Mackinnon Quotes & Sayings

It is not inevitable that the Internet will evolve in a manner compatible with democracy. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Defending a free and open global Internet requires a broad-based global movement with the stamina to engage in endless - and often highly technical - national and international policy battles. — Rebecca MacKinnon

You think to judge me, MacKinnon? I've littered the ground wi' the corpses of men like you."
Iain raised his blade and smiled. "You've never met a man like me. — Pamela Clare

Distance is the Enemy of Awareness. — J.B. MacKinnon

It's much easier to force intermediary communications and Internet companies such as Google to police themselves and their users than the alternatives: sending cops after everybody who attempts a risque or politically sensitive search, getting parents and teachers to do their jobs, or chasing down the origin of every offending link. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Negative views of Pakistan expressed by prominent members of the global business community are taken more seriously by government functionaries than are appeals by human rights groups. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Women and men are divided by gender, made into the sexes as we know them, by the social requirements of heterosexuality, which institutionalizes male sexual dominance and female sexual submission. — Catharine MacKinnon

There is no country on Earth where Internet and telecommunications companies do not face at least some pressure from governments to do things that would potentially infringe on users' rights to free expression and privacy. — Rebecca MacKinnon

For centuries, the Yangtze River - the longest in Asia - has played an important role in China's history, culture, and economy. The Yangtze is as quintessentially Chinese as the Nile is Egyptian or the Rhine is German. Many businesses use its name. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Would the Protestant Reformation have happened without the printing press? Would the American Revolution have happened without pamphlets? Probably not. But neither printing presses nor pamphlets were the heroes of reform and revolution. — Rebecca MacKinnon

The big-picture purpose of a Soul Contract is to master its lesson; the big picture of your Soul Purpose is to align with it and let it guide you. — Danielle MacKinnon

He'd given her all the love he could give tonight without taking her maidenhead, undressing her, carrying her to his bed, kissing away her tears, caressing her, bringing her to her peak with his hands again and again, until she lay, weak and utterly spent, in his arms. Then he'd held her through the watches of the night, wishing dawn would never come.
"Tha moran ghradh agam ort, dh'Amaliedh," he whispered. My love lies upon you, Amalie.
He lifted the rosary from around his neck and placed the wooden beads in her palm. Then he took the tartan sash from his French uniform and draped it across the pillow beside her, branding her with Clan MacKinnon's colors. Would she know what that meant? — Pamela Clare

In the Internet age, it is inevitable that corporations and government agencies will have access to detailed information about people's lives. — Rebecca MacKinnon

If you want to have traction in China, you have to be in China. — Rebecca MacKinnon

[W]hat is this state, from women's point of view? The state is male in the feminist sense: the law sees and treats women the way men see and treat women ... The state's formal norms recapitulate the male point of view on the level of design. — Catharine A. MacKinnon

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. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Intermediary liability enables the Chinese authorities to minimize the number of people they need to put in jail in order to stay in power and to maximize their control over what the Chinese people know and don't know. — Rebecca MacKinnon

If you just technically adhere to the law, sometimes that's enough, sometimes it's not; it's really hard to predict. There is definitely a possibility that the Chinese authorities won't find it sufficient. — Rebecca MacKinnon

For years, members of Congress have heard from constituents who want them to protect the nation from crime, terrorism and intellectual property violation. They have not faced equally robust demands that online rights and freedoms be preserved. — Rebecca MacKinnon

The better-informed we are, the more we can do to make sure what's happening is in our interests and is accountable to us. — Rebecca MacKinnon

When U.S. commercial interests press the Chinese government to do a better job of policing Chinese websites for pirated content, a blind eye is generally turned to the fact that ensuing crackdowns provide a great excuse to tighten mechanisms to censor all content the Chinese government doesn't like. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Human rights in cyberspace are really no different from rights in the physical world. — Rebecca MacKinnon

There are many cases of activists having their Facebook pages and accounts deactivated at critical times, when they are right in the middle of a campaign or organising a demonstration. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Amazon webhosting dropped Wikileaks as a customer after receiving a complaint from U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, despite the fact that Wikileaks had not been charged, let alone convicted, of any crime. — Rebecca MacKinnon

What postmodernism gives us instead is a multicultural defense for male violence - a defense for it wherever it is, which in effect is a pretty universal defense. — Catharine MacKinnon

Personal soundness is not an absence of problems but a way of reacting to them. — Donald M. MacKinnon

We're going to get the Internet we deserve, and those people who are the most active in shaping the Internet to their liking are going to win out. — Rebecca MacKinnon

The Chinese government clearly does pay attention to public opinion expressed on the Internet - the extent to which they choose to adapt their practices based on it, or ignore it, seems to vary. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Research In Motion, the owner of BlackBerry, has been asked by a range of governments to comply with surveillance requirements. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Governments clash with each other over who should control the co-ordination of the Internet's infrastructure and critical resources. — Rebecca MacKinnon

