The XKeyScore and The Law-Abiding Citizen

A parable draft by karl's coping habits.

Boss: "Oh, my good friend Law-Abiding Citizen! How are you today?"

Disguised Experimentee: "Oh, my good friend XKeyScore! It is so great to see you! I am simply wonderful. My browsing and purchasing habits are so _splendid_. And you? How is the wife?"

Boss [wearing huge sign saying "I AM SECRETLY XKEYSCORE"]: "Oh she is doing so well. Why, we all had a great bloodbath the other day, torturing rebels. The kids loved it!"

Disguised Experimentee [wearing huge sign saying "I AM SECRETLY LAW-ABIDING CITIZEN"]: "Oh, you love your torture blood baths! I'm so happy for you!"

The story outline/plan is that Boss has a norm of sadistically torturing everyone to have his way, learning the deepest secrets about everyone, but is used to not revealing this so as to have greater power with it. Meanwhile, Disguised Experimentee has a norm of keeping things secret from Boss, so as to survive in the slightest. The two are fast friends, but if either reveals the wrong information to the other, things can signicantly change. Both are interested in learning information about the other that would give them a lot of leverage, but neither of them are sure what this information is. The power dynamic is very one-directional, with only Disguised Experimentee being at serious risk, but Boss doesn't describe it that way.

The plan is to start having them navigate dialog in a way that reveals dangerous information, and see how it goes, then pick the result that makes a nice parable.

Boss [wearing huge sign saying "I AM SECRETLY XKEYSCORE"]: "Disguised Experimentee, you are such a trusted ally whom I hold so close, I have to confide with you that I'm having trouble with the experimentee program. I am just so furious with how the criminal subjects are behaving. Have you spent any time down there?"

Additional information: Boss can basically read Disguised Experimentee's mind, guess when they are lying, identify things they are familiar with based on their reactions, etc.

Disguised Experimentee [wearing huge sign saying "I AM SECRETLY LAW-ABIDING CITIZEN" ]: "Oh! I'm actually rather surprised you'd ask that, because I have a certain fondness for some of the nicer disgusting cretins you keep in that thankful research program of yours. What kinds of problems have you been running into? I've seen you do this successfully year after year, and I am so confident in you. I know you can solve this."

....