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
They still have negligent auditing, they still have things going for a walk, and they have no idea where they're coming from, and they have no idea where they're going. And if that's the case, how can we, as the public, trust the NSA with all of our information, with all of our private records, the permanent record of our lives?
Interpretation
Trusting institutions with private information requires transparency and accountability.
Edward Snowden's quote highlights the lack of transparency and accountability in institutions like the NSA, which leads to a complete erosion of public trust. Without clarity on how data is managed and safeguarded, individuals rightfully question the safety and integrity of their personal information.
In practice
During a public speech on government surveillance.
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.
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.
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?
A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all.
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.
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.
I don't look at myself as a commodity, but I'm sure a lot of people have.
The sun, the moon and the stars would have disappeared long ago... had they happened to be within the reach of predatory human hands.
A few years ago, a priest working in a slum section of a European city was asked why he was doing it, and replied, 'So that the rumor of God may not completely disappear.
The anarch wages his own wars, even when marching in rank and file
In seasons of tumult and discord bad men have most power; mental and moral excellence require peace and quietness.
Anarchism does not repudiate the right of ownership, but it has a conception thereof sufficiently different from [others'] to include the possibility of an end of that social organization which will arise, not out of the ruins of government, but out of the transformation of government into voluntary association for defence.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.