Surveillance State Quotes

• Today we are at a crossroads. The technology is available for two great options: The massive surveillance state, or the renewed freedom of a deeply-involved citizenry thinking independently and holding the government to the highest standards.

  Oliver DeMille

  Technology, Thinking, Government

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• The surveillance state has run amok. Technology that's enabled us to send selfies 24/7 - not that valuable - has also enabled us to be spied upon us 24/7.

  Alexis Ohanian

  Running, Technology, Nsa

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• I think Martin Luther King would always keep track of collective insurgencies among poor and working people. He was concerned about the treatment of Jews in the Soviet Union, for example. He would have closely followed the Arab Spring. And certainly he would be very critical of the massive surveillance state that has emerged in America in the last five to 10 years. He would have approved of the movements trying to gain some accountability in U.S. foreign policy, such as drones being (used) on innocent people. I think he would march against drones.

  Cornel West

  Kings, Spring, Thinking

  Source: www.chicagotribune.com

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• The merging of the military-industrial complex, surveillance state and unbridled corporate power points to the need for strategies that address what is specific about the current warfare and surveillance state and the neoliberal project and how different interests, modes of power, social relations, public pedagogies and economic configurations come together to shape its politics.

  Henry Giroux

  Military, Together, Different

  Source: www.truth-out.org

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• The domestic NSA-led Surveillance State which Frank Church so stridently warned about has obviously come to fruition. The way to avoid its grip is simply to acquiesce to the nation's most powerful factions, to obediently remain within the permitted boundaries of political discourse and activism. Accepting that bargain enables one to maintain the delusion of freedom - "he who does not move does not notice his chains," observed Rosa Luxemburg - but the true measure of political liberty is whether one is free to make a different choice.

  Glenn Greenwald

  Powerful, Moving, Nsa

  "Surveillance State evils". www.salon.com. April 21, 2012.

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• The combination of the growth of these digital technologies, the ability of the government to conjure up these secret interpretations, plus a very unusual and novel court make for this ever-expanding surveillance state. We so treasure our freedoms; we will regret it if our generation doesn't use this unique time to reform the surveillance laws and make it clear that security and liberty are not mutually exclusive. We can do both.

  Ron Wyden

  Regret, Unique, Technology

  Source: www.motherjones.com

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• You have an always-expanding, omnipresent surveillance state that's constantly chipping away at the liberties and freedoms of law-abiding Americans.

  Ron Wyden

  Law, Liberty, Abiding

  Source: www.motherjones.com

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• The National Surveillance State doesn't want anyone to be able to communicate without the authorities being able to monitor that communication.

  Barry Eisler

  Communication, Want, Able

  "David Miranda and the Preclusion of Privacy" by Barry Eisler, www.huffingtonpost.com. August 24, 2013.

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• I came to the United States because I valued living as a free person, one who is able to advocate in a democratic society. Unfortunately, the U.S. has been turning into a less free society, a police and surveillance state, especially after 9/11.

  Sami Al-Arian

  Police, Able, United States

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• We all deserve credit for this new surveillance state that we live in because we the people voted for the Patriot Act. Democrats and Republicans alike....We voted for the people who voted for it, and then voted for the people who reauthorized it, then voted for the people who re-re-authorize d it.

  Stephen Colbert

  People, Credit, Republican

  "Stephen Colbert gives controversial security conference talk" By Heather Kelly, www.cnn.com. March 3, 2014.

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• Turn off your televisions. Ignore the Newt-Mitt-Rick- Barack reality show. It is as relevant to your life as the gossip on “Jersey Shore.” The real debate, the debate raised by the Occupy movement about inequality, corporate malfeasance, the destruction of the ecosystem, and the security and surveillance state, is the only debate that matters.

  Chris Hedges

  Real, Ecosystems, Gossip

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• Everyone everywhere now understands how bad things have gotten — and they’re talking about it. They have the power to decide for themselves whether they are willing to sacrifice their privacy to the surveillance state.

  Edward Snowden

  Sacrifice, Talking, Government Spying

  "Ex-CIA Worker Edward Snowden Says He Leaked Surveillance Data" by Anugrah Kumar, www.christianpost.com. June 10, 2013.

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