In the field. Courtesy of the "I-have-nothing-to-hide" people.... "Go Ahead, Try to Lie" Discover (07/01); Wright, Karen The U.S. Department of Defense is attempting to create a better polygraph machine. The polygraph machine, which was first introduced almost 100 years ago, is routinely used to screen thousands of job applicants and government employees every year, as well as in criminal investigations. In recent times, however, the device's reputation has suffered from claims that its use violates people's privacy and that it is not always reliable. Over the last 24 months, the U.S. Department of Defense has increased research on alternative technologies through studies regulated by its Fort Jackson, S.C.-based Polygraph Institute. Andrew Ryan, chief of research at the institute, is working with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory to create software that can detect minor variations in biofeedback to tell if someone is lying. The institute is also looking into technologies that could augment polygraph testing with techniques that are less invasive. The U.S. Customs service has been testing a remote-sensing device for the capture of smugglers, which measures incriminating inflections, vibrations, and tones in a person's voice. Muscle tremors might also provide indications that someone is lying, and these can be detected using a body-scanning laser, which also determines respiration and heart rates. The level of blood flow, which can be configured by measuring skin-surface temperature, might also change when someone is lying: a recent pilot study using thermal imaging cameras was able to detect a person lying 78 percent of the time. (www.discover.com/) --- Source: NLECTC Law Enforcement & Corrections Technology News Summary should be cited as the source of the information. Copyright 2001, Information Inc., Bethesda, MD. --- If that ever becomes spousal-dateware, I bet they change their mind THEN. Next, they will figure out a way to do that with keystroke dynamics (and keystroke dynamic biometrics) and stop people lying on the Internet. The death of us all! ~Aimee See Long Beach City Employees Ass'n v. City of Long Beach, 41 Cal.3d 937, 719 P.2d 660 (1986), for a good explanation of why polygraphs are considered more intrusive than a written or verbal interrogation.