Edward Snowden speaks out

Edward Snowden speaks via Google Hangouts at SxSW in Austin, Texas. Photograph: Jim Bennett/Corbis, Guardian

Cory Doctorow for the Guardian covers Edward Snowden's first public appearance. Snowden has been nominated for the Noble Peace Prize. His closing remarks show why he deserves it:

“Governments have stopped talking about the ‘public interest’ and started talking about the ‘national interest’. When these diverge, something is wrong.
“Would I do this again? Absolutely yes. No matter what happens to me. I took an oath to support and defend the constitution and I saw it was being violated on a mass scale. The interpretation of the constitution has been changed in secret from ‘no unreasonable search and seizure’ to ‘any seizure is fine, just don’t search it.’ That’s something the public has the right to know.”