蘋果死守隱私底線 關鍵點在中國

SAN FRANCISCO — It took six years for Apple to persuade China’s largest wireless carrier, China Mobile, to sell the iPhone. Apple’s chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, made repeated trips to China to meet with top government officials and executives to woo them personally.

舊金山——蘋果公司(Apple)用了六年時間才說服了中國最大的無線運營商中國移動銷售iPhone。蘋果公司首席執行官蒂莫西·D·庫克(Timothy D. Cook)曾多次去中國與政府官員和企業高管會面，親自爭取他們的支持。

The persistence paid off. In 2013, China Mobile relented, a moment Mr. Cook later described as “a watershed day” for Apple.

這種堅持得到了回報。2013年，中國移動鬆口了。庫克後來稱，對蘋果來說那是“有劃時代意義的一天”。

Today, China is Apple’s second-largest market after the United States — Chinese consumers spent $59 billion on Apple products in the last fiscal year — and the iPhone, the company’s top seller, has become both a status symbol and a form of personal security, given how difficult the device is to break into in a country where people increasingly worry about hacking and cybercrime.

如今，中國是蘋果僅次於美國的第二大市場。過去的一個財年裏，中國消費者在購買蘋果產品上花了590億美元。公司最熱銷的產品iPhone已經成了一種地位的象徵。考慮到在中國，人們越來越擔心黑客入侵和網絡犯罪，而iPhone又很難侵入，它也成了一種實現個人安全的方式。

Apple’s success in China helps explain why it is now in a standoff with the United States government over whether to help officials gain access to the encrypted iPhone of one of the attackers in the San Bernardino, Calif., mass shooting last December.

蘋果在中國的成功，有助於解釋爲什麼在是否幫助政府進入一部加密iPhone一事上，該公司與美國政府陷入了僵持。那部手機的主人，是去年12月製造了加利福尼亞州聖貝納迪諾那起大規模槍擊案的襲擊者之一。

The company is playing the long game with its business. Privacy and security have become part of its brand, especially internationally, where it reaps almost two-thirds of its almost $234 billion a year in sales. And if it cooperates with one government, the thinking goes, it will have to cooperate with all of them.

蘋果正在爲自己的業務從長計議。隱私和安全已經成了其品牌的一部分，特別是在國際市場上。蘋果一年將近2340億美元的銷售額中，近三分之二來自國際市場。他們的想法是，如果和美國政府合作，蘋果將不得不和所有政府合作。

“Tim Cook is leveraging his personal brand and Apple’s to stand on the side of consumer privacy in this environment,” said Mark Bartholomew, a law professor at the University at Buffalo who studies encryption and cyberlaw. “He is taking the long view.”

“蒂莫西·庫克正在利用他個人以及蘋果公司的品牌，在這種環境下把立場放在消費者隱私一邊，”在布法羅大學(University at Buffalo)研究網絡加密與立法的法學教授馬克·巴塞洛繆(Mark Bartholomew)說。“他是在從長遠考慮。”

Mr. Cook, who has called privacy a civic duty, said as much in a letter to Apple customers on Tuesday. He described how the United States government was asking for a special tool to break into the San Bernardino attacker’s iPhone and said, “The government suggests this tool could only be used once, on one phone. But that’s simply not true. Once created, the technique could be used over and over again, on any number of devices.”

庫克曾把隱私稱爲一種公民義務，在上週二寫給蘋果用戶的信中，他也用了這種說法。他在信中描述了美國政府在如何要求獲得一種專門工具，以破解聖貝納迪諾襲擊者使用過的iPhone，庫克寫道：“政府表示，這個工具只會被使用一次，只用在一部手機上。但是，這根本不是真的。工具一旦製造出來，該技術可以被一次又一次地使用，用在各種各樣的設備上。”

An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment beyond the remarks in Mr. Cook’s letter.

蘋果公司發言人拒絕發表超出庫克信中言論的評論。

The business advantage Apple may get from privacy has given critics an opening to attack the company. In a court filing on Friday, the Justice Department said Apple’s opposition to helping law enforcement appeared “to be based on its concern for its business model and public brand marketing strategy.”

蘋果從保護隱私中可能獲得的業務優勢爲批評者攻擊公司打開一個缺口。美國司法部在上週五提交給法庭的一份文件中表示，蘋果反對幫助執法部門看來“是基於對公司商業模式及其大衆品牌營銷戰略的考慮。”

Apple senior executives responded that their defiance was not a business choice. They said there had not been any business fallout and that Mr. Cook had received supportive emails from customers across the country.

