AUSTIN, Texas, March 15 (UPI) -- Edward Snowden organized a private meeting with a handful of people at this year's SXSW.
Snowden did not appear in person, of course, as he faces criminal charges in the United States for leaking government information to the public. He instead appeared as he usually does, by doing a live video chat.
The focus of the meeting was Snowden advising tech company leaders to start focusing on making software that can't be broken into for government surveillance, like using encryption for emails, according to The Verge. Snowden said he wants them to make it so hard to break into private communications that the government runs out of its intelligence budget before it can get any information on American citizens.
Some of the roughly 20 people who attended the meeting took selfies with Snowden before it was over. One of those people was president and CEO of The Center for Democracy & Technology, Nuala O'Connor.
Epic selfie. @CenDemTech pic.twitter.com/rlkxDwzlwy
— Nuala O'Connor (@privacymama) March 15, 2015
