In a rare public talk via the Web, fugitive NSA leaker Edward Snowden urged a tech conference audience Monday to help "fix" the U.S. government's surveillance of its citizens, according to USA Today.
Snowden spoke via teleconference from Russia to an audience of thousands at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, USA Today reported. The event marked the first time the former National Security Agency contractor has directly addressed people in the United States since he fled the country with thousands of secret documents last June.
In response to a question, Snowden said he had no regrets about his decision to leak the NSA documents, according to USA Today.
"Would I do it again? Absolutely. Regardless of what happens to me, this is something we had a right to," Snowden said, USA Today reported.
"I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution. And I saw the Constitution was being violated on a massive scale," Snowden added, according to USA Today. "South by Southwest and the tech community, the people in the room in Austin, they're the folks who can fix this."
He also said that Internet users need better awareness and tools to help them secure their online information from prying eyes, USA Today reported.
Snowden took questions from the audience and from Twitter, according to USA Today. The first, fittingly, came from Tim Berners-Lee, who created the World Wide Web 25 years ago this week.
Berners-Lee asked Snowden what he would change about the nation's surveillance system, USA Today reported.
"We need public oversight ... some way for trusted public figures to advocate for us. We need a watchdog that watches Congress, because if we're not informed, we can't consent to these (government) policies," Snowden answered, according to USA Today.
Asked about the difference between government surveillance and snooping by private Internet companies, Snowden said he considers government surveillance more insidious because "the government has the ability to deprive you of rights. They can jail you," USA Today reported.
Snowden was also scheduled to chat with Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist with the American Civil Liberties Union's Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, according to USA Today.
"The conversation will be focused on the impact of the NSA's spying efforts on the technology community and the ways in which technology can help to protect us from mass surveillance," an SXSW news release said.
