On Things and People That Lie

Internet of Things That Lie: the Future of Regulation Is Demonology

Cory Doctorow | October 2, 2015

Volkswagen's cars didn't have a fault in their diesel motors -- they were designed to lie to regulators, and that matters, because regulation is based on the idea that people lie, but things tell the truth.
The Internet of Things is a world of devices (buildings, legs, TVs, phones) that can be programmed to sense and respond to their environments. These are things that don't submit to scrutiny: they fight back. You know the old joke about a broken photocopier that works perfectly when the repair tech shows up? Xerox could build one of those and maximize service-call revenue.

The new Truth Machine app alerts you when a colleague, vendor or friend is lying to you. Analyzing both audio and video images from a face-to-face conversation or video chat, it identifies potential deceit. The app's founders claim that the app can detect 99% of all lies.I'm lying. Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/new-truth-machine-app-detects-lies-bruce-kasanoff 

<more at https://boingboing.net/2015/10/02/internet-of-things-that-lie-t.html; related links: http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/magazine/a-lie-detector-test-for-online-reviewers-09292011.html (A Lie Detector Test for Online Reviewers. September 29, 2011) and http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-you-lie-depends-on-where-you-re-from? (How You Lie Depends On Where You're From. June 25, 2015); further: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/groups-of-people-spot-lies-more-often-than-individuals-do/?WT.mc_id=SA_DD_20150824 (Groups of People Spot Lies More Often Than Individuals Do. Is Danny telling the truth? Talk it over with friends. August 18, 2015)>