印度4亿社交媒体用户将失去匿名性

印度4亿社交媒体用户将失去匿名性

The advent of new rules for social media applications - like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp - could spell the end for privacy in the Indian internet space. Despite push back from major internet companies, the Indian government is all set to go ahead with the new regulations. The rules are a bid to quell the spread of fake news and trace anti-social elements in the Indian internet ecosystem faster.

针对社交媒体应用(如Instagram、Twitter、Facebook和WhatsApp)的新规则的出台，可能意味着印度互联网空间隐私的终结。尽管遭到主要互联网公司的抵制，印度政府仍将继续实施新规定。这些规定是为了平息假新闻的传播，并更快地追踪印度互联网生态系统中的反社会因素。

Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and TikTok will have to reveal users’ identities if Indian government agencies ask them to, according to the country’s controversial new rules for social media companies and messaging apps expected to be published later this month.

根据印度针对社交媒体公司和即时通讯应用有争议的新规定，如果印度政府机构提出要求，Facebook、YouTube、Twitter和TikTok将不得不披露用户身份。该规定预计将于本月晚些时候发布。

The requirement comes as governments around the world are trying to hold social media companies more accountable for the content that circulates on their platforms, whether it’s fake news, child porn, racist invective or terrorism-related content. India’s new guidelines go further than most other countries’ by requiring blanket cooperation with government inquiries, no warrant or judicial order required.

这一要求出台之际，世界各国政府正试图让社交媒体公司对其平台上流传的内容承担更多责任，无论是假新闻、儿童色情、种族主义辱骂还是与恐怖主义相关的内容。印度的新指导方针比大多数其他国家的指导方针走得更远，要求全面配合政府调查，不需要搜查令或司法命令。

India proposed these guidelines in December 2018 and asked for public comment. The Internet and Mobile Association of India, a trade group that counts Facebook Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google among its members, responded that the requirements “would be a violation of the right to privacy recognized by the SupremeCourt.”

印度于2018年12月提出这些指导方针，并征求公众意见。印度互联网和移动协会是一个行业组织，其成员包括Facebook Inc.、Amazon.com Inc.、Alphabet Inc.的谷歌在其成员中回应说，这些要求“将侵犯最高法院承认的隐私权”。

But the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is expected to publish the new rules later this month without major changes, according to a government official familiar with the matter.

但据一位知情政府官员透露，预计电子和信息技术部将在本月晚些时候公布新规，不会有重大变化。

“The guidelines for intermediaries are under process,” said N.N. Kaul, the media adviser to the minister of electronics & information technology. “We cannot comment on the guidelines or changes till they are published.”

电子与信息技术部长的媒体顾问n·n·考尔说，“针对中介机构的指导方针正在制定中。”“在指导方针或修改公布之前，我们不能发表评论。”

The provisions in the earlier draft had required platforms such as Google’s YouTube or ByteDance Inc.’s TikTok, Facebook or its Instagram and WhatsApp apps, to help the government trace the origins of a post within 72 hours of a request.

早先草案中的条款要求谷歌的YouTube或ByteDance Inc.的TikTok、Facebook或其Instagram和WhatsApp应用程序等平台在接到请求后72小时内帮助政府追踪帖子的来源。

The companies would also have to preserve their records for at least 180 days to aid government investigators, establish a brick-and-mortar operation within India and appoint both a grievance officer to deal with user complaints and a government liaison. The Ministry is still finalizing the language and content.

这些公司还必须将其记录保存至少180天，以协助政府调查人员，在印度建立实体业务，并任命一名申诉官员处理用户投诉和一名政府联络人。该部仍在最后敲定语言和内容。

The rules cover all social media and messaging apps with more than 5 million users. India, with 1.3 billion people, has about 500 million internet users. It isn’t clear whether the identities of foreign users would be subject to the Indian government’s inquiries.

这些规定涵盖了所有用户超过500万的社交媒体和即时通讯应用。印度拥有13亿人口，约有5亿互联网用户。目前还不清楚外国用户的身份是否会受到印度政府的调查。

Law enforcement agencies around the world have been frustrated by tech companies that have refused to identify users, unlock devices or generally cooperate with government investigations, particularly in cases relating to terrorism.

世界各地的执法机构一直对科技公司感到沮丧，这些公司拒绝识别用户身份、解锁设备或总体上配合政府调查，特别是在与恐怖主义有关的案件中。

In India, where the internet - and fake news - are still a relatively new phenomenon, a false report of rampant child abduction and organ harvesting circulated widely via WhatsApp, leading to mob violence and over three dozen fatal lynchings in 2017 and 2018.

在印度，互联网-和假新闻-仍然是一个相对较新的现象，一篇关于猖獗的绑架儿童和器官采集的虚假报道通过WhatsApp广泛传播，导致2017年和2018年发生暴徒暴力和30多起致命的私刑。

WhatsApp refused a request from the government to reveal the origins of the rumors, citing its promise of privacy and end-to-end encryption for its 400 million Indian users. It instead offered to fund research into preventing the spread of fake news and mounted a public education campaign in the country, its biggest global market.

WhatsApp拒绝了政府要求透露谣言来源的请求，理由是该公司承诺为其4亿印度用户提供隐私和端到端加密。取而代之的是，它为防止假新闻传播的研究提供资助，并在其最大的全球市场中国发起了一场公共教育活动。

WhatsApp will “not compromise on security because that would make people less safe,” it said in a statement Wednesday, adding its global user base had reached over 2 billion.

WhatsApp周三在一份声明中表示，“不会在安全问题上妥协，因为这会让人们不那么安全”，并补充说，其全球用户基础已经超过20亿。

“For even more protection, we work with top security experts, employ industry leading technology to stop misuse as well as provide controls and ways to report issues — without sacrificing privacy.”

“为了提供更多的保护，我们与顶级安全专家合作，使用行业领先的技术来阻止滥用，并提供控制和报告问题的方法，同时不牺牲隐私。”

At the same time, tech companies and civil rights groups say the new rules are an invitation to abuse and censorship, as well as a burdensome requirement on new and growing companies.

与此同时，科技公司和民权组织表示，这些新规定会招致滥用和审查，同时也是对新公司和成长型公司的一项繁重要求。

In an open letter to India’s IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, executives from Mozilla Corp., GitHub Inc. and Cloudflare Inc. said the guidelines could lead to “automated censorship” and “increase surveillance.“ In order to be able to trace the originator of content, platforms would basically be required to surveil their users, undermine encryption, and harm the fundamental right to privacy of Indian users, they said.

Mozilla Corp.、GitHub Inc.和Cloudflare Inc.公司的高管在给印度信息技术部长拉维·尚卡尔·普拉萨德的一封公开信中说，这些指导方针可能会导致“自动审查”和“加强监控”。他们说，为了能够追踪内容的创建者，平台基本上将被要求监控其用户，破坏加密，并损害印度用户的基本隐私权。

Companies such as Mozilla or Wikipedia wouldn’t fall under the new rules, the government official said. Browsers, operating systems, and online repositories of knowledge, software development platforms, are all exempt. Only social media platforms and messaging apps will be covered.

这位政府官员说，Mozilla或维基百科等公司不会受到新规则的约束。浏览器、操作系统和在线知识库、软件开发平台都不受此限制。只有社交媒体平台和即时通讯应用程序将被覆盖。