Quote

There was a real choice when [Barack Obama] became president. It was a very difficult choice - to say, We're not going to hold senior officials to account with the same laws that every other citizen in the country is held to, or This is a nation that believes in the rule of law.

Edward Snowden

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Edward Snowden
Age: 41
Born: 1983
Born: June 21
Computer Scientist
Dissident
Intelligence Analyst
Intelligence Officer
Security Guard
System Administrator
Whistleblower
Elizabeth City
North Carolina
Edward Joseph Snowden
Ed Snowden
Difficult
Choice
Account
Country
Citizens
Believes
Real
Nation
Held
Going
Hold
Accounts
Every
Choices
Obama
Believe
Law
Rule
Senior
Nations
Laws
Citizen
President
Became
Officials

More quotes by Edward Snowden

Image
Citizens have to fight suppression of information on matters of vital public importance. To tell the truth is not a crime.
Edward Snowden
Image
It's much easier, I think, to protect communications while they're in transit at least, than it is to enforce legislation in every country in the world to say that you can't do this.
Edward Snowden
Image
I describe myself as an indoor cat, because I'm a computer guy and I always have been.
Edward Snowden
Image
I love my country. I love my family. And I have dedicated my life to both of them.
Edward Snowden
Image
The internet has to be protected from intrusive monitoring or else the medium upon which we all rely for the basis of our economy and our normal life, we'll lose that, and it's going to have broad effects as a consequence that we cannot predict.
Edward Snowden
Image
No one would argue that it's in the United States' interest to have independent knowledge of the plans and intentions of foreign countries. But we need to think about where to draw the line on these kind of operations so we're not always attacking our allies, the people we trust, the people we need to rely on, and to have them in turn rely on us.
Edward Snowden
Image
They [the authorities] will act aggressively against anyone who has known me. That keeps me up at night.
Edward Snowden
Image
The greatest fear that I have regarding the outcome for America of these disclosures is that nothing will change.
Edward Snowden
Image
The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything.
Edward Snowden
Image
The new iPhone encryption does not stop them from accessing copies of your pictures or whatever that are uploaded to, for example, Apple's cloud service, which are still legally accessible because those are not encrypted. It only protects what's physically on the phone.
Edward Snowden
Image
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
Image
Too often we forget that social and political movements don't happen overnight. They don't bring change immediately - you have to build a critical mass of understanding of the issues.
Edward Snowden
Image
When it comes to political engagement, I'm not a politician - I'm an engineer.
Edward Snowden
Image
We have these traditional political parties that are less and less responsive to the needs of ordinary people, so people are in search of their own values.
Edward Snowden
Image
Where are we going to reject that easy but flawed process of letting the intelligence services do whatever they want? It's inevitable that it will happen. I think it's going to be where Internet businesses go.
Edward Snowden
Image
When it is made to appear as though not knowing everything about everyone is an existential crisis, then you feel that bending the rules is okay. Once people hate you for bending those rules, breaking them becomes a matter of survival.
Edward Snowden
Image
The only way I could be extradited is through the principle of what my lawyers call politics trumps law.
Edward Snowden
Image
All I was was a mechanism.
Edward Snowden
Image
All I wanted was for the public to be able to have a say in how they are governed. That is a milestone we left a long time ago.
Edward Snowden
Image
How do we preserve our civil rights, our traditions as a liberal democracy, in a time when government power is expanding and is more and more difficult to check?
Edward Snowden