英國情報總管批美國社交媒體爲恐怖分子所利用

LONDON — One of Britain’s highest-ranking intelligence officials on Tuesday castigated the giant American companies that dominate the Internet for providing the “command-and-control networks of choice for terrorists and criminals” and challenged the companies to find a better balance between privacy and security.

倫敦——本週二，英國最高級別的情報官員之一嚴厲批評了主導互聯網的美國巨頭公司，說他們“爲恐怖分子和犯罪分子提供了其首選的指揮和控制網絡”，他敦促這些公司在隱私權和公衆安全之間更好地把握平衡。

The statements were made by Robert Hannigan, the newly appointed director of GCHQ, Britain’s electronic intelligence agency. They were among the most pointed in a campaign by intelligence services in Britain and the United States against pressure to rein in their digital surveillance following disclosures by the American former contractor Edward J. Snowden.

這名官員是英國電子情報機構政府通訊總部（Government Communications Headquarters，簡稱GCHQ）的新任總監羅伯特·漢尼根(Robert Hannigan)。他的這些聲明代表着英美情報機構抗壓活動中最尖銳的聲音之一；自從美國前承包商僱員愛德華·J·斯諾登(Edward J. Snowden)泄密之後，遏制情報機構數字監控能力的壓力就一直存在。

Mr. Hannigan’s statements were among the most critical of American technology firms by the head of a major intelligence agency; the accusation went beyond what United States officials have said about Apple, Google and others who are now moving toward sophisticated encryption of more and more data on phones and email systems.

漢尼根的聲明，是美國科技公司從主要情報機構負責人那裏獲得的最嚴厲的批評之一；他的指責，超過了美國官員對蘋果、谷歌等公司的說法。這些公司正在對電話和電郵系統的數據採取越來越複雜的加密措施。

But the companies, saying they are responding to demand from their users, show no signs of backing down. Recently the chief executive of Apple, Tim Cook, said governments that want data should deal with the users of the technology, not the providers of the hardware and services. Brad Smith, the general counsel of Microsoft Corporation, told a Harvard Law School symposium on Tuesday that, if anything, companies like his “will move to strengthen encryption,” and require governments to get court orders if they want data.

但這些公司並沒有顯示出任何讓步跡象，他們說自己正在響應用戶的需求。蘋果首席執行官蒂姆·庫克(Tim Cook)最近表示，政府如果想獲取數據，就應該去找這些技術的用戶，而不是它們的硬件和服務提供者。本週二，微軟公司的首席法律顧問布拉德·史密斯(Brad Smith)在哈佛法學院(Harvard Law School)的一個研討會上表示，像微軟這樣的公司就算要採取行動，也是“提升加密程度”，並要求各國政府在索取數據之前出示法庭令。

Mr. Hannigan, in an opinion article on Tuesday in The Financial Times, singled out the Islamic State, the radical group also known as ISIS and ISIL, as one “whose members have grown up on the Internet” and are “exploiting the power of the web to create a jihadi threat with near-global reach.”

漢尼根本週二在《金融時報》(The Financial Times)發表評論文章，說激進組織“伊斯蘭國”（Islamic State，也稱爲ISIS和ISIL）的“成員在互聯網上成長着”，這些人“利用網絡的力量，幾乎構成了全球範圍內的聖戰威脅”。

In a speech two weeks ago, the director of the F.B.I., James B. Comey, said that the “post-Snowden pendulum” had “gone too far.” On Monday, Adm. Michael S. Rogers, director of the National Security Agency, took a less confrontational approach, telling students and faculty members at Stanford University that “a fundamentally strong Internet is in the best interest of the U.S.”

在兩週前的一次演講中，美國聯邦調查局(FBI)局長詹姆斯·B·科米(James B. Comey)說，“後斯諾登時代的鐘擺”已經“向一邊搖擺得太遠了”。國家安全局(National Security Agency)局長邁克爾·S·羅傑斯上將(Michael S. Rogers)的觀點更爲柔和，他本週一在斯坦福大學(Stanford University)對學生和教職員工說，“讓互聯網從根本上變得強大，符合美國的最佳利益。”

Increasingly encrypted products and services are “a challenge,” Admiral Rogers said. “And we’ll deal with it.”

越來越多的加密產品和服務是“一個挑戰”，羅傑斯上將說。“我們將應對這個挑戰。”

But he also pushed for better sharing of data between the intelligence community and private technology companies. Moves to set up a formal information-sharing system have stalled in Congress in the face of objections from the private sector.

但他也在推動情報界和私人科技公司之間更好地分享數據。由於私營部門的反對，建立一個正式的信息共享系統的提案在國會舉步維艱。

“It is unrealistic to expect the private sector to withstand the actions of nation states,” Admiral Rogers said. “I think it is also unrealistic to expect the government to deal with this all by itself. ”

“讓私營部門無保留地接受國家的行動，是不現實的，”羅傑斯上將說。“我認爲，期待政府自己來應對這一切，這也不現實。”

Technology companies, which harvest customer data for commercial uses, reacted cautiously on Tuesday, generally seeking to avoid any role that would make them agents of government intelligence gathering. “It’s such a slippery slope with these types of requests,” said Stefan Weitz, director of search at Microsoft. “If you say yes to one request, more will inevitably start to come in. At what point do you stop?”

科技公司出於商業用途而收集客戶數據，本週二它們的反應很謹慎。這些公司通常會避免扮演任何讓它們成爲政府的情報收集代理者的角色。“這些類型的請求，開了頭就收不住，”微軟的搜索主管史蒂芬·維茨(Stefan Weitz)說。“如果你答應一個請求，不可避免地就會收到更多請求，那你什麼時候才能停下來？”

The opinion article by Mr. Hannigan referred specifically to messaging and social media sites and apps such as Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp.

漢尼根的評論文章特別提到了通訊類和社交媒體類的站點和應用，比如Twitter、Facebook和WhatsApp。

“There is no need for today’s would-be jihadis to seek out restricted websites with secret passwords: They can follow other young people posting their adventures in Syria as they would anywhere else,” he wrote.

“想成爲聖戰者的人，如今不需要使用機密密碼去訪問受限的網站了，因爲他們可以關注一些把自己在敘利亞等地的冒險經歷貼出來的年輕人，”他寫道。