Former Cop Earns Federal Indictment for Teaching How to Pass a Polygraph!
Updated with proper video below!
Via Slashdot comes this awful story of a former Oklahoma City cop who has been indicted by the federal government for allegedly teaching people how to beat so-called lie-detector tests. Douglas Williams Williams is the Big Kahuna of the anti-polygraph movement. He's not shy about what he's up to. Here's his website.
Especially in the wake of the Edward Snowden affair, the feds are worried that "trained liars" will beat their tests that are supposedly unbeatable. These tests, which aren't admissible in court and are about as "scientific" as astrology, are nonetheless widely used by federal and other law-enforcement agencies to test job applicants, workers, and people accused of crimes.
"There is no unique physiological signature that is associated with lying," Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists told Reason earlier this year. "You can learn to regulate your heartbeat, you can learn to control your breath, and you can generate spurious signals."
Whatevs. From the Justice Department:
Douglas Williams, 69, of Norman, Oklahoma, was charged in a five-count indictment in the Western District of Oklahoma with mail fraud and obstruction. According to allegations in the indictment, Williams, the owner and operator of "Polygraph.com," marketed his training services to people appearing for polygraph examinations before federal law enforcement agencies, federal intelligence agencies, and state and local law enforcement agencies, as well as people required to take polygraph examinations under the terms of their parole or probation.
In February, Reason TV's Joshua Swain produced a video about Chad Dixon, an Indiana man sentence to eight months in the federal slammer for teaching people how to beat polygraphs. As disturbing, Reason TV talked with Marisa Taylor of the McClatchy newspaper chain, who has reported extensively on the war against anti-polygraph activists. Taylor discovered that not only are federal agencies increasing the number and frequency of lie-detector tests of employees but Customs and Border Patrol agents compiled lists of people who had bought books about beating polygraphs and then shared those lists with the IRS, CIA, and NSA.
Watch "Why Teaching How to Beat Polygraphs Can Land You in Jail":