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Those of you who know anything about polygraph lie detector tests will know that they are considered pseudo-science by most academics — they tend to show the results that the examiner expects to see, and largely work on the principle of intimidation. They're basically a stress test, and stress is not a good indicator of when somebody is lying.
If a test that includes measures of breathing, blood pressure, pulse and skin conductivity is inaccurate, how much more so will mere telephone-based lie detection be? And yet our very own Department of Work and Pensions is currently running trials of one such system; already hundreds of thousands of pounds have been denied to claimants based on the results of these tests.
And the details of this system? It turns out that it consists of just 500 lines of Visual Basic code — that's less than most A-Level computing projects — written by a single person with no qualifications whatsoever, either in computing or psychology.
Gak.
If a test that includes measures of breathing, blood pressure, pulse and skin conductivity is inaccurate, how much more so will mere telephone-based lie detection be? And yet our very own Department of Work and Pensions is currently running trials of one such system; already hundreds of thousands of pounds have been denied to claimants based on the results of these tests.
And the details of this system? It turns out that it consists of just 500 lines of Visual Basic code — that's less than most A-Level computing projects — written by a single person with no qualifications whatsoever, either in computing or psychology.
Gak.
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*is not a happy bunny*