THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE; SOFTWARE PROGRAM CLAIMS TO DETECT LIES. BUT CAN IT REALLY?

Byline: Ben Sullivan Daily News Staff Writer

Plenty of folks would like to strap President Clinton into a lie detector and test his veracity. But how about putting a spouse, friend or co-worker through the same procedure?

Valencia Entertainment, a company best known for providing sound stages to action-adventure television series, is marketing a software package it claims can, with 85 percent accuracy, tell if a person is lying. The $179 program is based on algorithms the company says were developed for the Israeli military to identify would-be terrorists at security checkpoints.

``This is not a toy or a game; it's an investigative tool,'' said Dean Mauro, VE's president for new media. ``Still, it's incredibly user-friendly. You can use it any time you need some extra confidence in making a decision.''

Mauro would not say how much VE paid for the North American rights to Truster, which it licenses from an Israeli software house. But between licensing fees and marketing expenses, the firm has so far spent about $2 million on the program, he said.

Electronics distributors say if the company can sell 60,000 copies of Truster, it should be considered a financial success. But VE officials have bigger plans. ``I'd like to see 500,000 units sold,'' Mauro said. ``I don't think that's out of the question.''

The prospect of Truster or similar programs installed on thousands of home and business PCs, however, worries traditional polygraph specialists. They argue that even if the technology is sound - which many of them question - untrained individuals convinced they can divine another's honesty is a recipe for disaster.

``If it were being marketed as a novelty, that would be one thing,'' said Frank Horvath, a criminology professor at Michigan State University's School of Criminal Justice. ``But people will use this for making real-life serious decisions, believing it really works.''

Truster's developers insist it does work - by analyzing the stress in a person's voice.

The software's assumption is that the human voice involuntarily changes frequency when a speaker is under the sort of stress associated with lying. Though the changes are inaudible to the average listener, Truster can pick out and interpret the fluctuations, its developers say. And because they've made the program a sort of polygraph for dummies, there is no need for extensive training, they say.

After installing Truster on a PC and plugging a telephone into the computer's microphone jack, a user is ready to begin quizzing those on the other end of the phone line. One could, for example, try to find out if a used car salesman is playing fair. After phoning the dealer and engaging the person in a relaxed conversation - during which Truster generates a base line profile of the dealer's voice - the user can go for the jugular.

``A lot of text and dialogue (salespeople) throw at you means nothing'' and will therefore generate little response from Truster, Mauro said.

``So do something to get it personal. I'd be very specific. For this particular dealer you're working with, say, `Are you telling me, here on the phone right now, that this is absolutely the best possible price?' ''

Unless the person is a pathological liar, Mauro said, the voice should betray some extra stress or excitement when lying.

As a user poses questions to its subject, Truster returns one of eight interpretations: truth, false statement, inaccuracy, subject is not sure, excitement, high excitement, outsmart and avoidance.

What concerns polygraph specialists is whether Truster's makers are, well, telling the truth about its abilities.

``Computer voice stress analyzers attempt to report voice stress modulation. And simply put, the statistics clearly suggest they lack reliability,'' said Joseph Buckley, president of John E. Reid and Associates Inc., a Chicago-based firm that specializes in investigative interviewing and interrogation techniques.

Even VE's own tests seem inconclusive. An analysis of Clinton's statements on the Monica Lewinsky affair found the president to be highly excited but truthful when he denied sexual relations with the intern, the company said before Monday's televised confessional.

``You have to understand, (Truster's) response was based on what Clinton determines a sexual relationship is,'' Mauro said. ``He probably didn't have one in his own mind.''

A follow-up test on Clinton's confession found the president to be highly stressed throughout but mostly honest, Mauro said. Truster raised a red flag at Clinton's statement that the Whitewater issue was behind him, and it said the president was unsure on the assertion that setting things straight with his family and God was his top priority.

While traditional polygraph tests record and analyze a variety of vital signs, including pulse, respiration and blood pressure, Truster relies on a single signal. And its critics say that makes it an inherently less reliable source of data.

``There's some evidence to suggest there may be something in vocal signals that could be extracted that's useful, but there's no evidence Truster or any other program has any value or is able to do this,'' Horvath said.

But that doesn't mean Truster won't be a hit with consumers, he said.

``I actually think people are going to gobble it up,'' Horvath said. ``People want to believe.''

Should Truster flourish, legal experts say its use will almost certainly be challenged in court. While Mauro said it is legal to test a person without the person's knowledge as long as the conversation is not recorded, others contend that state and federal statutes protect against the use of polygraph tests in many circumstances. And because Truster claims to fill the same basic function as a polygraph, the laws would likely cover its use as well.

In California, state law also guarantees residents' privacy, said Catherine Fisk, an associate professor of law at Loyola Marymount University. ``Arguably, conducting some kind of honesty test through a voice stress analyzer without telling the person might violate that privacy,'' she said.

For now, VE is targeting the business sector. Mauro said the company has gotten calls from insurance agencies, credit card companies, lawyers and job placement firms wanting to buy copies. Two distribution firms VE has hired to get the software onto store shelves say they have deals pending with retailers including Office Max, Office Depot and Fry's Electronics.

Officials at Office Max confirmed the chain is in preliminary talks with VE about carrying Truster. Office Depot did not return telephone calls to confirm the chain's interest, and a Fry's official declined to comment.

VE is also in the process of trying to develop a television series based on the Truster technology, Mauro said - maybe a game show or reality-based drama.

And ultimately the home user remains the largest market of all.

``It's wide open,'' Mauro said. ``This is not a male or female product. A computer lie detection system can work in anybody's life.''

CAPTION(S):

48 Photos

PHOTO (1-47--Some color) no caption (Montage of various celebrities and public figures)

(48) Dean Mauro, president of new media for Valencia Entertainment, demonstrates Truster on a PC.

Tom Mendoza/Daily News