蘋果高管迴應說，他們的違抗不是一種商業選擇。他們說，還沒有看到任何對業務的影響，庫克已經收到了全國各地客戶發來的表示支持的電子信。

In fact, Apple has not made a point of advertising data security and privacy. The company has quietly built privacy features into its mobile operating system, known as iOS, over time. By late 2013, when Apple released its iOS 7 system, the company was encrypting by default all third-party data stored on customers’ phones. And iOS8, which became available in 2014, made it basically impossible for the company’s engineers to extract any data from mobile phones and tablets.

事實上，蘋果並沒有把數據安全和隱私作爲廣告宣傳的重點。公司不聲不響地把保護隱私的功能添加到iOS的移動操作系統中已有一段時間了。2013年底，蘋果發佈其iOS 7系統時，公司默認設置對用戶手機上存放在所有第三方數據加密。2014年發佈的iOS 8已基本上把公司的工程師從移動手機和平板機上提取任何數據變得不可能。

Mr. Cook has also been vocal about how Apple is pro-privacy, a message that he discussed more widely after revelations from the former intelligence contractor Edward J. Snowden about government surveillance. Mr. Cook argued that the company sold hardware — phones, tablets and laptops — and did not depend on the mass collection of consumer data as some Silicon Valley behemoths, such as Google and Facebook, do for their advertising-oriented businesses.

庫克也一直對蘋果如何擁護隱私直言不諱，在前情報承包商僱員愛德華·J·斯諾登(Edward J. Snowden)披露了政府監聽監視工作之後，庫克在更大範圍裏討論隱私問題。庫克認爲，公司主要出售手機、平板機、筆記本電腦等硬件，不像谷歌和Facebook等其他硅谷巨頭的業務以廣告爲主那樣，蘋果不依賴於海量消費者數據。

At a conference in October, Mr. Cook called privacy a “key value” at Apple and said, “We think that it will become increasingly important to more and more people over time as they realize that intimate parts of their lives are sort of in the open and being used for all sorts of things.”

在去年10月的一次會議上，庫克稱隱私是蘋果公司的一個“關鍵價值”，他說，“我們覺得，隨着時間的推移，人們意識到，他們生活中隱祕的部分似乎處於公開狀態，而且被各種各樣的東西利用，因此，隱私對越來越多的人將有日益重要的意義。”

For Apple, cooperating with the United States government now could quickly lead to murkier situations internationally.

對蘋果來說，現在與美國政府合作可能很快會讓公司在國際上面臨更加模糊的情況。

In China, for example, Apple — like any other foreign company selling smartphones — hands over devices for import checks by Chinese regulators. Apple also maintains server computers in China, but Apple has previously said that Beijing cannot view the data and that the keys to the servers are not stored in China. In practice and according to Chinese law, Beijing typically has access to any data stored in China.

比如在中國，蘋果與任何其他在那裏出售智能手機的外國公司一樣，要把進口設備交給中國監管機構檢查。蘋果在中國也放有作爲服務器的計算機，但蘋果此前曾表示，北京不能查看計算機上的數據，因爲服務器的密鑰並不存放在中國。實際上，按照中國法律，北京通常對任何存放在中國的數據擁有訪問權。

If Apple accedes to American law enforcement demands for opening the iPhone in the San Bernardino case and Beijing asks for a similar tool, it is unlikely Apple would be able to control China’s use of it. Yet if Apple were to refuse Beijing, it would potentially face a battery of penalties.

如果蘋果同意美國執法部門破解涉及聖貝納迪諾案iPhone的要求，而北京要求得到一個類似工具，蘋果不太可能能控制中國對該工具的使用。如果蘋果拒絕北京的要求，它可能會面臨一系列的處罰。

Analysts said Chinese officials were pushing for greater control over the encryption and security of computers and phones sold in the country, though Beijing last year backed off on some proposals that would have required foreign companies to provide encryption keys for devices sold in the country after facing pressure from foreign trade groups.

分析人士表示，中國官員正在爭取得到對國內銷售電腦和手機的加密和安全的更大控制權，儘管去年在國外貿易團體的壓力下，北京在一些要求外國公司提供其在中國銷售設備的加密密鑰的提案上做出了讓步。

“People tend to forget the global impact of this,” said Raman Jit Singh Chima, policy director at Access Now, a nonprofit that works for Internet freedoms. “The reality is the damage done when a democratic government does something like this is massive. It’s even more negative in places where there are fewer freedoms.”

“人們往往沒有想到這個問題的全球影響，”致力於互聯網自由的非盈利組織Access Now的政策主任拉曼·吉特·辛格·奇瑪(Raman Jit Singh Chima)說。“現實情況是，一個民主政府幹這種事情所帶來的危害是非常嚴重的。在自由更少的地方，其影響甚至是更加負面的。”

Governments in Russia, Britain and Israel also have robust surveillance operations. Some governments have tried to use technology to gather intelligence on citizens at home and abroad.

