A year ago, Edward Snowden's leaks shone a light on secretive mass surveillance operations.

Now he's urging internet users to stop relying on governments to protect their rights online and claw back their privacy themselves.

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has advocated for reform and concerted action for online privacy for a year. Credit:nbc

"We're past the point where citizens are entirely dependent on governments to defend our privacy, we don't have to ask for our privacy, we can take it back," said Mr Snowden at the Personal Democracy Forum conference in New York.

The forum was part of Reset the Net, a day of pro-privacy action on June 5 (US time), supported by a coalition of tech companies, human rights and privacy activism groups that have come together to protest mass surveillance.