While American intellectual property deserves protection, that protection must be won and defended in a manner that does not stifle innovation, erode due process under the law, and weaken the protection of political and civil rights on the Internet. — Rebecca MacKinnon

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

It is time to stop debating whether the Internet is an effective tool for political expression and instead to address the much more urgent question of how digital technology can be structured, governed, and used to maximize the good and minimize the evil. — Rebecca MacKinnon

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

It's time to take decisive action to stop American and other multinationals from aiding and abetting the wrong side in the global digital arms race. — Rebecca MacKinnon

You grow up with your father holding you down and covering your mouth so another man can make a horrible searing pain between your legs. — Catharine MacKinnon

During the 1980s, when Japan's economy was roaring and people were writing books with titles like 'Japan is Number One,' most Japanese college students didn't make the effort to become fluent in English. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Alysandir is a fine horseman," Isobella said. He was about to dismount, and she stepped upon a stool to get a better view. Just as she did so, he glanced toward the window in her direction. Sybilla gasped and brought her hand to her chest with an open-mouthed amazement. "Did ye see that?" Isobella did not want to be singled out, so she replied, "He was just being courteous." "Nae. He recognized ye in front of all and sundry," she said, with a shy smile that made her lovely grey-blue eyes shine as brilliantly as the golden locks of her hair braided on top of her hair. " I don't know why. I've been nothing but a thorn in his side." "That isn't what Alysandri said," Sybilla replied. "He was most full praise about ye." Isobella glanced at Sybilla, who smiled innocently, which was her way of letting her visitor know that that was all she was going to say on the subject. — Elaine Coffman

There is a widening gap between the middle-aged-to-older generation, who still read newspapers and watch CCTV news, and the Internet generation. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Citizens' rights cannot be protected if their digital activities are governed and policed by opaque and publicly unaccountable corporate mechanisms. — Rebecca MacKinnon

If pornography is part of your sexuality, then you have no right to your sexuality. — Catharine MacKinnon

Facebook and Google are battling over who will be our gateway to the rest of the Internet through 'like' buttons and universal logins - giving them huge power over our online identities and activities. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Women are raped and coerced into sex. — Catharine MacKinnon

In the physical world, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is a wanted man. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Democratic institutions are based on a reality of human nature: that those with power, however benign or even noble their intentions, will do what they can to keep it. — Rebecca MacKinnon

The potential for the abuse of power through digital networks - upon which we the people now depend for nearly everything, including our politics - is one of the most insidious threats to democracy in the Internet age. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Nothing ever goes as planned in China. — Rebecca MacKinnon

QQ is not secure. You might as well be sharing your information with the Public Security Bureau. — Rebecca MacKinnon

To be a prisoner means to be defined as a member of a group for whom the rules of what can be done to you, of what is seen as abuse of you, are reduced as part of the definition of your status. — Catharine MacKinnon

Clearly Google is searching for a way to do business in China that avoids them sending someone to jail over an e-mail. — Rebecca MacKinnon

The Chinese government sometimes shuts down the Internet and mobile services in specific areas where unrest occurs. — Rebecca MacKinnon

There has been a rising tide of criticism about China's treatment of foreign companies. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Social networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter should be urged to adhere to business practices that maximize the safety of activists using their platforms. — Rebecca MacKinnon

In the future, 'the networked' will sometimes form alliances with the Silicon Valley companies against Congress, but sometimes we are going to want and need to target our campaigns for change at the companies themselves. — Rebecca MacKinnon

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

Human freedom increasingly depends on who controls what we know and, therefore, how we understand our world. It depends on what information we are able to create and disseminate: what we can share, how we can share it, and with whom we can share it. — Rebecca MacKinnon

The sovereigns of the Internet are acting like they have a divine right to govern. — Rebecca MacKinnon

It's mainly a few elite women who benefit greatly from standing with the forces that keep women down. — Catharine MacKinnon

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. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Radio was used powerfully by Josef Goebbels to disseminate Nazi propaganda, and just as powerfully by King George VI to inspire the British people to fight invasion. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Political activists in Hong Kong and Taiwan use Facebook as their primary tool to mobilize support for their causes and activities. — Rebecca MacKinnon

People can find eroticism in relations with people whom they respect and whom they see as equals. — Catharine MacKinnon

I do not know of a Chinese blogger who has gone to jail, but I know several who have had their blogs shut down. I also know some Chinese bloggers who have received threatening phone calls from police warning them to 'be careful.' In some cases, they stopped blogging for a while. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Perhaps MacKinnon should reflect on these suggestions that the censorship issue is not so simple-minded, so transparently gender-against-gender, as she insists. She should stop calling names long enough to ask whether personal sensationalism, hyperbole, and bad arguments are really what the cause of sexual equality now needs. — Ronald Dworkin

It's particularly hard to take being stabbed in the back close to home. There's always a feeling of betrayal when people of your own group oppose you. — Catharine MacKinnon

