HAVE YOU EVER LIED TO THE AUTHORITIES?….Starting in July, passengers traveling to Russia will be required to take a lie detector test before entering the country. The device relies on voice stress analysis to figure out who’s lying and who’s not:
The machine asks four questions: The first is for full identity; the second, unnerving in its Soviet-style abruptness, demands: “Have you ever lied to the authorities?” It then asks whether either weapons or narcotics are being carried.
….Passengers who fail will be subjected to more rigorous interrogation both by the verifier, whose accuracy increases to 98 percent with more extensive questioning, and by its human colleagues.
I realize that Russia is now officially our warmest and dearest friend, but can I just say that this news does not increase my eagerness to visit the land of Darkness at Noon? The prospect of “more rigorous interrogation” doesn’t reassure my already jangled nerves, and 98% accuracy doesn’t seem like very good odds. What’s more, the article doesn’t say what happens if you fail. (Or what happens if you answer Yes to the question about lying to authorities.) I think I’ll pass on the Hermitage this year.
