No doubt all the polygraph supporters will now feel more at ease now when transiting Russian airspace on the way to link up with their Stalinist goon friends at the KGB:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/04/06/wlie06.xml

My only question is: if "lie detection" technology is so good, why not make it ubiquitous in our everyday lives -- "Honey, where were you REALLY last night?! The truth verifier says your story about being at work is bogus!" Or, "Maam, my truth verifier here says you are lying about coming to a full stop at that stop sign three blocks back."

I mean, wouldn't the proliferation of these machines surely keep our lying society in line and compel us all to be more truthful? The scenarios for abuse in this shameful sham are endless.

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Airline passengers face lie detector tests

By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow
(Filed: 06/04/2006)

Millions of airline passengers travelling through Russia will soon have to take a lie detector test as part of new security measures.

The technology, to be introduced at Moscow's Domodedovo airport as early as July, is intended to identify terrorists and drug smugglers. If successful, it could revolutionise check-ins.

Passengers will pick up the handset of a "truth verifier" machine while they are asked questions. Apparently the machine, developed by an Israeli company, can even establish whether answers come from the memory or the imagination.

The technology is being used by some insurance companies in Britain to screen telephone claims for fraud.

"We know that this could be uncomfortable for some passengers but it is a necessary step," said Vladimir Kornilov, the IT director for East Line, which operates the airport.

At first, only passengers deemed suspicious by the FSB, the security service that succeeded the KGB, will take the test. But it will eventually encompass all passengers.

"If a person fails, he is accompanied by a guard to a cubicle where he is asked questions in a more intense atmosphere," Mr Kornilov said.

The machine asks four questions. The first is for full identity, while the second, unnerving in its Soviet-style abruptness, demands: "Have you ever lied to the authorities?" It then asks if the passenger is carrying weapons or narcotics.

To cut delays to a minimum, passengers will take the test after putting their shoes and baggage through the X-ray machines and before retrieving them. Officials insist that it will take between 30 seconds and a minute.