网络争斗 如何让互联网更开放

Governments and companies are engaged in a battle to determine who can do what on the internet, and the outcome will reverberate around the world.

政府和企业正投入一场关于谁可以在互联网上做什么的战斗，其结局将在全球引起反响。

Google’s troubles in Europe over privacy, antitrust and the “right to be forgotten” are one example of this struggle. Multinational companies’ tussles with the US National Security Agency and Britain’s GCHQ over access to user data are another.

在欧洲，谷歌(Google)在隐私、反垄断和“被遗忘权”(Right to be Forgotten)领域遭遇的麻烦，就是这场斗争的一个例子。跨国公司与美国国家安全局(NSA)和英国政府通信总部(GCHQ)围绕用户数据访问权的角力是另一个例子。

At the same time some democracies and companies are working together against a coalition that includes most of the world’s authoritarian regimes in a struggle over how the internet should be governed, by whom, and to what extent states should be able to replicate physical borders in cyberspace. The outcomes of these clashes will affect everybody who uses the internet, determining whether it remains free and open as intended or whether we are left with a cyber space that is “Balkanised” and fragmented.

与此同时，一些民主国家和企业正联合反对一个包括全球大多数威权政权的联盟，中心问题是如何监管互联网、由谁监管，以及政府可在何种程度上在网络空间复制实体世界。这些冲突的结局将影响所有使用互联网的人，决定互联网是否将按照各方的初衷，保持自由和开放？抑或我们将面对一个“巴尔干化”、四分五裂的网络空间？

There are many reasons to work for an open, interconnected internet. It eases cross-border commerce and education, maximising economic opportunities. It enables otherwise isolated political, religious and sexual minorities to forge global alliances. The aftermath of the Arab uprisings has proved that unfettered internet access does not magically produce prosperity and pluralism – yet in the 21st century it is a precondition for spreading economic and political rights.

致力于一个开放且互联互通的互联网有很多理由。它将促进跨境商业和教育，最大化经济机遇。它使孤立的政治、宗教和性取向少数群体能够建立全球联盟。阿拉伯暴动的余波证明，不受约束的上网并不会奇迹般地造就繁荣和多元化，然而在21世纪，它是扩展经济和政治权利的前提条件。

Democracies and multinationals (with Google vocally in the lead) have appointed themselves champions of a “free and open” internet, despite a widening trust deficit with the public exacerbated by the revelations of Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor turned whistleblower. They are working with experts and activists from around the world to promote what they call a “multi-stakeholder model” of internet governance and policy making. Here, business and “civil society” groups take a seat at the table on equal terms with governments to make decisions about the future of the internet.

民主国家和跨国企业（谷歌态度鲜明地领头）自封为“自由且开放”互联网的倡导者，尽管美国国安局前合同工爱德华•斯诺登(Edward Snowden)的爆料加剧了日益严重的公众信任缺失。它们正与全球专家和活动人士合作，推广它们所称的互联网治理和政策制定的“多方利益相关者模式”。在这种模式下，企业和“公民社会”团体平等地与政府坐在一起，就互联网的未来做出决策。

China and Russia lead the camp asserting the sovereignty of governments. Both have made clear that using the internet to organise political opposition is a threat to “national security”. China’s internet is in effect an “intranet” that connects with the global system only at controlled choke points. Iran is working to build a “halal” or “pure” internet. President Vladimir Putin’s Russia is moving in a similar direction.

中国和俄罗斯是坚持政府主权阵营的领头者。两国都明确表示，利用互联网组织政治反对活动是对“国家安全”的一种威胁。中国的互联网实际上是一种“内联网”，只是在受控的网络枢纽点与全球系统相连。伊朗正致力于建设一个“清真”的互联网。弗拉基米尔•普京(Vladimir Putin)主政的俄罗斯正朝着类似的方向前进。

If the “free and open” camp cannot do better to align words and deeds, it will lose. Further damaging revelations will emerge as long as people have reason to suspect their rights to privacy and freedom of expression are being violated.

如果“自由和开放”阵营无法更好做到言行一致，那么他们将失败。只要人们有理由怀疑自己的隐私权和言论自由正遭到侵犯，就会冒出更多具有破坏力的爆料。

For companies, the first step is to make public commitments to respect users’ rights, then implement those commitments in a transparent, accountable and independently verifiable manner. A grouping of democracies including the US and the UK, known as the Freedom Online Coalition, should implement policies that support a free and open global internet. These encompass greater transparency about surveillance practices, with genuinely “effective domestic oversight”.

对于企业而言，第一步应当是公开承诺尊重用户权利，接下来是以一种透明、可问责和可独立核实的方式落实这些承诺。包括美国和英国在内的民主国家联盟（被称为自由在线联盟(Freedom Online Coalition)）应当实施支持自由且开放的全球互联网的政策。这些政策包括利用真正“有效的国内监督”，提高监听实践的透明度。

Democracies’ pursuit of short-term political interests can contribute to fragmentation. Take Europe’s recent “right to be forgotten” ruling allowing citizens to request sensitive information be omitted from search results. Activists from Egypt to Hong Kong fear copycat steps in their countries will strengthen barriers to global information flows.

民主国家对短期政治利益的追逐可能加剧割裂。以欧洲最近的“被遗忘权”裁决为例，该裁决允许公民要求将敏感信息从搜索结果中删除。从埃及到香港，活动人士担心各自的国家效仿此举，从而加大全球信息流动的阻碍。

If even democracies cannot be trusted as stewards of an open internet, the power of all governments must be kept in check by companies and civil society through processes based in a common commitment to keep cyber space free and interconnected.

如果就连民主国家也不能被信赖为开放互联网的守护者，那么企业和公民社会必须通过基于保持网络空间自由且互联互通的共同承诺的过程，约束所有政府的权力。

But if companies are to win civil society over to their side, activists must be able to trust them not to violate their privacy or restrict speech. Strengthening trust in public and private institutions that shape the internet should be a priority for anyone with an interest – commercial, moral or personal – in keeping global networks open and free.

然而，如果企业要将公民社会争取到他们这边来，活动人士必须能够相信企业不会侵犯他们的隐私，也不会限制言论。加强对塑造互联网的公共和私营机构的信任，应成为有意（无论是出于商业、道德还是个人利益）保持全球互联网开放和自由的任何人的优先事项。