For his latest episode of Last Week Tonight comedian John Oliver traveled to Russia to meet Edward Snowden, the once employee of America's National Security Agency, who remains in exile after leaking documents revealing the extent of state surveillance programmes.

Explaining to Snowden (with the aid of some vox pops) that Americans simply do not know or care about the issue, Oliver asked him to explain these surveillance programmes in terms the public could understand: 'dick pics.'

When the technical aspect of surveillance is replaced by a discussion of whether the government is recording explicit photos sent between members of the public, the public become much more concerned.

However, Snowden encouraged people to refrain from altering their habits because of the fear of surveillance:

"If you sacrifice your values because you're afraid, you don't care about those values very much."

The segment begins at 13.28.