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People Quotes by Edward Snowden

87 People quotes by Edward Snowden

All People quotes Edward Snowden’s page

Edward Snowden says he cares more about his country than about his own situation. He calls the expansion of the ‘state secrets’ privilege a harmful legacy of a past administration. He notes that the NSA admitted it didn’t have the tools to answer questions about its own scale.

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As for my personal politics, some people seem to think I'm some kind of archlibertarian, a hyper-conservative.

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My intention is to ask the courts and people of Hong Kong to decide my fate.

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Hong Kong has a reputation for freedom in spite of the People's Republic of China. It has a strong tradition of free…

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We can't simply scare people into giving up their rights, on the basis, oh, this protects us from terrorism.

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Being confronted with the realization that work you intended to benefit people is being used against them has a radicalizing effect.

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We watch our own people more closely than anyone else in the world.

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I have used mass surveillance to target people, so I do know how it works.

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When people talk about Web 2.0, they mean that when the Internet, the World Wide Web, first became popular, it was one…

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The majority of people in developed countries spend at least some time interacting with the Internet, and Governments are abusing that necessity…

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We have these traditional political parties that are less and less responsive to the needs of ordinary people, so people are in…

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Allowing the U.S. government to intimidate its people with threats of retaliation for revealing wrongdoing is contrary to the public interest.

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People would publish their websites; other people would read them. But there was no real back and forth other than through e-mail.…

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For people who aren't familiar with my background, I didn't graduate high school. My career high salary was about $200,000. My last…

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The people at the NSA aren't trying to ruin your life. They're not trying to put you in authoritarian dystopia. These are…

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When it is made to appear as though not knowing everything about everyone is an existential crisis, then you feel that bending…

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The government has granted itself power it is not entitled to. There is no public oversight. The result is people like myself…

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When governments go too far to punish people for actions that are dissent rather than a real threat to the nation, they…

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People sometimes say I broke an oath of secrecy - one of the early charges leveled against me. But it's a fundamental…

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From the very beginning, I said there are two tracks of reform: there's the political and the technical. I don't believe the…

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Maybe boutique media, maybe people who are reading papers and talking to academics and whatnot, maybe they understand, because they're high-information. But…

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All those people who went out [to Occupy Wall Street] missed work, didn't get paid. Those were individuals who were already feeling…

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When Laura Poitras asked me if she could film our encounters, I was extremely reluctant. I'm grateful that I allowed her to…

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When you think about the abolition of slavery for example, for the ruling class with the rich white people owning plantations and…

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An investigation found the specific people who authorized the warrantless wiretapping of millions and millions of communications, which per count would have…

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Using the language of heroism, calling Daniel Ellsberg a hero, and calling the other people who made great sacrifices heroes - even…

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The great fear that I have regarding the outcome for America of these disclosures is that nothing will change. [People] won't be…

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The reality is if we sit back and allow a few officials behind closed doors to launch offensive attacks without any oversight…

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A different [Ronald] Reagan-era authority: EO 12333, an executive order for foreign-intelligence collection, as opposed to the ones we now use domestically.…

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When we have some horrible terrorist attacks happen in some country we see in the recording that follows, that the intelligence community…

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People at civil-liberties organizations say it's a sea change, and that it's very clear judges have begun to question more critically assertions…

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When people say, "I have nothing to hide," what they're saying is, "My rights don't matter."

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People say that [i'm a celebrity], but I've only had to sign autographs for "civ-libs" types. And I autograph court orders.

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We do not live in a revolutionary time. People are not prepared to contest power.

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I wanted to fight in the Iraq war because I felt like I had an obligation as a human being to help…

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A lot of people in 2008 voted for Obama. I did not vote for him. I voted for a third party. But…

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As inequality grows, the basic bonds of social fraternity are fraying - as we discussed in regard to Occupy Wall Street. As…

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Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give an American, and the more panicked talk we…

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Radicals are not going to disappear. They're going to go underground. They're going to be hardened. And they're not going to be…

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I can't in good conscience allow the U.S. government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world…

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People do not like being lied to, and they do not like having their rights violated. So as soon as [officials] stop…

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More by Edward Snowden

It is afraid of an informed, angry public demanding the constitutional government it was promised - and it should be.

Much of what I saw in Geneva really disillusioned me about how my government functions and what its impact is in the world. I…

If it comes to a question of law, the charges they brought against me - the Espionage Act - is called the quintessential political…

The NSA and Israel wrote Stuxnet together.

As a general rule, so long as you have any choice at all, you should never route through or peer with the UK under…

[Brazil] went to the UN and said, "We need new standards for this." We need to take a look at what they're calling "data…

You are also asked to take an oath, and that's the oath of service. The oath of service is not to secrecy, but to…

We need to think about encryption not as this sort of arcane, black art. It's a basic protection.

A lot of people in 2008 voted for Obama. I did not vote for him. I voted for a third party. But I believed…

Too often we forget that social and political movements don't happen overnight. They don't bring change immediately - you have to build a critical…

There was a real choice when [Barack Obama] became president. It was a very difficult choice - to say, "We're not going to hold…

We've learned that we've allowed technological capabilities to dictate policies and practices, rather than ensuring that our laws and values guide our technological capabilities.

It's much easier, I think, to protect communications while they're in transit at least, than it is to enforce legislation in every country in…

If an adversary didn't target our power plants but they did target the core routers, the backbones that tie our internet connections together, entire…

I care more about the country than what happens to me. But we can't allow the law to become a political weapon or agree…