#surveillance

For if we are observed in all matters, we are constantly under threat of correction, judgment, criticism, even plagiarism of our own uniqueness. We become children, fettered under watchful eyes, constantly fearful that — either now or in the uncertain future — patterns we leave behind will be brought back to implicate us, by whatever authority has now become focused upon our once-private and innocent acts. We lose our individuality, because everything we do is observable and recordable." [The Eternal Value of Privacy, May 18, 2006] ↗

— Bruce Schneier

#freedom #individuality #liberty #observation #privacy

I worked with the March of Dimes to enact legislation for a national birth defects prevention program to provide surveillance, research and preventive services aimed at reducing the rate of birth defects. ↗

— Solomon Ortiz

#birth #defects #enact #i #legislation

These thieves defend themselves by saying, 'I was there all the time, and the officials missed me.' Favorite excuses for missing surveillance checkpoints: jacket covered the number took off the shirt with the number hidden in a crowd. ↗

— Joe Henderson

#crowd #defend #excuses #favorite #hidden

Incidentally, our railroad facilities are under video surveillance by the federal police. However, the federal and state governments will have to determine whether video surveillance shouldn't be significantly expanded to a certain degree. ↗

— Otto Schily

#certain degree #degree #determine #expanded #facilities

Everybody calls everybody a spy, secretly, in Russia, and everybody is under surveillance. You never feel safe. ↗

— Agnes Smedley

#everybody #feel #never #russia #safe

I don't think there's much distinction between surveillance and media in general. Better media means better surveillance. Cams are everywhere. ↗

— Bruce Sterling

#between #distinction #everywhere #general #i

Also, with information having just come out at the time about J. Edgar Hoover's electronic surveillance of Dr. King, it gave greater weight to the statements of those persons who were alleging involvement of the FBI. ↗

— Louis Stokes

#alleging #also #come #dr #edgar

If we had failed to pursue the facts as far as they led, we would have denied the public any knowledge of an unprecedented scheme of political surveillance and sabotage. ↗

— Katharine Graham

#as far as #denied #facts #failed #far

We do not take away the powers of surveillance. We do not take away the right and the power of the government to go after those who would do us wrong. ↗

— Larry Craig

#away #go #government #power #powers

It is a fundamental principle of American democracy that laws should not be public only when it is convenient for government officials to make them public. They should be public all the time, open to review by adversarial courts, and subject to change by an accountable legislature guided by an informed public. If Americans are not able to learn how their government is interpreting and executing the law then we have effectively eliminated the most important bulwark of our democracy. That’s why, even at the height of the Cold War, when the argument for absolute secrecy was at its zenith, Congress chose to make US surveillance laws public. Without public laws, and public court rulings interpreting those laws, it is impossible to have informed public debate. And when the American people are in the dark, they can’t make fully informed decisions about who should represent them, or protest policies that they disagree with. These are fundamentals. It’s Civics 101. And secret law violates those basic principles. It has no place in America. ↗

— Ron Wyden

#law #national-security #secrets #surveillance #change