The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. Edward Snowden More Quotes by Edward Snowden More Quotes From Edward Snowden While the US Constitution marks these programs as illegal, my government argues that secret court rulings, which the world is not permitted to see, somehow legitimize an illegal affair. These rulings simply corrupt the most basic notion of justice - that it must be seen to be done. The immoral cannot be made moral through the use of secret law. Edward Snowden nsa government law The problem is when [the state] monitor all of us, en masse, all of the time, without any specific justification for intercepting in the first place, without any specific judicial showing that there's a probable cause for that infringement of our rights. Edward Snowden causes rights firsts Our rights are not granted by governments. They are inherent to our nature. But it's entirely the opposite for governments: their privileges are precisely equal to only those which we suffer them to enjoy. Edward Snowden government rights opposites What we're really debating is not security versus liberty, it's security versus surveillance. When we talk about electronic interception, the way that surveillance works is it preys on the weakness of protections that are being applied to all of our communications. The manner in which they're protected. Edward Snowden weakness liberty communication We are no longer citizens, we no longer have leaders. We're subjects, and we have rulers. Edward Snowden subjects citizens leader Since the revelations, we have seen a massive sea change in the technological basis and makeup of the Internet. Edward Snowden makeup internet sea We have to be able to ask questions in order to answer them. Edward Snowden able answers order There are more important things than money. If I were motivated by money, I could have sold these documents to any number of countries and Edward Snowden important numbers country Initially I was very encouraged. Unfortunately, the mainstream media now seems far more interested in what I said when I was 17 or what my girlfriend looks like rather than, say, the largest program of suspicionless surveillance in human history. Edward Snowden girlfriend media looks The big tech companies understood that the government had not only damaged American principles, it had hurt their businesses. Edward Snowden government principles hurt A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all. They'll never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves an unrecorded, unanalysed thought. And that's a problem because privacy matters, privacy is what allows us to determine who we are and who we want to be. Edward Snowden growing-up mean children The government has granted itself power it is not entitled to. There is no public oversight. The result is people like myself have the latitude to go further than they are allowed to. Edward Snowden granted government people You simply have to eventually fall under suspicion from somebody even by a wrong call. And then they can use this system to go back in time and scrutinize every decision you've ever made, every friend you've ever discussed something with. And attack you on that basis to sort to derive suspicion from an innocent life and paint anyone in the context of a wrongdoer. Edward Snowden government-spying decision fall I've been a spy for almost all of my adult life - I don't like being in the spotlight. Edward Snowden spotlight spy adults I’m neither traitor nor hero. I’m an American. Edward Snowden nsa traitor hero There can be no faith in government if our highest offices are excused from scrutiny - they should be setting the example of transparency. Edward Snowden nsa government office For me, in terms of personal satisfaction, the mission's already accomplished. I already won. As soon as the journalists were able to work, everything that I had been trying to do was validated. Because, remember, I didn't want to change society. I wanted to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself. Edward Snowden want trying giving At the trial of Chelsea Manning, the government could point to no case of specific damage that had been caused by the massive revelation of classified information. The charges are a reaction to the government's embarrassment more than genuine concern about these activities, or they would substantiate what harms were done. Edward Snowden genuine-concern information government That's the key - to maintain the garden of liberty, right? This is a generational thing that we must all do continuously. We only have the rights that we protect. It doesn't matter what we say or think we have. It's not enough to believe in something; it matters what we actually defend. Edward Snowden garden believe thinking I believe that at this point in history, the greatest danger to our freedom and way of life comes from the reasonable fear of omniscient State powers kept in check by nothing more than policy documents. Edward Snowden government-spying believe way
