China Presses Its Internet Censorship Efforts Across the Globe
Written By Paul Mozur 《 纽约时报 》 2018年3月5日星期一
中国正在利用互联网用户规模全球最大的地位韺U其在境外实现自己
的目标。
SHANGHAI — Within its digital borders, China has long censored what
its people read and say online. Now, it is increasingly going beyond its own
online realms to police what people and companies are saying about it all
over the world.
上海——中国长期在自己的数字边界内审查民众在网上的阅览和发言内
容。现在,它越来越多地走出自己的网络边界,监控世界各地的人和公
司在说自己什厶。
For years, China has exerted digital control with a system of internet
filters known as the Great Firewall, which allows authorities to limit
what people see online. To broaden its censorship efforts, Beijing is
venturing outside the Great Firewall and paying more attention to what
its citizens are saying on non-Chinese apps and services.
多年来,中国一直通过一个名为“防火长城” ( Great Firewall ) 的互联网
过滤器系统进行数字管控。该系统让当局能{限制人们在网上看到的内
容。为了扩大审查范围,北京正在大胆走向防火长城之外,加大对中国
民众在不属于中国的应用和服务上言论的关注。
As part of that shift, Beijing has at times pressured foreign companies
like Google and Facebook, which are both blocked in China, to take
down certain content. At other times, it has bypassed foreign companies
entirely and instead directly pushed users of global social media to
encourage self-censorship.
作为这个转变的一部分,北京不时向谷歌 ( Google ) 和 Facebook( 这两
家公司在中国均遭屏蔽 )等外国公司施压,要求它们撤下某些内容。还
有一些时候,它则完全绕开外国公司,直接推动跨国社交媒体的用户鼓
励自我审查。
This effort is accelerating as President Xi Jinping consolidates his power.
The Chinese leadership is expected to officially abolish term limits at a
meeting that begins next week, giving Mr. Xi outsize authority over the
country’s direction.
随茪国国家主席习近平巩固自己的权力,这项行动正在加速。中国领
导层预计将在下周(本文最初发表于2018年3月2日——编注)开始的一
场会议上正式取消任期限制,这将使习近平在国家的发展方向上拥有巨
大的权力。
Zhang Guanghong recently discovered the changing landscape for
technology firsthand. Mr. Zhang, a Chinese human rights activist,
decided last fall to share an article with a group of friends in and
outside China that criticized China’s president. To do so, he used
WhatsApp, an American app owned by Facebook that almost nobody
uses in China.
不久前,张 红亲身体验到了科技领域的情G正在发生变化。作为中国
的一名人权活动人士,在去年秋天的时候,张 红贝w和一群国内外的
朋友分享一篇批评中国主席的文章。为此,他使用了Facebook旗下的美
国应用 WhatsApp。在中国,几乎没人使用该应用。
In September, Mr. Zhang was detained in China; he is expected to soon
be charged with insulting China’s government and the Communist Party.
The evidence, according to his lawyer, included printouts of what Mr.
Zhang shared and said in the WhatsApp group.
9月,张 红在中国被拘押。预计很快他就会被控
侮辱中国政府和共产党。其代理律师称,证
包括打印出来的张 红在 WhatsApp 群里分享的
内容和发言。
That information was likely obtained by hacking his phone or through a
spy in his group chat, said China tech experts, without involving Whats
App. Mr. Zhang’s case is one of the first-known examples of Chinese
authorities using conversations from a non-Chinese chat app as
evidence — and it sends a warning to those on the American platform,
which is encrypted, that they could also be held accountable for what’s
said there.
中国的技术专家表示,这些信息可能是通过入侵他的手机或聊天群里的
间谍获取的,WhatsApp没有参与此事。张 红一案是中国当局利用国
外聊天应用中的谈话作为证的已知最早的案例之一。它向使用经过加
密的美国平台的人发出了警告,表明他们也可能被迫对在那上面说的话
负责。
“ China is increasingly throwing its weight around, ”
said Joshua Rosenzweig, an analyst at Amnesty International.
“中国越来越横行霸道,” 国际特赦组织 (Amnesty International) 的分析
人士罗助华 ( Joshua Rosenzweig ) 说。
中国国家主席习近平(中)。中国越来越坚持自己的主张,共产党即将
取消}法中有关主席任期的限制。
As Mr. Xi asserts himself and the primacy of Chinese geopolitical power,
China has also become more comfortable projecting Mr. Xi’s vision of a
tightly controlled internet. Beijing had long been content to block foreign
internet companies and police the homegrown alternatives that sprouted
up to take their place, but it is now directly pressuring individuals or
requesting that companies cooperate with its online censorship efforts.
