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 SnowdenThe big tech companies understood that the government had not only damaged American principles, it had hurt their businesses.
Edward SnowdenOn the other hand, the Internet is there to fill needs that people have for information and socialization. We get this sort of identification thing going on nowadays because it's a very fractious time. We live in a time of troubles.
Edward SnowdenAny analyst at any time can target anyone. Any selector, anywhere I, sitting at my desk, certainly had the authorities to wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant, to a federal judge, to even the President
Edward SnowdenYou have to remember the way the internet works, when you communicate with the server, it's very likely not in your country. It's somewhere else in the world.
Edward Snowden