Social hacking.

Among the many provocative answers to this year's Edge question, "What Will Change Everything?" my favorite was Sam Harris' "True Lie Detection":

Deception commends itself, perhaps even above violence, as the principal enemy of human cooperation. Imagine how our world would change if, when the truth really mattered, it became impossible to lie. ... Reliable lie-detection will be much easier to achieve than accurate mind reading. ... We will almost surely be able to determine, to a moral certainty, whether a person is representing his thoughts, memories, and perceptions honestly in conversation. . .

The greatest transformation of our society will occur only once lie-detectors become both affordable and unobtrusive. . . . there may come a time when every courtroom or boardroom will have the requisite technology discretely concealed behind its wood paneling. Thereafter, civilized people would share a common presumption: that wherever important conversations are held, the truthfulness of all participants will be monitored. . .

Many people seem to find it relatively easy to find a state of mind where they can "honestly" saying whatever is in their interest to say, no matter what other beliefs their minds may hold. A world of cheap "lie" detectors would reward people with good self-deception abilities, and encourage others to train such abilities. Perhaps we could also develop self-deception detectors, but I expect a murky mess of an arms race to follow.

Precisely. Any system can be hacked. The courtroom and boardroom systems can be used and abused by those who control them, hijacked by clever invaders, and subverted by other technologies - mind shields? - to limit the predations of those in power.