Story highlights
Exiled WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange spoke Saturday via Skype to an audience at SXSW
Assange: "The ability to surveil everyone on the planet is almost there"
He called his life in the Ecuadorian embassy in London "like a prison"
From his sanctuary in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, with roughly a dozen police officers outside, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said Saturday that everyone in the world will be just as effectively monitored soon – at least digitally.
“The ability to surveil everyone on the planet is almost there and, arguably, will be there in the next couple of years,” said Assange, speaking via Skype to a large audience at the South by Southwest Interactive festival here.
Assange rocketed to international fame, and infamy, in 2010 after Wikileaks began helping publish secret government documents online.
Ecuador granted Assange asylum in June 2012 and he fled to the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations that he raped one woman and sexually molested another.