IP: "You know that e-mail that you sent me? I know it was a pack of lies!"

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> From: "John F. McMullen" <johnmac () acm org>
>
> Interesting stuff
>
> >From the Financial Times:
> FRONT PAGE - COMPANIES & MARKETS: Virtual lies face foolproof software
> Financial Times; Jan 21, 2002
> By FIONA HARVEY
>
> Software that can detect when people are lying in their emails sounds a
> bit far-fetched, but its manufacturers declare it is true.
>
> SAS Institute, which makes fraud-detection systems for banks and phone
> companies, will today announce a product that can sift through emails
> and other electronic text to catch elusive nuances such as tone.
>
> "The patterns in people's language change when they are uncertain or
> lying," says Peter Dorrington, business solutions manager at SAS. "We
> can compare basic patterns in words and grammatical structures versus
> benchmarks to detect likely lies."
>
> People might not be intending to lie, he added, but might just be
> uncertain of what they were saying. The software could sift through an
> average-sized library of text in a few hours, he said.
>
> In his book Detecting Lies and Deceit, Professor Aldert Vrij described
> some verbal characteristics used to deceive. Over-use of adjectives and
> of the word "or" can be giveaways.
>
> Another software company, SER Solutions, claims it has used its software
> to prove that Shakespeare was indeed the author of one of his disputed
> plays, Henry VIII. SER uses neural network algorithms, which mimic the
> working of the human brain, to make connections between words.
>
> SAS says its software can also be used to sift through texts such as CVs
> and job applications to match applicants' qualifications with job
> vacancies. www.ft.com/infotech
>
> Copyright: The Financial Times Limited 1995-1998

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