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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.

Suspicionless surveillance does not become okay simply because it's only victimizing 95% of the world instead of 100%.

The surveillance of ordinary people is far greater than I would have imagined and far greater than the American public has been able to debate.

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?

There's still a lot of things you can legitimately do to make America safe through electronic surveillance.

Laws and regulations are supposed to restrict the kind of surveillance governments do. In fact, the U.S. government is quite restricted in what kind of surveillance they can do on U.S. citizens. The problem is that 96 percent of the planet is not U.S. citizens.

Surveillance changes history. We know this through examples of corrupt presidents like Nixon.

If surveillance infiltrates our homes and personal relationships, that is a gross breach of our human and civil rights.

The NSA has the greatest surveillance capabilities in American history... The real problem is that they're using these capabilities to make us vulnerable.

I am disturbed by how states abuse laws on Internet access. I am concerned that surveillance programmes are becoming too aggressive. I understand that national security and criminal activity may justify some exceptional and narrowly-tailored use of surveillance. But that is all the more reason to safeguard human rights and fundamental freedoms.