One of the reasons that I came forward and sort burned of my life to the ground, and I can't go back and see my family in the United States - I obviously lost my job, which I was quite comfortable with. I lost my home. It was because I felt there was no alternative.

If the government or the parties won't address our needs, we will. It's about direct action, even civil disobedience.

I have used mass surveillance to target people, so I do know how it works.

It's important to remember when you start doing things like attacking hospitals through the internet, when you start attacking things like internet exchange points, when something goes wrong, people can die. If a hospital's infrastructure is affected, lifesaving equipment turns off.

We've already seen, in practically every country around the world where these issues have been covered, that the general public has recoiled at the ideology behind these programs.

Do we want to emulate China in the way that China emulates the West? I think, for most Americans, the answer to that question would be no.

I'm ultimately satisfied that we know a little bit more about how the world really works.