Permanent Record

By Edward Snowden


Ultimately, saying that you don’t care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different from saying you don’t care about freedom of speech because you have nothing to say. Or that you don’t care about freedom of the press because you don’t like to read. Or that you don’t care about freedom of religion because you don’t believe in God. Or that you don’t care about the freedom to peaceably assemble because you’re a lazy, antisocial agoraphobe.

Just because this or that freedom might not have meaning to you today, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t or won’t have meaning tomorrow, to you, or to your neighbour.

p.208-209