'Killer Joe' provides a lot of red meat for the theater. Pam MacKinnon is the perfect director to shepherd a group of actors who share a certain bloodlust. — Tracy Letts

When controversial speech can be taken offline through pressures on private intermediaries without any kind of due process, that is something we need to be concerned about. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Any new legal measures, or cooperative arrangements between government and companies meant to keep people from organizing violence or criminal actions, must not be carried out in ways that erode due process, rule of law and the protection of innocent citizens' political and civil rights. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Whether it's Baidu or Chinese versions of YouTube or Sina or Sohu, Chinese Internet sites are getting daily directives from the government telling them what kinds of content they cannot allow on their site and what they need to delete. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Just take a risk. Go for it. I think if you crash and burn trying, it's still going to be better than if you never tried at all. — Roderick Mackinnon

If you appreciate what you have you will always be happy. — Cinda Crabbe MacKinnon

Like it or not, Google and the Chinese government are stuck in a tense, long-term relationship, and can look forward to more high-stakes shadow-boxing in the netherworld of the world's most elaborate system of censorship. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Keep looking at me like that, and I'll change my mind. Forbidden fruit tastes sweetest. - Alysandir Mackinnon — Elaine Coffman

In the wake of the Internet getting shut down in Egypt - something that also happened in Xinjiang - I know that there are groups working on ways to help people get online when domestic networks get shut down. This could also be of use to some people in China. — Rebecca MacKinnon

China's censorship and propaganda systems may be complex and multilayered, but they are obviously not well coordinated. — Rebecca MacKinnon

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. — Rebecca MacKinnon

There is a broad movement that has been holding companies accountable on human rights for a long time. — Rebecca MacKinnon

There is a great deal of concern in the Chinese military that Taiwan's reunification with China is drifting further and further away. — Rebecca MacKinnon

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

Speech within the kingdom of Amazonia - run by its sovereign Jeff Bezos and his board of directors with help from the wise counsel and judgment of the company's executives - is not protected in the same way that speech is constitutionally protected in America's public spaces. — Rebecca MacKinnon

A lot of Chinese don't understand why people in the West are critical of China. — Rebecca MacKinnon

All women live in objectification the way fish live in water. - Catharine A. MacKinnon WHEN — Jessica Valenti

Facebook has conquered much of the world. — Rebecca MacKinnon

As a condition for entry into the Chinese market, Apple had to agree to the Chinese government's censorship criteria in vetting the content of all iPhone apps available for download on devices sold in mainland China. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Microsoft runs the world's biggest blogging platform, MSN Spaces. — Rebecca MacKinnon

I am well aware of the facts presented by numerous security experts on the many ways in which the United States' digital networks have come under siege by cybercriminals and under daily assault by hackers in league with various foreign governments. — Rebecca MacKinnon

A moral argument about whether censorship is good or bad deteriorates quickly into accusations about who is more or less patriotic, moral, pious, and so on. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Digital power is every bit as likely to be abused as physical power, but is often more insidious because it is often wielded in the background until its results manifest themselves in the offline world. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Laws and mechanisms originally meant to enforce copyright, protect children and fight online crime are abused to silence or intimidate political critics. — Rebecca MacKinnon

The basic technical protocols that have enabled the Internet to work in such a globally interconnected way are developed and shared openly by a community of engineers. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Activists from the Middle East to Asia to the former Soviet states have all been telling me that they suffer from increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Many of the Kuomintang elite in Taiwan have relatives among the ruling elite here on mainland China. — Rebecca MacKinnon

In January 2012, Google Plus started to roll out support for nicknames and pseudonyms, but those registering with a name other than their real-life one must be able to prove that they have been using that alternative name elsewhere, either on the Web or in real life. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Whether or not the U.S. government funds circumvention tools, or who exactly it funds and with what amount, it is clear that Internet users in China and elsewhere are seeking out and creating their own ad hoc solutions to access the uncensored global Internet. — Rebecca MacKinnon

Internet companies created the social-media tools that fueled the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street insurgencies, and that have helped political candidates rally grass-roots support. — Rebecca MacKinnon

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. — Rebecca MacKinnon

In a society in which equality is a fact, not merely a word, words of racial or sexual assault and humiliation will be nonsense syllables. — Catharine A. MacKinnon

Instead of being lionized and admired for her genius, instead of being able to earn a decent living as a writer, Andrea Dworkin was misrepresented and demonized. — Catharine MacKinnon

The erosion of privacy rights under the Fourth Amendment, written to protect us against unreasonable search and seizure, began in earnest under President George W. Bush. — Rebecca MacKinnon

After Secretary Clinton announced in January 2010 that Internet freedom would be a major pillar of U.S. foreign policy, the State Department decided to take what Clinton calls a 'venture capital' approach to the funding of tools, research, public information projects, and training. — Rebecca MacKinnon