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Thinking Quotes by Edward Snowden

38 Thinking quotes by Edward Snowden

All Thinking quotes Edward Snowden’s page

Edward Snowden talks about encryption as a simple shield, not a mysterious art. He says putting an whole population under mass surveillance is hard to justify. He also worries that calling someone a whistleblower can push them aside and hide the real issue.

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I don't go out and play football and stuff - that's not me. I want to think, I want to build, I…

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

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I don't think I have committed a crime outside the domain of the US.

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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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As for labeling someone a whistleblower, I think it does them - it does all of us - a disservice, because it…

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We are all today being monitored in advance and in criminal suspicion. And I think that's terrifying, and deeply illiberal as concept.…

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A given order may at any given time fail to represent those values, even work against those values. I think that's the…

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There are times throughout history and it doesn't take long for either an American or a German, to think about times in…

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If I had to guess what the future's going to look like for me - assuming it's not an orange jumpsuit in…

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When we think in the context of the last decade's infringements upon personal liberty and the last year's revelations, it's not about…

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

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One of the kind of unexpectedly liberating things of becoming this global fugitive is the fact that you don't worry so much…

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I think the public still isn't aware of the frequency with which the cyber-attacks, as they're being called in the press, are…

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By creating a self-policing, self-reporting, sort of self-monitoring culture through law, through statute, and imposing that on the academic world, I think…

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If even one country, an Iceland for example, defects from this global legislative bargain and says no, we're not going to enforcement…

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I think that's actually what's missing from government, for the most part. We've got a lot of policy people, but we have…

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I wonder if it's conservative or liberal [ inalienable rights idea], because when we think of liberal thought, when we think about…

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I don't think it is the most important thing. I think it is the fact that the director of national intelligence gave…

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I'm not a politician, and I do not think I am as effective in this way as people who actually prepare for…

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The new iPhone has encryption that protects the contents of the phone. This means if someone steals your phone - if a…

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There have been so many individuals who have really put a lot on the line. That they've sacrificed so much to try…

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I think it's reasonable that the government, when it has a warrant from a court, when it's exposed to scrutiny by a…

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Cyber Command is supposed to be defending our critical infrastructure at home, but they are spending so much time looking at how…

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I think we're going to see a move away from that, because young people - digital natives who spend their life on…

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I don't think there's anything, any threat out there today that anyone can point to, that justifies placing an entire population under…

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Where are we going to reject that easy but flawed process of letting the intelligence services do whatever they want? It's inevitable…

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I don't think political reform is likely to succeed. [Senators Tom] Udall and [Ron] Wyden, on the intelligence committee, have been sounding…

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Do we want to emulate China in the way that China emulates the West? I think, for most Americans, the answer to…

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There's no question that the US is engaged in economic spying. If there's information at Siemens that they think would be beneficial…

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Russia recently passed a law - I think a terrible law - which says you have to store all of the data…

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I don't think it's going to be related to social or economic policies; it's going to be the fact that [Barack Obama]…

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If I am traitor, who did I betray? I gave all my information to the American public, to American journalists who are…

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I would say the first key concept is that, in terms of technological and communication progress in human history, the Internet is…

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When people conceptualize a cyber-attack, they do tend to think about parts of the critical infrastructure like power plants, water supplies, and…

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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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That's the key - to maintain the garden of liberty, right? This is a generational thing that we must all do continuously.…

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That's one of the biggest issues that we see in the question of governments right now, I think, in the Western world.…

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No one would argue that it's in the United States' interest to have independent knowledge of the plans and intentions of foreign…

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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…