印度要求中资企业证明数据安全

Smartphone makers and creators of internet browsers have become the latest Chinese companies to find themselves the subject of scrutiny by the Indian government, with New Delhi insisting they prove they are keeping customer data safe.

中国的智能手机制造商和网络浏览器开发商成为最新一批受到印度政府关注的中资企业，新德里方面坚持要求它们证明自己在保持客户数据的安全。

Indian officials have demanded that smartphone makers, predominantly Chinese, co-operate with a security audit to check whether the data they have on Indian users is secure.

印度官员们要求智能手机制造商(主要是中资企业)配合一项安全审计，以检查它们持有的印度用户数据是否安全。

One official said 30 companies in total had been asked to provide information to investigators, one of which is the Alibaba-owned browser UCWeb, which has more than 100m monthly active users in India, claiming a 57 per cent market share.

一名官员表示，共有30家公司被要求向调查人员提供信息，其中之一是阿里巴巴(Alibaba)拥有的UC浏览器(UCWeb)，其在印度的每月活跃用户超过1亿，占据57%的市场份额。

The move is the latest example of Indian authorities taking action against Chinese companies, having banned them from investing in the Indian power grid in May. Relations between the two countries have deteriorated since then, with the two armies involved in a stand-off at Doklam, near their border with Bhutan.

此举是印度官方对中资企业采取行动的最新例子。今年5月，印方禁止中资企业投资印度电网。自那以来，两国关系出现恶化，双方军队在中国与不丹接壤的多兰高原(Doklam Plateau，中国称洞朗地区——译者注)陷于一场对峙。

“With India and Chinese tensions rising because of Doklam, [India] has been more proactive about cracking down on Chinese brands and looking into where the data are going,” said Neil Shah, analyst at Counterpoint.

“随着印中之间的紧张由于多兰高原的对峙而上升，印度更加积极主动地打压中国品牌，并开始关注数据的去向，”Counterpoint的分析师尼尔•沙阿(Neil Shah)表示。

“For some brands, the data servers are in Singapore, and some might have them in China, and many of them are not disclosing where it goes. From Singapore, it could go anywhere, including back to China, and this could be a security threat.”

“一些品牌的数据服务器位于新加坡，有些品牌的服务器可能在中国，而其中许多品牌并没有披露数据去向。这些数据可能从新加坡流向任何地方，包括转移到中国，这可能构成一个安全威胁。”

UCWeb said it had not been told by the Indian government about the probe, adding that it was “common practice” for IT companies to place servers around the globe to improve service for users and that measures were taken to encrypt the data transmitted.

UCWeb表示，它尚未从印度政府接到这项调查的通知，并补充称，IT公司把服务器部署在全球各地是“常见的做法”，目的是改善用户服务，同时数据在传输中采取了加密措施。

“It is also standard industry practice to collect user information and data in necessary scenarios to provide users with localised services. We take necessary authorisation from users to collect this data,” the company said.

“在必要情况下，收集用户信息和数据以便向用户提供本地化服务，也是标准的行业实践。我们在收集这些数据时征求了必要的用户授权，”该公司表示。

Many in India criticise the behaviour of Chinese companies operating there. “Chinese technology companies employ practices that undercut the norms in democratic countries,” said Brahma Chellany, professor of strategic studies at New Delhi’s Centre for Policy Research.

印度许多人士批评在该国经营的中资企业的行为。“中国科技企业采用的一些做法，削弱了民主国家的规范，”新德里政策研究中心(Centre for Policy Research)的战略研究教授布拉马•切拉尼(Brahma Chellaney)表示。

India has long fretted about technology being used by terrorists and not being able to access it. In 2010, it threatened to ban BlackBerry smartphones if it did not provide access to certain data. At the time, India was concerned that encrypted messages, such as BlackBerry’s corporate email, could be used by terrorists to stage strikes, such as the attack in Mumbai in 2008 that killed 166 people.

印度长期对恐怖分子利用新技术、而当局无法破解这些技术感到头疼。2010年，印度曾威胁要封杀黑莓(BlackBerry)智能手机——除非该公司让政府访问某些数据。当时，印度担心加密信息(如黑莓公司的企业级电子邮件)可能被恐怖分子用来策划袭击，例如2008年孟买遭遇的导致166人遇难的恐袭。

Mr Shah said the latest crackdown also played into concerns that Chinese manufacturers are dominating the smartphone market and, despite Made in India requirements, are largely using Chinese parts and simply assembling them in India.

Counterpoint的沙阿表示，最新的打压也回应了印度一些人的担忧，即中国制造商正在霸占智能手机市场，而且尽管面对“印度制造”要求，仍基本上只使用中国部件，只是在印度组装。

In the latest quarter, almost half of all smartphones sold in India were from Chinese brands, he said, such as Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo.

他说，在最近一个季度，印度销售的近一半智能手机是中国品牌的手机，如小米、Vivo和Oppo。

For tech companies such as Alibaba, which owns UCWeb, the data they collect — on where people are, what they are buying and who they are talking to — are increasingly valuable. The Indian government, said Mr Shah, “is now getting more cognisant of the fact that data are the new oil, so they have to think about where the data goes”.

对于拥有UCWeb的阿里巴巴等科技公司，其收集的数据——关于人们在哪里，他们在购买什么，他们在跟谁交谈——正变得越来越有价值。沙阿表示，印度政府“正越来越清醒地意识到数据是新的石油，所以他们不得不考虑数据的去向”。