在习近平坚持自己的主张和中国地缘政治大国的主导地位时,中国也变
得更加心安理得地投射习近平严密控制互联网的愿景。在很长一段时间
里,北京满足于屏蔽外国互联网公司,并监控那些涌现出来取代它们的
本土公司。但现在,它直接向个人施压,或要求公司配合它的网络审查
行动。
That puts many American tech giants in a tricky position, especially
those that want access to China’s vast internet market of more than
700 million strong. In the past, these companies have typically gone to
great lengths to gain a toehold in China. Facebook created a censorship
tool it did not use and released an app in the country without putting its
name to it. Apple is moving data storage for its Chinese customers into
China and last year took down software that skirts China’s internet
blocks from its China App Store. Google recently said it would open a
new artificial intelligence lab in the country.
这导致很多美国科技巨头处境棘手,尤其是那些想要进入中国庞大的互
联网市场的公司。中国网民超过七亿。过去,这些公司往往为了在中国
立足而不遗余力。Facebook开发了一款没被D用的审查工具,还在中国
发布了一款不带自己名字的应用。苹果(Apple)正在把针对中国客户的数
存储业务转移到中国,并于去年将避开中国互联网障碍的软件从其中
国应用商店 ( China App Store ) 下架。谷歌最近表示将在中国开设一个
新的人工智能实验室。
Often, these companies have little recourse when pressured for help by
Beijing. Going to the American government could set off retaliation
from China, so many have sought to navigate the situation on their own.
通常,在被北京L迫提供韺U时,这些公司几乎束手 策。向美国政府
求助可能会引发中国的报复,因此很多公司尝试独自应对这种局面。
“I personally am not sure what the solution is for these companies,” said
Mr. Rosenzweig. “I don’t see a good answer because the Chinese
government is really putting them between a rock and a hard place.”
“我个人不确定对这些公司来说解办法是什厶,”罗助华说。“我没有
看到好的答案,因为中国政府真的让它们处境两难。”
China leaned heavily on major internet companies when Guo Wengui,
a Chinese tycoon in self-imposed exile, went on Facebook and YouTube
to accuse a number of Chinese officials of corruption. Chinese officials
last year complained to Google, which owns YouTube, and Facebook,
according to people familiar with the events who requested anonymity
because they were not authorized to discuss the issue publicly.
当自我流放的中国大亨郭文贵在Facebook和YouTube上指控大批中国官
员腐败时,中国曾向主要的互联网公司施压。熟悉情G的人士透露,
中国官员去年向YouTube所属的谷歌和Facebook抱怨。因为 权公开讨
论此事,这些人士要求匿名。
Facebook suspended Mr. Guo’s account. In a statement, the company
said the account published the personal information of others without
their consent, which violated the platform’s policies. A spokeswoman
declined to comment on whether Beijing’s complaints played a role.
Facebook对郭文贵的账号实行了禁言。该公司在一份声明中说,该账号
未经他人同意发表了他人的个人信息,违反了该平台的政策。一名发言
人拒绝就北京的抱怨是否起了作用发表评论。
Chinese authorities have also successfully persuaded Google to pull
down content that had been available around the globe.
中国当局还成功地说服谷歌下架了原本在全球都能看到的内容。
The Chinese government asked Google’s services to take down 2,290
items in the first half of last year, according to the company’s statistics.
That was more than triple the number it requested in the second half
of 2016, which itself had set a record.
根该公司的统计数,中国政府在去年上半年要求谷歌服务撤下了
2290 项内容。超过中国2016年下半年要求数量的三倍多,这本身已经
创下了记录。
Content related to terrorism made up a substantial portion of the
material China asked Google to take down, according to its data. The
majority of China’s recent takedown requests focused on videos on
YouTube, the data showed. A Google spokesman said the company
would not comment further on specific takedown requests.
谷歌的数,与恐怖主愦关的内容腹成了中国要求谷歌下架材料的
一大部分。数还显示,中国近期要求撤除的大部分内容都以YouTube
视频为重点。谷歌发言人表示,公司不会对具体某项删除请求做进一步
评论。
Chinese officials may have even bigger censorship ambitions.
中国官员可能还有荍鞲j的审查野心。
At a major Chinese internet conference last year, Mei Jianming, a
Chinese antiterrorism expert, said Beijing should put more pressure
on companies like Twitter. The goal would be to get them to change
their terms of service so they could restrict posts by groups that Beijing
considers subversive, like the World Uyghur Congress, which seeks self-
determination for the people of the western Chinese region of Xinjiang.
在中国去年的一个重大互联网会议上,中国反恐专家梅建明表示,北京
应对Twitter这帚漱膝q施加更大的压力。目标是让他们改变服务条款,
这岩L们就可以限制被北京视为颠覆分子的组织发帖,如寻求中国西部
新疆地区人民自赤渐@界维吾堨N表大会( World Uyghur Congress )。
Mr. Mei called for a crackdown on tweets that
“ defame the party, Chinese leaders, and related
national strategies. ”
梅建明要求严厉打击 “ 诽谤中国共产党、国家领导人和有关国家战略 ”
的推文。
Sometimes, Chinese people also push foreign companies to censor
themselves in the country, nurtured by sentiments on China’s
propaganda channels.
