政府, 请别再监视维基百科

SAN FRANCISCO — TODAY, we’re filing a lawsuit against the National Security Agency to protect the rights of the 500 million people who use Wikipedia every month. We’re doing so because a fundamental pillar of democracy is at stake: the free exchange of knowledge and ideas.

旧金山——今天，我们对国家安全局(National Security Agency)发起诉讼，以保护每月使用维基百科(Wikipedia)的5亿用户的权利。我们这么做是因为此事危及民主的根基，也就是知识和思想的自由交流。

Our lawsuit says that the N.S.A.’s mass surveillance of Internet traffic on American soil — often called “upstream” surveillance — violates the Fourth Amendment, which protects the right to privacy, as well as the First Amendment, which protects the freedoms of expression and association. We also argue that this agency activity exceeds the authority granted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that Congress amended in 2008.

我们的起诉书指出，国家安全局对美国境内网络数据往来实施的大规模监控项目——通常被称为“上游”监控——违反了宪法第四修正案保护隐私权的规定，以及第一修正案保护言论及集会自由的规定。我们还认为，该机构的行动越过了国会2008年修订的《外国情报监视法案》(Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act)授予他们的权力。

Most people search and read Wikipedia anonymously, since you don’t need an account to view its tens of millions of articles in hundreds of languages. Every month, at least 75,000 volunteers in the United States and around the world contribute their time and passion to writing those articles and keeping the site going — and growing.

大多数人都是匿名在维基百科中搜索和阅读，因为要想查看维基百科中以数百种语言汇编的数千万条条目，用户是不需要有账号的。在美国乃至世界范围内，每月至少有7.5万名志愿者奉献自己的时间和热情，编写条目，使网站保持运转——并不断发展。

On our servers, run by the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation, those volunteers discuss their work on everything from Tiananmen Square to gay rights in Uganda. Many of them prefer to work anonymously, especially those who work on controversial issues or who live in countries with repressive governments.

我们的服务器由非营利组织维基媒体基金会(Wikimedia Foundation)运营，这些志愿者通过它讨论自己的工作，话题涉及从天安门广场到乌干达同性恋权利问题等各个领域。其中很多人倾向于匿名工作，特别是那些研究有争议问题的志愿者，或者生活在极权统治国家的志愿者。

These volunteers should be able to do their work without having to worry that the United States government is monitoring what they read and write. Unfortunately, their anonymity is far from certain because, using upstream surveillance, the N.S.A. intercepts and searches virtually all of the international text-based traffic that flows across the Internet “backbone” inside the United States. This is the network of fiber-optic cables and junctions that connect Wikipedia with its global community of readers and editors.

这些志愿者本应自如地开展工作，无需担心美国政府对他们阅读、编写的内容进行监控。遗憾的是，他们的匿名性根本得不到保障，因为国家安全局利用上游监控拦截并搜寻几乎所有经由美国“骨干网”传输的、基于文本的国际流量。而这个骨干网，正是连接维基百科与全球读者及编辑群体的光纤和枢纽网络。

As a result, whenever someone overseas views or edits a Wikipedia page, it’s likely that the N.S.A. is tracking that activity — including the content of what was read or typed, as well as other information that can be linked to the person’s physical location and possible identity. These activities are sensitive and private: They can reveal everything from a person’s political and religious beliefs to sexual orientation and medical conditions.

结果，海外用户无论什么时候查看或编辑维基百科页面，国家安全局都有可能追踪其活动——包括阅读或输入的内容，以及其他涉及个人实际位置及潜在身份的信息。这些活动非常敏感和私密：它们可以透露一切信息，从个人的政治及宗教信仰，到性取向和健康状况。

The notion that the N.S.A. is monitoring Wikipedia’s users is not, unfortunately, a stretch of the imagination. One of the documents revealed by the whistle-blower Edward J. Snowden specifically identified Wikipedia as a target for surveillance, alongside several other major websites like , Gmail and Facebook. The leaked slide from a classified PowerPoint presentation declared that monitoring these sites could allow N.S.A. analysts to learn “nearly everything a typical user does on the Internet.”

