谷歌与国安局的合作令全世界担忧 - 电工杂谈 - 电子工程

2dmin

谷歌事件很复杂，早已远远地超越了技术范畴。实际上，谷歌事件是社会科学研究的一个很好的案例，包括政治学、经济学、新闻学、法律、伦理等各个学科。我们先不做更多的探讨，因为那样做肯定不合时宜。我们这里只探讨一下谷歌与美国国家安全局（简称国安局）的合作事件。

二月初，google请求美国国家安全局帮助它了改善网络安全。一石激起千层浪。谷歌此举在美国引起了有识之士的广泛担忧。如今，这种担忧已经跨出了国界。例如，法国国家科研中心研究员、信息安全专家里基代勒最近表示，谷歌与国安局的合作将对其他国家的国家安全和商业安全构成严重威胁。

真的是成也萧何、败也萧何吗？美国宪法规定，公民享有言论自由(Freedom of Speech)，这是新闻出版自由的基础。美国法律还规定，公民有自由获得信息（Freedom of Information）的权利。也就是说，公民可以自由地说、自由地听。谷歌的贡献在于后者，它让全美国人民乃至全世界人民享有自由获得信息的权利，这是谷歌令人称颂的地方。

然而，谷歌与国安局的合作却有可能妨碍公民的言论自由。众所周知，美国国安局是一个间谍机构，是让公民反感的政府机关。谷歌向国安局求救，有将灵魂出卖给撒旦之嫌疑。下面我们看一下美国人是如何评论这件事的：
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"Google and NSA are entering into a secret agreement that could impact the privacy of millions of users of Google's products and services around the world," the centre's executive director Marc Rotenberg told the New York Times.

“谷歌正在与国安局签订一份秘密协议，它有可能影响全世界千百万谷歌用户的隐私”，华盛顿电子隐私信息中心主任Marc Rotenberg对纽约时报说。

Sam Diaz, blogger and senior editor at ZDNet, a technology website, said he felt "squeamish" about the possibility of information sharing between Google and the government, and was sceptical about the NSA's ability to help protect the company's infrastructure.

"I mean no disrespect to my country or my government but I have to ask: Is Washington really the best choice if you're looking for help with something as serious as cyber security?" he wrote.

ZDNet资深编辑Sam Diaz说，他对谷歌和政府之间可能的信息共享感到恶心。他怀疑国安局是否有能力保护谷歌的网络。“我不是不尊重我的国家或政府，但我想问：如果你在就网络安全这样严肃的事情寻求帮助，那么华盛顿真的是你的最佳选择吗？”他写道。

Andrew Beal, writing in Marketing Pilgrim, said: "Big brother just partnered with big brother.

"While it's unlikely that Google's going to hand over any user information, I still don't like how close – and how quickly – Google is snuggling up with perhaps the scariest of all government agencies," he blogged.

Referring to the NSA's monitoring of the email and telephone calls of thousands of Americans after the 2001 terror attacks, Beal wrote: "This is the same agency that tapped your phones and emails without a warrant after 9/11. We're supposed to feel confident it won't take a poke around Google's sensitive data?"

Andrew Beal 在 Marketing Pilgrim 写道：老大与老大的勾结

“虽然谷歌不太可能把用户的信息交出来，但我还是不喜欢谷歌与最可怕的政府部门勾搭得这么近、这么快”，他在博客中写道。

Beal提到国安局在911之后监听美国人邮件和电话的事，他写道：就是这个机构在911之后无证监听你的电话和邮件。那么我们能够放心，它不会染指谷歌的敏感数据吗？

Noah Shachtman, writer of Wired magazine's national security blog Danger Room, described the NSA as a "particularly untrustworthy partner".

"We all know that Google automatically reads our Gmail and scans our Google calendars and dives into our Google searches, all in an attempt to put the most relevant ads in front of us," he wrote.

"But we've tolerated the automated intrusions, because Google's products are so good, and we believed that the company was sincere in its 'don't be evil' mantra."

Shachtman said Google's pledge that its agreement with the NSA would not compromise user data was "hard to believe, given the NSA's track record of getting private enterprises to co-operate, and Google's willingness to take this first step."

“连线”杂志的国家安全博客Danger Room的作者Noah Shachtman把国安局描绘成一个“尤其不值得信任的伙伴”。

“我们都知道谷歌自动读取我们的Gmail、Google日历和我们的搜索信息，目的是将最相关的广告放到我们面前，”他写道。

“但是我们容忍了这种自动的侵犯，因为谷歌的产品那么地好，而且我们相信该公司‘不作恶’的信条是真诚的。”

Shachtman说，谷歌承诺它与国安局的协议不会涉及用户数据的说法“很难令人相信，如果你考虑到国安局让私有企业合作的劣迹，以及谷歌迈出第一步的意愿。”

But the ACLU and others, while admitting they know little about what that relationship would entail, worry that the NSA could intercept private e-mails. So they are trying to keep the links above-board. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking records about the NSA's ties to Google and is calling for both Google and the NSA to state the exact terms of any deal.

虽然美国国民自由联盟（ACLU）和其他团体承认，他们对谷歌与国安局的那种关系的结果知之甚少，但他们仍然担心国安局会截获私人邮件。所以他们尽量让他们之间的联系公诸于众。电子隐私信息中心（EPIC）递出了一份自由信息法案申请，索取国安局和谷歌合作过程的档案，并敦促谷歌和国安局公布具体的交易条款。
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