Surveillance Society Quotes

#1. Orwell wasn't right about where society was in 1984. We haven't turned into that sort of surveillance society. But that may be, at least in small part, because of his book. The notion that ubiquitous surveillance and state manipulation of the media is evil is deeply engrained in us.

Ramez Naam

#2. You can dig through public records and other documents to find out if a certain person had an Aryan grandmother, but there's no way to tell if that grandmother's Eocene ancestor was a sinanthropus or a pithecanthropus.

Stanislaw Lem

#3. We've seen a departure from the traditional work of the National Security Agency. They've become sort of the national hacking agency, the national surveillance agency. And they've lost sight of the fact that everything they do is supposed to make us more secure as a nation and a society.

Edward Snowden

#4. There are no private lives. This a most important aspect of modern life. One of the biggest transformations we have seen in our society is the diminution of the sphere of the private. We must reasonably now all regard the fact that there are no secrets and nothing is private. Everything is public.

Philip K. Dick

#5. Under observation, we act less free, which means we effectively are less free.

Edward Snowden

#6. As a young woman, I wanted nothing more than to see my name in lights.

Barbra Streisand

#7. The notion of life implies a certain absoluteness of self-enjoyment

Tom Robbins

#8. ...the age of surveillance is only a symptom of the new hyper-narcissism that has infected our collective reality tunnels. We invite the surveillance cameras into our homes because they are proof that someone is paying attention to us.

Moxie Mezcal

#9. The Lord wants double edged artistry, praising God's name and setting things straight.

Calvin Seerveld

#10. 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

#11. My friend and coach reminded me this week that there is a moment when the acrobat lets go of one trapeze and is completely suspended in mid-air before she catches the incoming rung. You have to let go to get there.

Danielle LaPorte

#12. The paradigm of social media is one that Silicon Valley would like to extend to society at large: a technocracy of benevolent, but total, surveillance. In this kind of society, profits flow to platform owners, not those writing tweets and sharing YouTube videos.

Jacob Silverman

#13. Well, I don't find glamour and clothing relevant.

Tea Leoni

#14. Nobody in the government is talking. They say it's a case of national security.

Kenneth Eade

#15. Every day is a gift. Every thought is a lift. Every hour is a prize. Use it and be wise.

Debasish Mridha

#16. Renewable energy is proven technology, the price is dropping, the rest of the world is going that way, that's where our investment should be going as well.

Bob Brown

#17. There's been spying for years, there's been surveillance for years, and so forth, I'm not going to pass judgement on that, it's the nature of our society.

Eric Schmidt

#18. I'm not an expert in instruments, beat programming, or electronics. For some people it's all about doing it themselves. But for me, it's all about find the people that can help make my vision come true.

Matisyahu

#19. Society develops a type of self-censorship, with the knowledge that surveillance exists - a self-censorship that is even expressed when people communicate with each other privately.

Julian Assange

#20. We should not be comfortable or content in a society where the only way to remain free of surveillance and repression is if we make ourselves as unthreatning, passive, and compliant as possible.

Glenn Greenwald

#21. If men come among you who do NOT preach all the counsel of God, who do NOT preach of Christ, sin, holiness, of ruin, redemption, and regeneration, and do NOT preach of these things in a Scriptural way, you ought to cease to hear them.

J.C. Ryle

#22. Remember, if you don't have a goal you're not playing football, you're just kicking a ball around the park.

Geoff Thompson

#23. Our society is not one of spectacle but of surveillance.

Michel Foucault

#24. Give me a good clean death.

George R R Martin

#25. Reading has not only changed my life but saved it. the right picked at the right time - especially the one that scares us, threatens to undermine all we have been told, the one that contains forbidden thoughts - these are the books that become Eve's apples.

Terry Tempest Williams

#26. I definitely don't generalize and put everybody in the same cup of water.

Cole Hauser

#27. The way things are supposed to work is that we're supposed to know virtually everything about what they [the government] do: that's why they're called public servants. They're supposed to know virtually nothing about what we do: that's why we're called private individuals.

Glenn Greenwald

#28. What is the society we wish to protect? Is it the society of complete surveillance for the commonwealth? Is this the wealth we seek to have in common - optimal security at the cost of maximal surveillance?

Tom Stoppard

#29. There will come a time when it isn't 'They're spying on me through my phone' anymore. Eventually, it will be 'My phone is spying on me'.

Philip K. Dick