不幸的是，有关国家安全局监控维基百科用户的想法，并非凭空臆想。告密者爱德华·J·斯诺登(Edward J. Snowden)披露的一份文件明确指出，维基百科以及、Gmail、Facebook等几家主要网站是监控的目标。一张被曝光的机密PowerPoint幻灯片显示，对这些网站的监控让安全局分析师可以了解“一个普通用户在网上的几乎所有活动”。

The harm to Wikimedia and the hundreds of millions of people who visit our websites is clear: Pervasive surveillance has a chilling effect. It stifles freedom of expression and the free exchange of knowledge that Wikimedia was designed to enable.

这对维基百科及数亿访问我们网站的用户的伤害是显而易见的：无处不在的监控产生了寒蝉效应。这压制了言论自由和知识交流自由，而维基百科旨在使人们可以行使这些权利。

During the 2011 Arab uprisings, Wikipedia users collaborated to create articles that helped educate the world about what was happening. Continuing cooperation between American and Egyptian intelligence services is well established; the director of Egypt’s main spy agency under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi boasted in 2013 that he was “in constant contact” with the Central Intelligence Agency.

在2011年阿拉伯之春运动爆发期间，维基百科的用户开展合作，创建条目，帮助世界了解正在发生的事情。美国与埃及两国情报机构的持续合作得到了确认；阿卜杜勒-法塔赫·塞西(Abdel Fattah el-Sisi)政府主要情报机构的负责人在2013年夸耀称，他与中央情报局(Central Intelligence Agency)“一直保持联系”。

So imagine, now, a Wikipedia user in Egypt who wants to edit a page about government opposition or discuss it with fellow editors. If that user knows the N.S.A. is routinely combing through her contributions to Wikipedia, and possibly sharing information with her government, she will surely be less likely to add her knowledge or have that conversation, for fear of reprisal.

现在想象一下，埃及有一名维基百科用户想要编辑一个有关政府反对派的页面，或与其他编辑进行讨论。如果这名用户知道美国国家安全局定期搜查她为维基百科贡献的内容，还可能与自己的政府分享信息，肯定会不愿意贡献内容或进行那样的对话，因为她会担心遭到报复。

And then imagine this decision playing out in the minds of thousands of would-be contributors in other countries. That represents a loss for everyone who uses Wikipedia and the Internet — not just fellow editors, but hundreds of millions of readers in the United States and around the world.

然后再试想其他国家也有数以千计想要贡献内容的用户做出了这种决定。这对使用维基百科和网络的人来说是一种损失——不仅仅是编辑们，还有美国及世界各地的数亿读者。

In the lawsuit we’re filing with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, we’re joining as a fellow plaintiff a broad coalition of human rights, civil society, legal, media and information organizations. Their work, like ours, requires them to engage in sensitive Internet communications with people outside the United States.

我们在美国公民自由联盟(American Civil Liberties Union)的帮助下提起诉讼，我们像其他组织一样，作为原告加入了一个由人权组织、公民社会组织、法律、媒体及信息组织组成的广泛联盟。与我们一样，他们的工作需要与境外人士进行涉及敏感信息的网络交流。

That is why we’re asking the court to order an end to the N.S.A.’s dragnet surveillance of Internet traffic.

这就是为什么我们要求法院下令，终止国家安全局全面监控网络数据往来的项目。

Privacy is an essential right. It makes freedom of expression possible, and sustains freedom of inquiry and association. It empowers us to read, write and communicate in confidence, without fear of persecution. Knowledge flourishes where privacy is protected.

隐私权是一项基本权利。它是言论自由的先决条件，为质询及集会自由提供支持。它使我们有权秘密地阅读、撰写和交流，不用担心遭受迫害。