\"The Constitution was violated on a massive scale\": Edward Snowden. Photo: Getty Images <\/p>\n
Edward Snowden has made a rare video appearance at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas, condemning mass government surveillance and urging members of the tech-savvy audience to take action against it. <\/p>\n
Speaking from Russia, where he was granted asylum, the former intelligence contractor said proposed reforms at the US National Security Agency (NSA) show he was vindicated in leaking classified material. <\/p>\n
He said he had no regrets about leaking classified information. Asked ifhe would leak secret government information again, he replied: \"absolutely, yes\". <\/p>\n
Internet firefighters <\/p>\n
Snowden said the US government's mass surveillance failed to catch the Boston Marathon bombers and warned that governments have created an adversarial climate on the internet. <\/p>\n
\"They're setting fire to the global internet, and you guys in the room are the global firefighters,\" Snowden said. <\/p>\n
He appeared against a backdrop of the US Constitution with \"We the people\" written in large letters. The video feed was broadcast on a large screen before several thousand credentialed festival attendees in two conference halls and streamed live online. <\/p>\n
\"I saw that the Constitution was violated on a massive scale,\" Snowden said to applause, adding that his revelations of government spying on private communications have resulted in protections that have benefited the public and global society. <\/p>\n
Last year, Snowden, who had been working at an NSA facility as an employee of Booz Allen Hamilton, leaked a raft of secret documents that revealeda vast US government system for monitoring phone and internet data. <\/p>\n
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