Nothing but the Truth

A couple of months ago, a number of major news outlets got all fired up about a planned security measure at Moscow's Domodedovo International Airport. The source of their excitement? The GK1 voice analysis system, which Moscow expects to implement by July. The reports described the device as a lie detector, which the airport was quick to deny. Thankfully, IT has come along to set the record straight.

The airport is right in saying that the device (which poses questions on a screen that travelers answer out loud) is not technically a lie detector, as standard-issue polygraphs measure physiological phenomena like blood pressure and sweat production, not voice. (The "deception detection" community questions the validity of voice as a stress measurement tool.) Still, the lady doth appear to protest a little too much. After all, the avowed purpose of the device is to detect the "psychological and emotional state" of passengers to determine whether they are "about to commit a crime."

We're more worried about the questions the device asks. Just who are the authorities, and does not declaring your ponchiki at the border count as lying?

In other airport news, USA Today reports that a new device may soon eliminate shoe removal from security check rituals. GE's ShoeScanner (a platform travelers would stand on to be screened) works something like an MRI. Essentially, the scanner jostles shoes' molecules, determining their structure and thereby detecting smuggled explosive material. Or ponchiki.