Glenn Greenwald
Glenn Greenwald
Glenn Edward Greenwaldis an American lawyer, journalist, speaker and author. He is best known for his role in a series of reports in The Guardian newspaper on the classified information made public by whistleblower Edward Snowden, a series which won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. In February 2014 he became, along with Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill, one of the founding editors of The Intercept...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJournalist
Date of Birth6 March 1967
CountryUnited States of America
What state surveillance actually is is best understood by the NSA's own documents and own words, which I think as you know I happen to have a lot of.
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.
Edward Snowden: The Whistleblower Behind the NSA Surveillance Revelations
The domestic NSA-led Surveillance State which Frank Church so stridently warned about has obviously come to fruition. The way to avoid its grip is simply to acquiesce to the nation's most powerful factions, to obediently remain within the permitted boundaries of political discourse and activism. Accepting that bargain enables one to maintain the delusion of freedom - "he who does not move does not notice his chains," observed Rosa Luxemburg - but the true measure of political liberty is whether one is free to make a different choice.
History shows that the mere existence of a mass surveillance apparatus, regardless of how it is used, is in itself sufficient to stifle dissent. A citizenry that is aware of always being watched quickly becomes a compliant and fearful one.
The virtue of gay equality has become increasingly recognized in the U.S. because people have been persuaded of its merits, not because state officials, acting like Inquisitors, forced people to accept it by punishing them for their refusal.
The key question: will the NSA continue to monitor hundreds of millions of people without any suspicion? Under Obama's proposals: Yes.
To permit surveillance to take root on the Internet would mean subjecting virtually all forms of human interaction, planning, and even thought itself to comprehensive state examination.
They're called 'facts', and my role is to amplify those, not cheerlead. And I don't care at all what you think of my motives.
A key purpose of journalism is to provide an adversarial check on those who wield the greatest power by shining a light on what they do in the dark, and informing the public about those acts.
I personally think honestly disclosing rather than hiding ones subjective values makes for more honest and trustworthy journalism. But no journalism - from the most stylistically objective to the most brazenly opinionated - has any real value unless it is grounded in facts, evidence, and verifiable data.
The hallmark of an authoritarian idiot is yelling TERRORIST-LOVER! at anyone questioning the definition of Terrorist.
I know it's a really hard concept to process, but the fact that Govt accuses someone of being a Terrorist doesn't mean they are.
The single most remarkable (and revealing) fact of the Obama presidency may very well be the lack of a single prosecution of Wall Street executives for the massive fraud that precipitated the 2008 financial crisis.