It's important that we elevate and primarily focus on the rights of American citizens, but it's also important that we don't forget, 95 percent of the world's population lives beyond our own borders.
Edward SnowdenRead
If an NSA, FBI, CIA, DIA, etc analyst has access to query raw SIGINT databases, they can enter and get results for anything they want. Phone number, email, user id, cell phone handset id (IMEI), and so on - it's all the same.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the extensive access analysts have to personal data through advanced surveillance technologies.
Edward Snowden's quote addresses the alarming reality of surveillance by intelligence agencies, emphasizing how analysts have the capability to access vast arrays of personal information, including phone numbers and email addresses, through raw Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) databases. This raises significant concerns about privacy and the potential misuse of such power, as it underscores a system where personal information is easily retrievable, leading to questions about the balance between national security and individual rights.
Themes
SurveillancePrivacyTechnologyIntelligenceData Access
In practice
Example use cases
During a debate on privacy rights, this quote could be used to illustrate the extent of surveillance.
More from Edward Snowden
All quotes →I think the most important idea is to remember that there have been times throughout American history where what is right is not the same as what is legal.
Edward SnowdenRead
Congress hasn't declared war on the countries - the majority of them are our allies - but without asking for public permission, NSA is running network operations against them that affect millions of innocent people. And for what? So we can have secret access to a computer in a country we're not even fighting?
Edward SnowdenRead
A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all.
Edward SnowdenRead
Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give an American, and the more panicked talk we hear from people like him... the better off we all are.
Edward SnowdenRead
I don't see myself as a hero because what I'm doing is self-interested: I don't want to live in a world where there's no privacy and therefore no room for intellectual exploration and creativity.
Edward SnowdenRead
Similar quotes
Computers bootstrap their own offspring, grow so wise and incomprehensible that their communiqués assume the hallmarks of dementia: unfocused and irrelevant to the barely-intelligent creatures left behind. And when your surpassing creations find the answers you asked for, you can't understand their analysis and you can't verify their answers. You have to take their word on faith.
Peter WattsRead
Most of 'big data' is a fraud because it is really 'dumb data.'
Peter ThielRead
The Internet in the 21st Century is as important to our future as highways were in the 20th Century. Like a highway, the Internet must remain free and open for all - not determined by the highest bidders.
Chuck SchumerRead
Ere many generations pass, our machinery will be driven by a power obtainable at any point of the universe.
Nikola TeslaRead
If a major source of the nation's news is personalizing user experiences, people with different points of view will end up in echo chambers of their own design. Facebook didn't create that problem, but it shouldn't aggravate it.
Cass SunsteinRead
Human language is the new UI layer, bots are like new applications, and digital assistants are meta apps. Intelligence is infused into all of your interactions.
Satya NadellaRead