How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
[the Turk:] "You think it's no big deal maybe? What is the problem with government knowing when you buy coffee? Because it's one way they know where you are, where you been. Why you think I left Turkey? Where you have government always spying on the people, is no good. I move here twenty years ago for freedom I no help them take freedom away." (6.12)
The Turk's coffee shop no longer takes credit cards because the owner doesn't want to help the government spy on people. What other examples of people taking a stand to keep freedom alive can you find in the novel?
Quote #5
What you can do is find out who is sending way, way more encrypted traffic out than everyone else. […]
This happens all the time in China. Some smart dissident will get the idea of getting around the Great Firewall of China, which is used to censor the whole country's Internet connection, by using an encrypted connection to a computer in some other country. Now, the Party there can't tell what the dissident is surfing: maybe it's porn, or bombmaking instructions, or dirty letters from his girlfriend in the Philippines, or political material, or good news about Scientology. They don't have to know. All they have to know is that this guy gets way more encrypted traffic than his neighbors. At that point, they send him to a forced labor camp just to set an example so that everyone can see what happens to smartasses. (7.80-81)
Governments who don't believe in freedom frequently seem to send their citizens to terrible places for punishments.
Quote #6
[Marcus:] "You'd think Van, of all people, would understand." Half of Van's family lived in North Korea. Her parents never forgot that they had all those people living under a crazy dictator, not able to escape to America, the way her parents had.Jolu shrugged. "Maybe that's why she's so freaked out. Because she knows how dangerous it can get."
I knew what he was talking about. Two of Van's uncles had gone to jail and had never reappeared. (7.100-102)
Having lived under the repressive regime of North Korea, Van's parents (and Van in turn) are less likely to rock the boat than Marcus or Jolu. They know how easily government power can turn to abuse, and they'd rather keep a low profile.