在中国宣传渠道论调的培养下,中国人有时也会要求在中国的外国公司
进行自我审查。
Daimler, the German carmaker, apologized in February after its
Mercedes-Benz brand posted an inspirational quote on Facebook’s
Instagram that it attributed to the Dalai Lama. China’s government
views the Tibetan Buddhist leader as a champion of independence for
Tibet, and Mercedes-Benz faced withering criticism from Chinese
online users who shared those views.
2月,德国汽车制造商戴姆勒(Daimler)为其旗下梅赛德斯-奔驰
(Mercedes-Benz)品牌在Facebook旗下的Instagram上引用了达赖喇嘛的
一句激励话语而道歉。中国政府将西藏这位佛教领袖视作藏独的支持者,
奔驰品牌也面临来自认同这一观点的中国网民的尖锐批评。
Mercedes-Benz erased the post — even though few people in China
could see it because Chinese authorities block Instagram. Still,
criticism continued. The People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the
Communist Party, branded Mercedes-Benz an “enemy of the people.”
梅赛德斯-奔驰删除了帖子——尽管中国没什厶人能看到,因为中国政府
屏蔽了Instagram。但批评仍在继续。官方媒体《人民日报》称奔驰 “与
中国人民为敌”。
Mercedes - Benz —— An Enemy of the People
China is Mercedes-Benz’s biggest single car market, accounting for
about one-quarter of sales.
中国是梅赛德斯-奔驰最大的单一汽车市场,约占销量的四分之一。
“China is getting stronger,” said Lokman Tsui, a professor at the School
of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of Hong
Kong, and a former Google employee. “They’re getting more confident
in putting pressure on these platforms.”
“中国正在变L,”香港中文大学新闻与传播学院教授、前谷歌职员徐洛
文说。“他们对向这些平台施压越来越有把握。”
China is also requiring individuals to police what they say on global
social media. In a prominent conviction last year of a human-rights
activist, Lee Ming-che, the Chinese police used writing that he had
posted on Facebook from Taiwan as evidence against him.
中国还要求个人注意自己在全球社交媒体上的言论。人权活动人士李明
哲去年的判角牏H注目,中国警方把他在台湾通过Facebook发表的文字
用作了不利证。
“The fact that China is punishing people for critical content published
outside China to audiences not based in China is of course a concern,”
said Mr. Rosenzweig.
“中国惩罚在境外面向非国内受众发布批评性言论的个人这一事实自然
令人忧,” 罗助华说。
The case of Mr. Zhang, the Chinese individual under scrutiny for what
he posted on WhatsApp, could indicate a further extension of China’s
reach.
因在WhatsApp上发布的内容而受到审查的张 红案,或表明中国的手
伸得更长了。
The Chinese police have previously focused on activists for what they
say on foreign social media, but Mr. Zhang’s case seems to be one of
the first in which someone has been charged for spreading articles on
WhatsApp. Because WhatsApp is encrypted and run by a foreign
company, it is generally considered a safer platform than local
messaging app WeChat, which has for years been closely monitored
by Chinese authorities.
中国警方此前对外国社交媒体上活动人士的言论有过关注,但张 红一
案似乎是因在WhatsApp上传播文章而受到指控的首批案例之一。由于
WhatsApp的信息经过加密,且由外国公司运营,因此与中国本土多年
来一直被当局密切监控的消息应用——微信相比,它通常会被认为是一
个更安全的平台。
Mr. Zhang’s lawyer, Sui Muqing, said he was surprised when the police
presented him with printouts of articles and comments from Mr. Zhang.
张 红的律师隋牧青表示,警方向他出示了张 红的文章和评论的打印
件,令他惊讶不已。
“They didn’t get the information from him, but they have it,” Mr. Sui
said. “That was what we found so weird. None of us knew how they were
capable of getting that data and whether WhatsApp has become unsafe.”
“他们不是从他那里得到的信息,但他们拿到了,”隋牧青说。“这是我
们感觉奇怪的地方。我们都不知道他们如何能拿到数,也不知道
WhatsApp 是否已经不再安全。”
Experts said the information was likely gleaned from somebody within
Mr. Zhang’s WhatsApp group or by accessing Mr. Zhang’s phone
directly, not by hacking WhatsApp. Chinese officials formally blocked
WhatsApp in China about the time of Mr. Zhang’s detention.
专家表示,这些信息可能由张 红WhatsApp组群内的某人收集,或通
过直接登入张 红的手机获得,而非通过入侵WhatsApp。在张 红被
拘留的前后,中国官方正式屏蔽了 WhatsApp。
A spokeswoman for WhatsApp said Chinese authorities did not have backdoor access to its encrypted messages. China’s Ministry of Public Security did not respond to requests for comment.
WhatsApp的发言人表示,中国当局并不能从后门获取经过加密的消息。
中国公安部未回应置评要求。
“When I talk about technology and the internet, people normally pine
for them and look forward to a future that will promote liberalization,”
Mr. Sui said. “But people neglect the fact that modern authoritarianism
also rises with the development of technology, which makes wider and