Schneier on Security

Clive Robinson • June 16, 2026 10:06 AM

@ Bruce, ALL,

And we know from recent history it won’t just be civilian police.

Because being “Guard Labour” attracts a certain personality type.

It gives the “swagger” and “might is right” thinking and surprisingly the “authoritarian follower” heel clicking behaviour / out look. Which basically means they think in terms that are shall we say socially unacceptable and almost always problematical as and when they take the lead in some activity.

They tend to see surveillance as a force multiplier “tool” and usually all tools as “hammers”… Which all to often means they see everybody who is not on their side/team as “nails to be driven down”.

In short they can not see the harm or wrongness of their actions…

All such “stalkers” or worse, on being caught should be harshly punished, not just “re-employed else where” to become somebody elses nightmare / problem.

Clive Robinson • June 17, 2026 4:33 AM

@ Mexaly, ALL,

With regards,

“Absolutely nobody saw this coming.”

Sarcasm or not, the answer is that,

“Thousands of years of human history showed this happening over and over.”

So much so, that it was sufficient to characterise with simple English language stayments like,

“When the cat is away the mice will play.”

Even the bible had similar about masters and servants. In various forms.

Which oft resulted in more keen observers supplying “testable reason” to such systems.

Which resulted in such observations that,

“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

And thus, the Upton Sinclair observation of,

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

Which indicates what some refer to as

“The way the system works”

From which it can be concluded that it is an,

“Inbuilt characteristic of all such systems in general.”

Which at one point gave rise to the question 1st Century (AD 55-128) Roman poet Juvenal asking in his “Satires” work,

“Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?”

Which broadly translates to,

“Who watches the watchmen?”

And the alleged behaviour of Admiral Horatio Nelson on the 2nd of April 1801 during the “Battle of Copenhagen”

https://jonathangifford.com/april-2nd-1801-i-see-no-ships-horatio-nelson-turns-a-blind-eye-at-the-battle-of-copenhagen/

Giving rise to two sayings,

“To turn a blind eye.” and incorrectly “I see no ships”.

It can be seen that all men when given the chance will do as they desire / please and “throw caution to the wind” irrespective of position.

Thus,

“The difference between hero and villain, is the way the dice roll.”

On their objective be it good or bad as seen by a later observer / judge.

The key to “good or bad” is often the “self interest of the actor as seen by the observer / judge” not as it more often should be “the harms caused”. Hence,

“Their motives were pure and that absolves all…”

Which tells us why such systems are wrong thus fail and such aberrant behaviours always come through when “oversight” is not practiced correctly…

The failure of “oversight” is almost always due to “political convenience”.

So “Rape, Pillage, and Plunder” can and oft has been seen as “a necessary reward of conquest” for as long as we’ve written records for.

So remember “might is right” and “justifies all sins” in the eyes of those who are “authoritarian leaders” and they attract “authoritarian followers” who “enjoy the spoils of war”.

The Canadian researcher and professor of psychology at the University of Manitoba Bob Altemeyer wrote a book not on “authoritarians” but their “foot soldiers” of “Authoritarian followers” in the past I’ve recommended it to people on this blog several times,

You can read about his works at,

https://theauthoritarians.org/

The one many will find most shocking in it’s outcomes is,

http://theauthoritarians.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/What-Happens-When-Authoritarians-Inherit-the-Earth-A-Simulation.pdf

The short answer is,

“Two runs of a futuristic simulation involving introductory psychology students were held on successive nights. On one night, “Earth” was populated entirely by right-wing authoritarian followers; on the second night, a small number of dominating authoritarians were included among a second group of authoritarian followers. With a few notable exceptions (e.g., nuclear war did not break out), the future evolved as anticipated on the two evenings. In general, authoritarians produced dismal futures, beset by unemployment, famine, and disease”

Oh and before people ask as they have done in the past,

I believe in humanity not the con job of “Divine Right” that turns “Might is Right” stupidity into “The king Game”.