俄羅斯、英國和以色列政府也有強大的監聽監視工作。一些國家的政府已試圖用技術手段來蒐集國內公民的情報。

Apple’s resistance to the United States government’s demand has been polarizing. Apple supporters have held protests in cities like San Francisco in recent days to show their support of the company and have used hashtags on social media like #freeapple and #beatthecase.

蘋果公司抵制美國政府要求的做法在人們中引起極爲不同反響。蘋果的支持者們在最近幾天已在舊金山等城市舉行抗議以示他們對公司的支持，他們還在社交媒體上建立了#freeapple和#beatthecase等話題標籤。

“We’re fighting to maintain even the assumption that companies should protect us,” said Evan Greer, the campaign director at Fight for the Future, a civil liberties group that is organizing protests nationwide on Tuesday to support Apple. “Apple is doing what every company should be doing.”

“我們僅僅是在爲維持一個假設而戰，那就是公司應該保護我們，”公民自由組織Fight for the Future的活動主管埃文·格里爾(Evan Greer)說，這個團體正在組織週二的支持蘋果的全國抗議活動。“蘋果正在做每家公司都應該做的事情。”

Others, including the Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump, have criticized Apple, and Mr. Trump has suggested boycotting its products.

其他人則批評蘋果的做法，包括共和黨總統候選人唐納德·J·特朗普(Donald J. Trump)，特朗普已暗示要抵制蘋果產品。

Around the world, people are aware of the impasse but many say it does not affect their decision to buy iPhones and the company’s other products. In Rome on Friday, Simone Farelli, a 34-year-old history teacher who was browsing for a new iPhone at an Apple Store, said she “didn’t see why” the company’s standoff with the Federal Bureau of Investigation “would change my mind about buying a new phone.”

在世界其他地方，人們對這場僵局有所瞭解，但許多人認爲此事不影響他們購買iPhone及其他蘋果產品的決定。上週五在羅馬，34歲的歷史教師西蒙娜·法瑞裏(Simone Farelli)正在一家蘋果商店裏隨便看着新iPhone，她說，她“看不出來有什麼理由”會讓蘋果與聯邦調查局的僵持“改變我購買一部新手機的主意。”

In China, the iPhone continues to hold a special place as a symbol of middle-class status.

在中國，iPhone繼續保持着其作爲中產階級身份象徵的特殊地位。

Wen Shuyue, a 35-year-old consultant, who on Friday was waiting outside the Apple Store in Beijing’s upscale Sanlitun district, is one of Apple’s millions of Chinese users. He said he liked the iPhone because it was simply better than models made by Chinese companies such as Xiaomi and Huawei.

上週五在北京三里屯高檔小區的蘋果商店外面等待開門的35歲諮詢顧問溫樹躍（音）是蘋果數以百萬計的中國用戶之一。他說他喜歡iPhone，只是因爲它比小米和華爲等中國公司製造的國產品牌好得多。

“I’ve never used Xiaomi or Huawei, because I think their designs are rough and not all that personal,” he said.

“我從來沒用過小米或華爲，因爲我覺得它們設計粗糙，而且不那麼個性化，”他說。

Apple’s shareholders have so far been quiet. In the past, investors who complained that some of Apple’s socially driven initiatives were superfluous to the company’s core business were quickly subdued. At a 2014 shareholders’ meeting, Mr. Cook told investors that if they wanted him to make decisions based only on the bottom line, “then you should get out of the stock.”

蘋果公司的股東們迄今對此事尚未發聲。以前，一些曾抱怨蘋果以推動社會爲目的措施對公司核心業務來說多餘的投資者很快變得默不作聲了。在2014年的股東大會上，庫克對投資者說，如果他們想讓他只出於公司最終盈利的考慮作決定的話，“那麼你們應該把股票賣掉。”

But data privacy may eventually motivate investors — and ultimately more customers — to vote with their wallets because “it’s an issue that speaks directly to the business,” said Michael Cusumano, a professor at the M.I.T. Sloan School of Management. “Right now people buy phones regardless of encryption issues, but we have to wait and see how bloody this fight gets.”

但是，數據隱私可能最終會促使投資者，並終將促使更多的客戶用他們的錢包做出表決，因爲“這是一個直接涉及公司業務的問題”，麻省理工學院斯隆管理學院(M.I.T. Sloan School of Management)教授邁克爾·庫蘇馬諾(Michael Cusumano)說。“目前來看，人們購買手機時並不考慮加密的問題，但我們需要等着瞧，看這場鬥爭會變得如何激烈。”