苹果死守隐私底线 关键点在中国
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.
旧金山——苹果公司(Apple)用了六年时间才说服了中国最大的无线运营商中国移动销售iPhone。苹果公司首席执行官蒂莫西·D·库克(Timothy D. Cook)曾多次去中国与政府官员和企业高管会面，亲自争取他们的支持。
The persistence paid off. In 2013, China Mobile relented, a moment Mr. Cook later described as “a watershed day” for Apple.
这种坚持得到了回报。2013年，中国移动松口了。库克后来称，对苹果来说那是“有划时代意义的一天”。
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，中国是苹果仅次于美国的第二大市场。过去的一个财年里，中国消费者在购买苹果产品上花了590亿美元。公司最热销的产品iPhone已经成了一种地位的象征。考虑到在中国，人们越来越担心黑客入侵和网络犯罪，而iPhone又很难侵入，它也成了一种实现个人安全的方式。
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.
苹果在中国的成功，有助于解释为什么在是否帮助政府进入一部加密iPhone一事上，该公司与美国政府陷入了僵持。那部手机的主人，是去年12月制造了加利福尼亚州圣贝纳迪诺那起大规模枪击案的袭击者之一。
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.
苹果正在为自己的业务从长计议。隐私和安全已经成了其品牌的一部分，特别是在国际市场上。苹果一年将近2340亿美元的销售额中，近三分之二来自国际市场。他们的想法是，如果和美国政府合作，苹果将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·库克正在利用他个人以及苹果公司的品牌，在这种环境下把立场放在消费者隐私一边，”在布法罗大学(University at Buffalo)研究网络加密与立法的法学教授马克·巴塞洛缪(Mark Bartholomew)说。“他是在从长远考虑。”
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.”
库克曾把隐私称为一种公民义务，在上周二写给苹果用户的信中，他也用了这种说法。他在信中描述了美国政府在如何要求获得一种专门工具，以破解圣贝纳迪诺袭击者使用过的iPhone，库克写道：“政府表示，这个工具只会被使用一次，只用在一部手机上。但是，这根本不是真的。工具一旦制造出来，该技术可以被一次又一次地使用，用在各种各样的设备上。”
An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment beyond the remarks in Mr. Cook’s letter.
苹果公司发言人拒绝发表超出库克信中言论的评论。
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.”
苹果从保护隐私中可能获得的业务优势为批评者攻击公司打开一个缺口。美国司法部在上周五提交给法庭的一份文件中表示，苹果反对帮助执法部门看来“是基于对公司商业模式及其大众品牌营销战略的考虑。”
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.
苹果高管回应说，他们的违抗不是一种商业选择。他们说，还没有看到任何对业务的影响，库克已经收到了全国各地客户发来的表示支持的电子信。
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.
事实上，苹果并没有把数据安全和隐私作为广告宣传的重点。公司不声不响地把保护隐私的功能添加到iOS的移动操作系统中已有一段时间了。2013年底，苹果发布其iOS 7系统时，公司默认设置对用户手机上存放在所有第三方数据加密。2014年发布的iOS 8已基本上把公司的工程师从移动手机和平板机上提取任何数据变得不可能。
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.
库克也一直对苹果如何拥护隐私直言不讳，在前情报承包商雇员爱德华·J·斯诺登(Edward J. Snowden)披露了政府监听监视工作之后，库克在更大范围里讨论隐私问题。库克认为，公司主要出售手机、平板机、笔记本电脑等硬件，不像谷歌和Facebook等其他硅谷巨头的业务以广告为主那样，苹果不依赖于海量消费者数据。
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月的一次会议上，库克称隐私是苹果公司的一个“关键价值”，他说，“我们觉得，随着时间的推移，人们意识到，他们生活中隐秘的部分似乎处于公开状态，而且被各种各样的东西利用，因此，隐私对越来越多的人将有日益重要的意义。”
For Apple, cooperating with the United States government now could quickly lead to murkier situations internationally.
