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Laura Poitras Biography

Laura Poitras (/ˈpɔɪtrəs/; born February 2, 1964) is an American director and producer of documentary films. She lives in New York City.

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Laura Poitras Quotes

Certainly, when it comes to my profession as a journalist, that allows the government to trace what you're reporting, who you're talking to, and where you've been. So no matter whether or not I have a commitment to protect my sources, the government may still have information that might allow them to identify whom I'm talking to.

Commitment, Government, Matter, Reporting, Talking

We don't stand here alone, it's possible through the great organisations that support us. The disclosures that Edward Snowden revealed aren't only a threat to privacy but to democracy, when the most important decisions made affect all of us. Thank you to Edward Snowden. I share this with Glenn Greenwald and other journalists who are exposing truth.

Affect, Decision, Democracy, Stand, Support, Thank

We've already seen shifts happening in some of the big companies - Google, Apple - that now understand how vulnerable their customer data is, and that if it's vulnerable, then their business is, too, and so you see a beefing up of encryption technologies. At the same time, no programs have been dismantled at the governmental level, despite international pressure.

Apples, Data, Google, Governmental, See, Technology

Snowden has presented us with choices on how we want to move forward into the future. We're at a crossroads and we still don't quite know which path we're going to take. Without Snowden, just about everyone would still be in the dark about the amount of information the government is collecting. I think that Snowden has changed consciousness about the dangers of surveillance.

Dark, Future, Moving, Quite, Thinking

There are people who are always going to try to engage in activity that is illegal and they're going to try to subvert surveillance. But everybody should not give up their liberties and rights to privacy because some people are going to [do that]. We shouldn't stop or limit our basic liberties because some people are going to engage in criminal activities.

Engage, Giving Up, People, Rights, Stop

The free software community should be supported more widely. I’m totally in solidarity with what they do.

Community, Should, Solidarity, Supported, Totally, Widely

One of the things that I think is true is that encryption actually is able to secure our communications, that every individual can use encryption, and that it's accessible and in many cases free.

Communication, Communications, Encryption, Things, Thinking, True

In all my work, I'm interested in understanding big issues through the lives of individuals.

Issues, Understanding, Individual, Big, Lives

I think one of the most shocking things is how little our elected officials knew about what the NSA was doing. Congress is learning from the reporting and that's staggering. Snowden and [former NSA employee] William Binney, who's also in the film as a whistleblower from a different generation, are technical people who understand the dangers.

Congress, Elected, Nsa, People, Technical, Thinking

We're definitely in an era where the government wants to keep more secrets and it wants to come after anyone who's exposing those secrets and in many cases exposing government illegality. They're coming after the journalists and they're coming after the whistleblowers. It's not a good sign if the government is expending much energy trying to find out who journalists are talking to.

Good, Government, Illegality, Secret, Sign, Talking

One of the most frightening things, I think, is the capacity for retroactive searching, so you can go back in time and trace who someone is in contact with and where they've been.

Capacity, Go Back In Time, Think, Thinking, Trace

The fact that the CIA knew that two of the 9
11 hijackers were entering the United States and didn't notify the FBI and that nobody lost their job is shocking. Instead, we occupied Iraq, which had nothing to do with 9
11. I mean, how did those choices get made?

Iraq, Jobs, Mean, Notify, Two, United

It's not everyday that a whistleblower is actually willing to be identified.

Actually, Everyday, Whistleblower, Whistleblowers, Willing

Snowden is almost preternaturally prepossessing and self-possessed. I think of a novelist whose dream character just walks into his or her head. It must have been like that with you and Snowden. But what if he'd been a graying guy with the same documents and far less intelligent things to say about them? In other words, how exactly did who he was make your movie and remake our world?

Character, Dream, Prepossessing, Thinking, World

When the most important decisions are made in secret, we lose our ability to check the powers that control.

Ability, Check, Decision, Decisions, Important, Secret

In all my work, I'm interested in trying to understand the human consequences of government policies.

Government, Policy, Trying, Understand, Work

So my first experience was that I had to do a reboot of my expectations. Like fantastic, great, he's young and charismatic and I was like wow, this is so disorienting, I have to reboot. In retrospect, I can see that it's really powerful that somebody [Snowden] so smart, so young, and with so much to lose risked so much.

Expectations, Lose, Powerful, Retrospect, Smart

Those who are experts in the fields of surveillance, privacy, and technology say that there need to be two tracks: a policy track and a technology track. The technology track is encryption. It works and if you want privacy, then you should use it.

Privacy, Technology, Track, Two, Use

The most striking thing Snowden has revealed is the depth of what the NSA and the Five Eyes countries [Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Great Britain, and the US] are doing, their hunger for all data, for total bulk dragnet surveillance where they try to collect all communications and do it all sorts of different ways. Their ethos is "collect it all. "

Communication, Country, Eye, Nsa, Revealed, Ways