They asked me about my sex life. Luckily, I didn't really have a boyfriend at the time, so there wasn't much to say."" But by 1995 that changed. Sarah had a serious boyfriend by then and found herself subject to more frequent tests. The examiners seemed persistently curious about her personal life. "They kept asking me questions about how often my boyfriend and I had sex, what I was wearing at the time, where we did it, and other personal details,"". Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: "No one should be subject to arbitrary interference with their privacy, home, family or correspondence,"" but this is a law that is often violated. Another case officer for the C.I.A., "Mary"", faced the same problem. "I felt a degree of sexual harassment involved,"" she says when asked to comment on the nature of the polygraph tests she was given. "I got the idea that they got a kick out of asking me these questions,"". This is a serious problem with the C.I.A., and could easily become a problem with other companies, if they are given the liberty of giving polygraph tests to their employees at will. .
Another major reason why polygraph tests should not be given in the work place is the fact that often they are not accurate. Current experts in the field maintain that no machine can detect lying; there is only a form of interview employing a machine that can measure physiological reactions to those questions asked in the interview. This may or may not necessarily indicate deception. Despite the myth of an accurate "lie detector,"" the polygraph test has never been shown to reliably distinguish between truth and deception. In fact, when put to the test by scientist in field conditions, it has failed miserably. It cannot be relied upon to produce clear results because the mere realization of taking such a crucial test would naturally cause tension and nervousness, which could lead to false and misleading indications on the graph.