[iwar] [fc:The.technology.of.truth-seeking.is.leaping.forward.]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2002-06-22 14:04:15
Next message: Fred Cohen: "[iwar] [fc:Las.vegas.Threat.``not.credible'']"
Previous message: Fred Cohen: "[iwar] [fc:Origin.of.the.AIDS.Virus]"
Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] [ attachment ]
Message-Id: <200206222104.g5ML4Fi12761@red.all.net>
To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List)
Organization: I'm not allowed to say
From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com
Precedence: bulk
Date: Sat, 22 Jun 2002 14:04:15 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [iwar] [fc:The.technology.of.truth-seeking.is.leaping.forward.]
Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

By CHRISTOPHER NEWTON
.c The Associated Press 

WASHINGTON (June 21) - The world is becoming a trickier place for people
who tell lies - even little white ones. 

From thermal-imaging cameras, designed to read guilty eyes, to
brain-wave scanners, which essentially watch a lie in motion, the
technology of truth-seeking is leaping forward. 

At the same time, more people are finding their words put to the test,
especially those who work for the government. 

FBI agents, themselves subjected to more polygraphs as a result of the
Robert Hanssen spy case, have been administering lie detection tests at
Fort Detrick, Md., and Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, bases with stores
of anthrax.  Nuclear plant workers also are getting the tests in greater
numbers since Sept.  11. 

``There has been a reawakening of our interest in being able to
determine the truth from each other,'' said sociologist Barbara Hetnick,
who teaches a course on lying at Wooster College.  ``As technology
advances, we may have to decide whether we want to let a machine decide
guilt or innocence.''

The new frontiers of lie detection claim to offer greater reliability
than the decades-old polygraph, which measures heart and respiratory
rates as a person answers questions. 

They also pose new privacy problems, moral dilemmas and the possibility
that the average person will unwittingly face a test. 

At the Mayo Clinic, researchers hope to perfect a heat-sensing camera
that could scan people's faces and find subtle changes associated with
lying.  In a small study of 20 people, the high-resolution thermal
imaging camera detected a faint blushing around the eyes of those who
lied. 

The technique, still preliminary, could provide a simple and rapid way
of scanning people being questioned at airports or border crossings,
researchers say. 

But would it be legal?

``As long as no one was being arrested or detained solely on the basis
of the test, there is no law against scanning someone's face with a
device,'' said Justin Hammerstein, a civil liberties attorney in New
York. 

``You could use the device to subject someone to greater scrutiny in a
physical search or background check, and it would be hard to argue that
it is illegal.''

Barry Steinhardt of the American Civil Liberties Union said any
technology that isn't 100 percent effective could lead unfairly to
innocent travelers being stranded at airports. 

``You would be introducing chaos into the situation and inevitably
focusing on people who are innocent,'' Steinhardt said. 

At the University of Pennsylvania, researcher Daniel Langleben is using
a magnetic resonance imaging machine, the device used to detect tumors,
to identify parts of the brain that people use when they lie. 

``In the brain, you never get something for nothing,'' Langleben said. 
``The process for telling a lie is more complicated than telling the
truth, resulting in more neuron activity.''

Even for the smoothest-talker, lying is tough work for the brain. 

First, the liar must hear the question and process it.  Almost by
instinct, a liar will first think of the true answer before devising or
speaking an already devised false answer. 

All that thinking adds up to a lot of electrical signals shooting back
and forth.  Langleben says the extra thought makes some sections of the
brain light up like a bulb when viewed with an MRI. 

MRI machines are bulky, but their potential as lie detectors could lead
to the invention of smaller, more specialized versions, Langleben said. 

Other tests are on the market, although how well they perform is an open
question. 

Hand-held ``voice stress'' detectors already are being sold for $300 to
$600 at some department stores and on the Internet. 

Makers claim the devices show when a person's voice trembles under the
stress of a lie.  Although skeptics say there is no proof they work,
police in Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Miami are using more advanced
versions and say they sometimes prompt confessions. 

Also, the subject need not be present.  Police can record a suspect's
voice and check it for stress later. 

Not everyone is sold on it. 

``Voices can shake because people are scared about being interrogated by
police,'' said Thomas Jakes, president of People for Civil Rights. 
``This technology is nothing but a way to scare people.''

Critics say failure on any lie detector test can have unfair
consequences, regardless of what the truth may be. 

Mark Mallah says he was suspended and put under 24-hour surveillance
after failing a routine polygraph test in 1994, when he was an FBI
counterintelligence agent. 

He was finally cleared and reinstated 19 months later.  He quit. 

``They never produced any evidence or came forward with anything, but
the polygraph still undermined my career,'' said Mallah, who practices
law in San Francisco. 

In the CIA, routine polygraphs led to the suspicion of dozens of agents
in the 1980s.  Many were kept in professional limbo for years, according
to an FBI report. 

``We should try to avoid a society where suspicion is based on a machine
and not on evidence,'' said Dale Jenang, a sociologist and philosophy
researcher at the University of California, Berkeley.  ``Guilt and
innocence are too important to leave to a machine.''

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Free $5 Love Reading
Risk Free!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/3PCXaC/PfREAA/Ey.GAA/kgFolB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

------------------
http://all.net/ 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Next message: Fred Cohen: "[iwar] [fc:Las.vegas.Threat.``not.credible'']"
Previous message: Fred Cohen: "[iwar] [fc:Origin.of.the.AIDS.Virus]"
Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] [ attachment ]
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : 2003-08-24 02:46:33 PDT