Mr Smith
I am breaking my self imposed ban for this one post, not to argue with you or to contradict your opinion, but simply to offer my observations on the state of polygraph today and for the future. The demise of polygraph has been predicted before. EPPA was to be the end of private testing yet 22 years later the private sector is alive and growing. One example is the growing use in sex offender treatment and containment programs.
International growth is increasing. A significant number (my guess at least one third) of new applicants for membership in the American Polygraph Association are from examiners outside of the U.S. Read the chapter on police use of polygraph in Japan in Kliner's Handbook for an excellent example of a technique that even the late Dr Lykken favored. I am sure Dr Maschke will correct me if I overstated this.
Thanks in part to this site, the polygraph community is more committed than ever to following the scientific model, whenever possible. An example
www.oss3.info. Yes, I know you could do astrology on computer, but that article does not sound like fake science to me.
Indeed, it seems to me, that this site is behind the times. I offer as proof the depiction on the home page of a test using equipment from twenty years ago. Not a single examiner in my state uses the analog polygraph, not one! People, especially young people who have visited this site, often come to my office expecting an analog and are surprised to see that they face a computerized collection and scoring system. Why not update your cartoon to accurately depict the equipment used today?
EPPA was needed and, in my opinion, improved greatly the use of polygraph in the private workplace. But if the protections of EPPA are to be extended to the governmental workplace, which political party will advance that cause? Repubs will buy the national security argument. Demos? I think poly is far from the top of their agenda.