对苹果来说，现在与美国政府合作可能很快会让公司在国际上面临更加模糊的情况。
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.
比如在中国，苹果与任何其他在那里出售智能手机的外国公司一样，要把进口设备交给中国监管机构检查。苹果在中国也放有作为服务器的计算机，但苹果此前曾表示，北京不能查看计算机上的数据，因为服务器的密钥并不存放在中国。实际上，按照中国法律，北京通常对任何存放在中国的数据拥有访问权。
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.
如果苹果同意美国执法部门破解涉及圣贝纳迪诺案iPhone的要求，而北京要求得到一个类似工具，苹果不太可能能控制中国对该工具的使用。如果苹果拒绝北京的要求，它可能会面临一系列的处罚。
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，中国官员正在争取得到对国内销售电脑和手机的加密和安全的更大控制权，尽管去年在国外贸易团体的压力下，北京在一些要求外国公司提供其在中国销售设备的加密密钥的提案上做出了让步。
“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.”
“人们往往没有想到这个问题的全球影响，”致力于互联网自由的非盈利组织Access Now的政策主任拉曼·吉特·辛格·奇玛(Raman Jit Singh Chima)说。“现实情况是，一个民主政府干这种事情所带来的危害是非常严重的。在自由更少的地方，其影响甚至是更加负面的。”
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.
俄罗斯、英国和以色列政府也有强大的监听监视工作。一些国家的政府已试图用技术手段来搜集国内公民的情报。
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.
苹果公司抵制美国政府要求的做法在人们中引起极为不同反响。苹果的支持者们在最近几天已在旧金山等城市举行抗议以示他们对公司的支持，他们还在社交媒体上建立了#freeapple和#beatthecase等话题标签。
“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.”
“我们仅仅是在为维持一个假设而战，那就是公司应该保护我们，”公民自由组织Fight for the Future的活动主管埃文·格里尔(Evan Greer)说，这个团体正在组织周二的支持苹果的全国抗议活动。“苹果正在做每家公司都应该做的事情。”
Others, including the Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump, have criticized Apple, and Mr. Trump has suggested boycotting its products.
其他人则批评苹果的做法，包括共和党总统候选人唐纳德·J·特朗普(Donald J. Trump)，特朗普已暗示要抵制苹果产品。
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，人们对这场僵局有所了解，但许多人认为此事不影响他们购买iPhone及其他苹果产品的决定。上周五在罗马，34岁的历史教师西蒙娜·法瑞里(Simone Farelli)正在一家苹果商店里随便看着新iPhone，她说，她“看不出来有什么理由”会让苹果与联邦调查局的僵持“改变我购买一部新手机的主意。”
In China, the iPhone continues to hold a special place as a symbol of middle-class status.
在中国，iPhone继续保持着其作为中产阶级身份象征的特殊地位。
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.
上周五在北京三里屯高档小区的苹果商店外面等待开门的35岁咨询顾问温树跃（音）是苹果数以百万计的中国用户之一。他说他喜欢iPhone，只是因为它比小米和华为等中国公司制造的国产品牌好得多。
“I’ve never used Xiaomi or Huawei, because I think their designs are rough and not all that personal,” he said.
“我从来没用过小米或华为，因为我觉得它们设计粗糙，而且不那么个性化，”他说。
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.”
苹果公司的股东们迄今对此事尚未发声。以前，一些曾抱怨苹果以推动社会为目的措施对公司核心业务来说多余的投资者很快变得默不作声了。在2014年的股东大会上，库克对投资者说，如果他们想让他只出于公司最终盈利的考虑作决定的话，“那么你们应该把股票卖掉。”
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，数据隐私可能最终会促使投资者，并终将促使更多的客户用他们的钱包做出表决，因为“这是一个直接涉及公司业务的问题”，麻省理工学院斯隆管理学院(M.I.T. Sloan School of Management)教授迈克尔·库苏马诺(Michael Cusumano)说。“目前来看，人们购买手机时并不考虑加密的问题，但我们需要等着瞧，看这场斗争会变得如何激烈。”
