Snowden says leaks fuelled needed debate

Former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden says he has no regrets over his leaks about mass surveillance programs, saying they sparked a needed public debate on spying and data collection.

Snowden, who spoke via video link from Russia to the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, said he revealed the programs of the US National Security Agency and other such services to foster 'a better civic understanding' about what had been secret programs.

He said his decision to leak documents to journalists 'wasn't so I could single handedly change the government; what I wanted to do was inform the public so they could provide their consent to what we should do.'

Snowden, a former NSA contractor who has been in hiding in Russia and has been charged in the United States with espionage, maintained that 'every society in the world has benefited' from the debate on surveillance.

'Regardless of what happens to me, this is something we have a right to know,' he said on the link with members of the American Civil Liberties Union, who noted that the hookup was routed through seven proxy servers to keep his location secure.

Snowden, who appeared against a backdrop of a giant copy of the US constitution, said the NSA programs have fundamentally altered the rights outlined in the charter.

'The interpretation of the constitution has been changed from no unreasonable searches and seizures,' to any seizure is fine, just don't search it,'' he said.

Snowden said he chose to speak to SXSW because he believes it is important to encourage technology companies to make changes to stem mass surveillance.

'The people who are in the room in Austin right now, they are the folks who can really fix things through technical standards,' he said.

Snowden said more companies should adopt robust encryption that is built into communications without users having to use complex technical tools.

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Snowden says leaks fuelled needed debate