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posted by janrinok on Friday July 10 2015, @11:35AM   Printer-friendly
from the I-never-said-that,-did-I? dept.

The Washington Post reports that lying may soon become a lost art as our digital, data-hoarding culture means that more and more evidence is piling up to undermine our lies. "The research shows the way lies are really uncovered is by comparing what someone is saying to the evidence," says Tim Levine,"and with all these news analytics that can be done, it's going to enable lie detection in a way that was previously impossible." For example in Pennsylvania, police are prosecuting a woman who claimed she was sexually assaulted earlier this year after data from her Fitbit didn't match up with her story, Just like you can Google a fact to end an argument, instant messaging programs that archive digital conversations make it easy to look back and see exactly who said what -- and if it matches up with what a person is saying now. "Lying online can be very dangerous," says Jeff Hancock. "Not only are you leaving a record for yourself on your machine, but you're leaving a record on the person that you were lying to."

Even more alarming for liars is the incorporation of lie detector technology into the facial recognition technology. Researchers claim video-analysis software can analyze eye movement successfully to identify whether or not a subject is fibbing 82.5 percent of the time. The new technology heightens surveillance capabilities—from monitoring actions to assessing emotions—in ways that make an individual ever more vulnerable to government authorities, marketers, employers, and to any and every person with whom we interact. "We must understand that—at the individual level and with regard to interpersonal relations—too much truth and transparency can be harmful," says Norberto Andrade. "The permanent confrontation with a verifiable truth will turn us into overly cautious, calculating, and suspicious people."


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  • (Score: 2) by K_benzoate on Friday July 10 2015, @04:05PM

    by K_benzoate (5036) on Friday July 10 2015, @04:05PM (#207507)

    Alternatively, we might just accept that everyone has mistakes and transgressions in their past. A new social contract could emerge based on a synthesis of the "glass houses" aphorism and Mutually Assured Destruction theory. That is, I refrain from digging through your past in search of gossip to use against you, because I know you can turn around and do the same thing to me. We both end up worse off because we can't cooperate and work doesn't get done. There are interesting game theoretical concerns at work here, it wouldn't surprise me if these new situations reduced--in the general case--to problems that are already well understood (see: Nash equilibrium, evolutionary stable strategies).

    Or out of petty spite we could take the path of scorched Earth; a Götterdämmerung for human digital society. It only takes a couple reprobates with nothing to lose, or no concern for the consequences, to get the party started.

    Actually I see a viable third alternative: abandon identity entirely. Look at what's achievable through anonymous voluntary cooperation. Many FLOSS projects operate this way. Anonymous imageboards have rich and diverse cultures. Even Soylentnews is (mostly) anonymous and seems to work well enough as a forum. All the more reason why privacy and security need to be protected now.

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  • (Score: 2) by tibman on Friday July 10 2015, @06:57PM

    by tibman (134) Subscriber Badge on Friday July 10 2015, @06:57PM (#207589)

    we might just accept that everyone has mistakes and transgressions in their past

    This is what i hope for. Less negative judgements from hyprocrites.

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