The critical point is that the Constitution places the right of silence beyond the reach of government.
William O. DouglasRead
We are rapidly entering the age of no privacy, where everyone is open to surveillance at all times; where there are no secrets from government.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the diminishing boundaries of personal privacy in a surveillance-driven society.
William O. Douglas's quote warns about the increasing encroachment of surveillance in our lives, suggesting that we are moving into an era where privacy is nearly non-existent. The observation addresses concerns over government transparency and the ease with which personal information can be accessed, effectively arguing that this loss of secrecy may lead to significant implications for individual freedom and autonomy.
Themes
PrivacySurveillanceSecretsGovernmentFreedom
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about data protection rights during a technology conference.
More from William O. Douglas
All quotes βOne who comes to the Court must come to adore, not to protest. That's the new gloss on the First Amendment.
William O. DouglasRead
The great and invigorating influences in American life have been the unorthodox: the people who challenge an existing institution or way of life, or say and do things that make people think.
William O. DouglasRead
I have the same confidence in the ability of our people to reject noxious literature as I have in their capacity to sort out the true from the false in theology, economics, or any other field.
William O. DouglasRead
Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.
William O. DouglasRead
The truth is that a vast restructuring of our society is needed if remedies are to become available to the average person. Without that restructuring the good will that holds society together will be slowly dissipated... It is that sense of futility which permeates the present series of protests and dissents. Where there is a persistent sense of futility, there is violence; and that is where we are today.
William O. DouglasRead
Similar quotes
I think it's brought the world a lot closer together, and will continue to do that. There are downsides to everything; there are unintended consequences to everything. The most corrosive piece of technology that I've ever seen is called television - but then, again, television, at its best, is magnificent.
Steve JobsRead
From the streets of Cairo and the Arab Spring, to Occupy Wall Street, from the busy political calendar to the aftermath of the tsunami in Japan, social media was not only sharing the news but driving it.
Dan RatherRead
In the technotronic society the trend would seem to be towards the aggregation of the individual support of millions of uncoordinated citizens, easily within the reach of magnetic and attractive personalities exploiting the latest communications techniques to manipulate emotions and control reason.
Zbigniew BrzezinskiRead
We believe a truly new kind of game entertainment will not be realized unless there is a new way to connect a player to his game.
Satoru IwataRead
Chess is far too complex to be definitively solved with any technology we can conceive of today. However, our looked-down-upon cousin, checkers, or draughts, suffered this fate quite recently thanks to the work of Jonathan Schaeffer at the University of Alberta and his unbeatable program Chinook.
Garry KasparovRead
As Irving Good realised in 1965, machines with superhuman intelligence could repeatedly improve their design even further, triggering what Vernor Vinge called a 'singularity.'
Stephen HawkingRead