Noon, Austin Convention Center

The Skype connection to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange may have been a bit buggy, but his message to a welcoming SXSW crowd of about 3,400 came through loud and clear. Assange slammed President Obama for not reacting more strongly to revelations about NSA spying, suggesting the massive security agency “wears the pants” in the administration. And Assange said forcing people like him and Edward Snowden into exile only energizes the community of national security reporters, landing them in friendlier countries where their work can continue. Snowden, who has drawn fire for revealing NSA documents regarding the agency’s pervasive surveillance practices, will be a featured speaker at the conference Monday, talking by video feed from Russia, which granted him temporary asylum. Assange spoke via video conference from London, where he has been living in the Ecuadorian Embassy since 2012. Although the connection was generally good, Assange was unable to hear questions from moderator Benjamin Palmer, a co-founder of the Barbarian Group, a New York-based marketing agency. Twice Assange resorted to a very-low-tech “show of hands” from the audience, to make sure people could hear him. The activist publisher had no shortage of things to say, urging SXSW attendees to stand up against the “most aggressive form of state surveillance the world has ever known.” “One of the best ways to achieve justice is to expose injustice,” Assange said. The injustice, he said, is the “militarization of our civilian space” in the form of surveillance. He questioned “who wears the pants in the Obama administration,” suggesting that the President would be impeached if he took on the security complex. “The NSA, having intercepted all this information, has dirt on everyone,” he said. “We are all part of the state, whether we like it or not,” he said. “So we have to choose to manage the affairs of the state.” Assange said he is preparing a new release of classified documents, though he would not be more specific. He noted that American journalists talk to the subjects of their stories before the stories run, to give them a chance to respond. He rejected this practice. “I don’t think it’s right to give the perpetrator a heads-up … so they can put their spin on it, ” he said. Assange said he hopes the actions of WikiLeaks, as well as Snowden, will inspire people to stand up against powerful forces. 9:30 a.m., Austin Convention Center First period today is “Body Computing: The Future of Networked Humans.” We check our smart phones, on average, about 150 times per day, said Dr. Leslie Saxon, executive director and founder of the University of Southern California’s Center for Body Computing. “We don’t do many things more often than that, other than maybe breathe,” she said. Saxon said the world of body computing is exploding in growth, noting that 27 percent of us already wear some sort of sensor. Still, comparing body technology to the music business, she said we are in “the vinyl stage.” Saxon said new devices, including things like flexible electronic tattoos and injectable sensors, will soon become part of our lives, collecting streams of information about our bodies, our behavior and our health. She argued that the information people get from these devices will be so beneficial we will demand more. “What you’re going to be getting back is engaging and revelatory, so you’ll want more of it,” she said. I’m sure Saxon said more provocative and interesting things. But at this point in her conversation I had to leave. SXSW does not make provisions for working media covering events, other than a friendly work room. The next item on my schedule was Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange’s video conference, held in the 3,400-seat main auditorium. In order to make sure I got in, I had to arrive 90 minutes early, and wait in a very, very, very long line.

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