subjected to workplace polygraph “testing,” Clifton Coetzee, a practitioner of a variety …