Eric Schmidt:

The Internet is not just a series of tubes transmitting information from place to place, terminal to terminal, without regard for those typing on their keyboards or reading on their screens. The people who use any technology are the ones who need to define its role in society. Technology doesn't work on its own, after all. It's just a tool. We are the ones who harness its power.

Andrew Keane Woods:

I recently attended a conference for purveyors of surveillance software -- an event unofficially known as the "Wiretappers' Ball." I asked one vendor if he was aware of law enforcement's frustrations with American tech firms. The salesman grinned and told me that police departments now buy his malware precisely because they're tired of waiting for evidence through established diplomatic channels.

Jessica Stern:

I think we have to do everything we can.

Is that going to solve the problem?

No.

Is it important?

Yes.

Could we go further?

Probably.

Josh Earnest:

We are going to resist the urge to trample a bunch of civil liberties.

Peter Baker:

While it would be a worrisome intelligence failure if the government missed obvious warning signs, William McCants, a former State Department official who worked on countering violent extremism, said the alternative -- that there were no signs at all -- would be worse.

Danny Yadron:

To grow sales, FireEye's Dave DeWalt has to say he can stop the hackers. But for sales to keep growing, the hackers can't actually stop.

Horace Dediu:

The data under scrutiny is, as usual, the data that can be gathered. Unfortunately the data that can't be gathered is where the insight into what is happening may lie.