do we know if the questions were selected randomly? what do we know? reporter: well, it will start with one individual person questioning before it will opened up to the audience and that s what people are very excited about here today. the ability to question edward snowden in person. there are a lot of people who think he s a hero. other people think he is a traitor for leaking details of the government s spy programs last year. all of that is creating a lot of buzz and a lot of interest in his first live appearance, which happens today here at south by southwest interactive. it begins in just a few minutes. and he s going to touch on privacy in the technology industry. how the industry can protect itself and consumers from mass invasions of privacy. now, as you said, select audience members are going to be able to ask these questions and be moderated by the aclu.
thought you should know today. developing now in the next few minutes, edward snowden is scheduled to appear live at the giant tech industry festival in austin festival at the south by southwest interactive festival video conference by moscow. he is expected to talk about technology, the community and how it can protect itself from mass surveillance. julian assange who published the revelations about the spying programs appeared at the festival by skype on saturday. new revelations are coming assange said. there s important upcoming material. i don t like to give time frames because it tends to give the opponents of that material too much notice how to prepare their spin lines. nbc s sara doll off joins us.