Lisa Wong was impressed Saturday by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, who appeared live in Hawaii via a video link from Moscow.

"He’s become more admirable in my eyes," Wong said after the event.

Wong was among some 800 attendees at the sold-out Davis Levin First Amendment Conference at the Hawai‘i Convention Center.

Some attendees said they were inspired, changed their minds about Snowden being a traitor or coward, gained a better understanding of his actions, or learned about the issues surrounding government mass surveillance of the public.

Snowden appeared on a large screen after a showing of the 2014 documentary "Citizenfour," about Snowden and his release of NSA documents.

Snowden, a former Waipahu resident, received a standing ovation and greeted the crowd with an "aloha" and "mahalo."

He had been working as an NSA contractor in Hawaii and fled to Hong Kong before releasing documents to journalists in June 2013.

At Saturday’s conference, he answered questions for a little more than an hour with his attorney, Ben Wizner, who appeared in person with moderator Aviam Soifer, dean of the University of Hawaii’s law school.

Snowden said since he released the documents, there has been a "sea change" in Congress to protect citizens’ privacy from intrusive government surveillance, such as one government program that logs the calls of cellphone users.

Wizner, who is also director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, said the courts have been unresponsive to ACLU lawsuits about illegal government surveillance programs.

He said when the ACLU filed lawsuits, the cases were thrown out because the programs were considered too secret to be discussed.

"The system spit us out," Wizner said.

When asked about breaking the law for moral reasons, Snowden said if people didn’t break laws, slavery would not have been abolished and the American Revolution would not have happened.

"I would argue that there is a civil value to law-breaking," he said. "Morality prevails because that is why we are here."

Shirley Shinagawa, 59, of Makiki, said she was glad Snowden released the information, but disagreed with how Snowden fled the U.S. to avoid punishment.

"It was good to hear the other side," said Shinagawa, a drug store clerk. "I’ll admit I was kind of biased (against Snowden).

"But now I know why he did what he did," she said. "He has agreed to go to prison. He just wants a jury trial."