Government Spying Quotes

• Even if you're not doing anything wrong, you are being watched and recorded.

  Edward Snowden

  Ifs

  "Starting Point With Soledad O'brien" with Christine Romans, www.cnn.com. June 10, 2013.

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• If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever.

  George Orwell

  Time, Freedom, Future

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• 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

  Government, People, Granted

  "Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations". www.theguardian.com. June 11, 2013.

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• You can't come up against the world's most powerful intelligence agencies and not accept the risk.

  Edward Snowden

  Powerful, Agency, Nsa

  "Edward Snowden, NSA files source: 'If they want to get you, in time they will'". Interview with Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill, www.theguardian.com. June 10, 2013.

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• If I wanted to see your emails or your wife's phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your emails, passwords, phone records, credit cards.

  Edward Snowden

  Phones, Nsa, Wife

  "Edward Snowden, NSA files source: 'If they want to get you, in time they will'". Interview with Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill, www.theguardian.com. June 10, 2013.

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• I don't want to live in a world where there's no privacy, and therefore no room for intellectual exploration and creativity.

  Edward Snowden

  Creativity, Intellectual, Important

  "NSA leaker comes forward, warns of agency's 'existential threat'" by Matt Smith, www.cnn.com. June 9, 2013.

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• I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong.

  Edward Snowden

  Who I Am, Done, Hiding

  "Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations". Article by Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill and Laura Poitras, www.theguardian.com. June 11, 2013.

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• The greatest fear that I have regarding the outcome for America of these disclosures is that nothing will change.

  Edward Snowden

  Greatest Fear, Nsa, America

  "Edward Snowden hailed as hero, accused of treason - as it happened". www.theguardian.com. June 10, 2013.

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• 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

  Fall, Decision, Use

  "The Guardian's Entire Interview With the Man Who Leaked PRISM". Interview with Glenn Greenwald, mic.com. June 9, 2013.

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• The great fear that I have regarding the outcome for America of these disclosures is that nothing will change. [People] won't be willing to take the risks necessary to stand up and fight to change things And in the months ahead, the years ahead, it's only going to get worse. [The NSA will] say that because of the crisis, the dangers that we face in the world, some new and unpredicted threat, we need more authority, we need more power, and there will be nothing the people can do at that point to oppose it. And it will be turnkey tyranny.

  Edward Snowden

  Fighting, Years, Nsa

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• Allowing the U.S. government to intimidate its people with threats of retaliation for revealing wrongdoing is contrary to the public interest.

  Edward Snowden

  Government, People, Intimidating

  "NSA whistleblower whereabouts reportedly unknown as authorities consider charges", www.foxnews.com. June 11, 2013.

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• They are intent on making every conversation and every form of behaviour in the world known to them.

  Edward Snowden

  World, Behavior, Form

  "Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations" by Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill and Laura Poitras, www.theguardian.com. June 11, 2013.

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• I do not expect to see home again.

  Edward Snowden

  Home

  "Edward Snowden, NSA files source: 'If they want to get you, in time they will'". Interview with Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill, www.theguardian.com. June 10, 2013.

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• 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

  Suffering, Information, Return

  "Snowden made cautious approach to Post reporter, said he knew the risk he's taking", www.foxnews.com. June 9, 2013.

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• 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

  Night, Able, Helping

  "Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations" by lenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill and Laura Poitras, www.theguardian.com. June 11, 2013.

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• We have got a CIA station just up the road – the consulate here in Hong Kong – and I am sure they are going to be busy for the next week. And that is a concern I will live with for the rest of my life, however long that happens to be.

  Edward Snowden

  Next Week, Long, Hong Kong

  "Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations". Interview with Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill, www.theguardian.com. June 11, 2013.

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• I know the media likes to personalize political debates, and I know the government will demonize me.

  Edward Snowden

  Government, Media, Political

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• I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under.

  Edward Snowden

  Nsa, Support, World

  "Edward Snowden, NSA files source: 'If they want to get you, in time they will'". Interview with Ewen MacAskill, www.theguardian.com. June 10, 2013.

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• I believe that when [senator Ron] Wyden and [senator Mark] Udall asked about the scale of this, they [the NSA] said it did not have the tools to provide an answer. We do have the tools and I have maps showing where people have been scrutinised most. We collect more digital communications from America than we do from the Russians.

  Edward Snowden

  Believe, Communication, Nsa

  "Edward Snowden, NSA files source: 'If they want to get you, in time they will'". Interview with Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill, June 10, 2013.

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• To do that they, the NSA specifically, targets the communications of everyone. It ingests them by default. It collects them in its system and it filters them and it analyses them and it measures them and it stores them for periods of time simply because that's the easiest, most efficient, and most valuable way to achieve these ends. So while they may be intending to target someone associated with a foreign government or someone they suspect of terrorism, they're collecting you're communications to do so.

  Edward Snowden

  Communication, Government, Nsa

  "• Edward Snowden Interview Transcript FULL TEXT: Read the Guardian's Entire Interview With the Man Who Leaked PRISM" by Gabriel Rodriguez, mic.com. June 10, 2013.

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• I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant.

  Edward Snowden

  Law, Secret, Executive Power

  "NSA whistleblower whereabouts reportedly unknown as authorities consider charges", www.foxnews.com. June 11, 2013.

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• The majority of people in developed countries spend at least some time interacting with the Internet, and Governments are abusing that necessity in secret to extend their powers beyond what is necessary and appropriate.

  Edward Snowden

  Country, Government, People

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• 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

  Believe, Way, Danger

  "Code name ‘Verax’: Snowden, in exchanges with Post reporter, made clear he knew risks". Interview with Barton Gellman, www.washingtonpost.com. June 10, 2013.

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• I can't in good conscience allow the U.S. government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building.

  Edward Snowden

  Government, Nsa, People

  "Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations". Article by Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill and Laura Poitras, www.theguardian.com. June 11, 2013.

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• 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
  gotten very rich.

  Edward Snowden

  Country, Numbers, Important

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