If we don't do anything, if we go along with the status quo, we are going to have a mass surveillance world.

There's a real danger in the way our representative government functions today. It functions properly only when paired with accountability.

I can't in good conscience allow the U.S. government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building.

You are also asked to take an oath, and that's the oath of service. The oath of service is not to secrecy, but to the Constitution - to protect it against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That's the oath that I kept, that James Clapper and former NSA director Keith Alexander did not. You raise your hand and you take the oath in your class when you are on board. All government officials are made to do it who work for the intelligence agencies - at least, that's where I took the oath.

I have had many opportunities to flee HK, but I would rather stay and fight the United States government in the courts, because I have faith in Hong Kong's rule of law.

I can do more good outside of prison... This country is worth dying for.

The question of whether I, as a whistleblower, should be pardoned, is not for me to answer.