Rebecca MacKinnon Quotes

In modern politics, even the leader of the free world needs help from the sultan of Facebookistan.

The Internet is an empowering force for people who are protesting against the abuse of power.

The only legitimate purpose of government is to serve citizens, and ... the only legitimate purpose of technology is to improve our lives, not to manipulate or enslave us.

Governance is a way of organizing, amplifying, and constraining power.

Each and every one of us has a vital part to play in building the kind of world in which government and technology serve the world's people and not the other way around.

We’re at a point in history that whether the Internet is going to evolve in a way that’s compatible with democracy and human rights is really kind of up in the air.

We have to start thinking of ourselves as citizens of the Internet, not just passive users. I don’t see how we can bring about change in our digital lives if we don’t take responsibility.

The Patriot Act, passed overwhelmingly but hastily after 9/11, allows the FBI to obtain telecommunication, financial, and credit records without a court order.

Shibuya is a trendy part of Tokyo where young people come to meet and have a good time.

I study how governments seek to stifle and control online dissent.

Increasingly, people have very little tolerance for anything that smacks of propaganda.

Microsoft, Yahoo and others are helping to institutionalize and legitimize the integration of censorship into the global IT business model.

As it turns out, American-made technology had helped Mubarak and his security state collect, compile, and parse vast amounts of data about everyday citizens.

To have a .cn domain, you have to be a registered business. You have to prove your site is legal.

Even in democratic society, we don't have good answers how to balance the need for security on one hand and the protection of free speech on the other in our digital networks.

Without global human rights, labor and environmental movements, companies would still be hiring 12-year-olds as a matter of course and poisoning our groundwater without batting an eyelid.

It took a generation for companies to recognise their responsibilities in terms of labour practices and another generation for them to recognise their environmental obligations.

We like to think of the Internet as a border-busting technology.

Each of us has a vital role to play in building a world in which the government and technology serve the world's people and not the other way around.

When Tim Berners-Lee invented the computer code that led to the creation of the World Wide Web in 1990, he did not try to patent or charge fees for the use of his technology.

Public trust in both government and corporations is low, and deservedly so.

Every year in China, Internet executives are officially rewarded for their 'patriotism.'

Over time, if you want rights, you have to also show that you can use them responsibly and that you can build a positive world in the online space, and that's also very important.

Whether or not Americans supported George W. Bush, they could not avoid learning about Abu Ghraib.

We must all rise to the challenge to demonstrate that security and prosperity in the Internet age are not only compatible with liberty, they ultimately depend on it.

There is respect for law, and then there is complicity in lawlessness.

There is clearly a constituency that appreciates the message that Google is sending, that it finds the Chinese government's attitude to the Internet and censorship unacceptable.