澳大利亚拟制订法律强制科技公司破解加密讯息

Australia has become the first country to propose new laws forcing technology companies, such as Apple and Facebook, to help police decode encrypted messages in criminal or terrorist investigations.

澳大利亚成为首个提议制订新法律、强制苹果(Apple)和Facebook等科技公司在刑事或恐怖主义调查中帮警方破解加密讯息的国家。

“We need to ensure that the internet is not used as a dark place for bad people to hide their criminal activities from the law,” Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s prime minister, said on Friday.

澳总理马尔科姆•特恩布尔(Malcolm Turnbull，文首图)上周五表示：“我们需要确保互联网不会被用作坏人隐藏其犯罪行为、逃避法律制裁的阴暗角落。”

The new law is due to be introduced to parliament later this year and will be modelled on similar legislation passed in the UK, which gives police some of the most extensive surveillance powers in the western world. But the UK authorities do not yet have powers to force companies to break end-to-end encryption of messages.

这部新法律定于今年晚些时候提交给议会，它将以英国通过的类似法律为蓝本。英国那部法律赋予警方一些对西方世界而言可谓是最为广泛的监督权力。但英国当局依然无权强制企业破解端对端加密讯息。

Under the Australian proposal, its courts could order internet companies to quickly decrypt messages if requested by law enforcement authorities.

按照澳大利亚的这个提案，澳法院可命令互联网公司依照执法部门的要求迅速破解讯息。

The proposals are likely to be opposed by major technology companies, which have previously resisted attempts to unscramble their encrypted messaging systems to protect the privacy of users.

该提案很可能会遭到大型科技公司的反对。这些公司曾抵制要它们破解其加密讯息系统的企图，以保护用户隐私。

Canberra said it would work with the corporate world to implement the legislation but warned that, as a last resort, it would use coercive powers to force them to help law enforcement.

堪培拉方面表示它将与企业界合作实施这部法律，但它同时警告称，万不得已时它将使用强制力迫使企业协助执法。

Last year Apple refused to help the US Federal Bureau of Investigation access data from an iPhone linked to a terrorism case in San Bernardino, California, that killed 14 people in 2015.

去年，苹果拒绝帮助美国联邦调查局(FBI)从一部与加州圣贝纳迪诺(San Bernardino)恐袭案有关的iPhone内获取数据。2015年的那起恐袭案造成14人死亡。

Facebook already has a protocol to respond to requests for police help but the social media group said it could not read encrypted messages.

Facebook已经有了一套响应警方帮忙请求的协议，但该社交媒体集团表示它无法读取加密讯息。

The government’s proposals could face opposition in parliament, where concerns have been raised recently over the unauthorised access of journalists’ mobile phone records by police.

澳政府的提案可能会在议会遭遇反对。近期，澳议员已对警方未经授权读取新闻工作者的手机记录表示了担忧。