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 position was about $122,000. For a guy without a high school diploma, that's pretty good. Edward Snowden More Quotes by Edward Snowden More Quotes From Edward Snowden I took what I knew to the public, so what affects all of us can be discussed by all of us in the light of day, and I asked the world for justice. Edward Snowden nsa light justice I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things. Edward Snowden nsa doe want I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions, and that the return of this information to the public marks my end. Edward Snowden government-spying information suffering So many of the things we're told by the government simply aren't true. Edward Snowden government memorable I went to a website the other day and right at the top of the page it showed me my ip address. It was the most disturbing moment I have ever experienced. This website even told me what internet browser I was using, and what day it was. Computers can do anything. Edward Snowden addresses computer pages I carefully evaluated every single document I disclosed to ensure that each was legitimately in the public interest. There are all sorts of documents that would have made a big impact that I didn't turn over, because harming people isn't my goal. Transparency is. Edward Snowden nsa impact people 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 not only are we losing a significant measure of freedom in academic traditions and in our civil society, but we're actually making ourselves less competitive with every other country around the world that does not do that. Because that's where researchers are going to go and that's where academics are going to go. And ultimately, that's where breakthroughs are going to occur. Edward Snowden law country thinking 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? Edward Snowden nsa records ideas So when they say I'm a low-level systems administrator, that I don't know what I'm talking about, I'd say it's somewhat misleading. Edward Snowden levels lows talking I have been a systems engineer, systems administrator, a senior adviser for the Central Intelligence Agency, a solutions consultant and a telecommunications information systems officer. Edward Snowden senior agency information If we can't have an open and honest debate about the value of ideas in a university in Glasgow, or Boston, or anywhere else in the world, then where are they going to go? Edward Snowden boston world ideas I have had many opportunities to flee HK, but I would rather stay and fight the United States government in the courts, because I have faith in Hong Kong's rule of law. Edward Snowden government fighting opportunity Encryption works. Properly implemented strong crypto systems are one of the few things that you can rely on. Unfortunately, endpoint security is so terrifically weak that NSA can frequently find ways around it. Edward Snowden encryption nsa strong 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 Snowden running war country I'm ultimately satisfied that we know a little bit more about how the world really works. Edward Snowden satisfied littles world The public needs to know the kinds of things a government does in its name, or the 'consent of the governed' is meaningless... The consent of the governed is not consent if it is not informed. Edward Snowden nsa government names The only thing I fear is the harmful effects on my family, who I won't be able to help any more. That's what keeps me up at night. Edward Snowden government-spying able night I hope you have read the election programme of the Labour Party...this is not socialism. It is Bolshevism run mad. Edward Snowden mad party running If we don't do anything, if we go along with the status quo, we are going to have a mass surveillance world. Edward Snowden surveillance mass world When you are subverting the power of government, that's a fundamentally dangerous thing to democracy. Edward Snowden dangerous democracy government