調查權力法案生效,將英國公民置於嚴密監視之下
Theresa May was central to pushing through the new spying laws in her job as home secretary Getty Images
特蕾莎·梅在她擔任內政大臣期間，是推動新監視法案的核心人物The UK's Investigatory Powers Act is now in effect, placing Britain under some of the widest-ranging spying powers ever seen.
英國的調查權力法案已經生效，英國情報機構正式被賦予史上最極端的偵查權力。The law – passed last month but going into effect on 30 December – is intended as an update to Britain's often unwieldy surveillance legislation. But it also includes a large set of new powers – including the ability to collect the browsing records of everyone in the country and have them read by authorities as diverse as the Food Standards Agency and the Department for Work and Pensions.
該法案於上個月通過，但是將於12月30日開始生效，是目前英國繁瑣的監視法案的升級版。該法賦予了政府新的監視權力，包括強制要求互聯網服務供應商保存所有用戶網頁瀏覽的完整記錄。有關部門可以調取這些記錄，包括英國食品標準局以及勞動與養老金部。
Most of the central parts of the act are now in force. That includes new powers to gather and retain data on citizens, and new ways to force technology companies and others to hand over the data that they have about people to intelligence agencies.
該法案的大部分核心條款都已經生效。這包括賦予權力收集並保存公民信息，以及強制要求科技公司等其他單位向有關部門上交他們所擁有的用戶信息。Many of the most invasive powers in the bill haven't yet gone into force. That includes, for instance, the collection of those Internet Connection Records, which has been postponed until the government and internet companies have worked out how they can collect such information safely.
法案中那些最具侵入性的權力條款還沒有生效。這包括，例如，互聯網連接數據這部分將等到政府和互聯網公司測試到能夠安全的收集信息的時候再啓用。The government has argued that the powers introduced in the bill are necessary to allow intelligence agencies and police to stop modern crime and prosecute the people involved in it.
政府強調該法案中描述的權力對於支持監視機關和警察部門來阻止現代犯罪並起訴相關嫌疑人是非常必要的。But Bella Sankey, Amnesty’s policy director, said that it was a "sad day" when the bill passed into law last month.
但是大赦政策顧問Bella Sanky表示，上個月通過該法案的那天是“悲哀的”一天。“The Home Secretary is right that the Government has a duty to protect us, but these measures won’t do the job," she said then. "Instead they open every detail of every citizen’s online life up to state eyes, drowning the authorities in data and putting innocent people’s personal information at massive risk.
“內政大臣說政府有保護我們的義務，這倒是沒錯，但這些措施達不到保護我們的目的。相反，這些措施使得每位公民的網上生活的所有細節被一覽無餘，加重政府部門處理數據的負擔，並且給無辜羣衆的個人信息帶來極大的泄露風險。”"This new law is world-leading – but only as a beacon for despots everywhere. The campaign for a surveillance law fit for the digital age continues, and must now move to the courts."
“這部新法律世界領先，但只是從專制上做到了領先。我們仍然需要一部適應這個數字化時代的監視法律，而現在必須去法院來解決問題。”The law has been opposed by tens of thousands of people in a public petition. But much of that opposition only started after the bill was quietly passed into law by MPs, meaning that it was unlikely to have any effect.
該法案收到了數萬人的反對請願書，但是大部分的反對聲音是在法案悄悄通過以後才發出的，所以沒產生什麼影響。But some of the central powers of the law were criticised by European courts earlier this month. As such, the law is set to face a range of legal challenges and could be changed in the coming months and years.
但是該法案的部分核心條款本月受到了歐洲法院的批評。照這樣下去，該法案將不得不面對大量的法律挑戰，並且可能在接下來的歲月裏進行調整。
