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What happens when the wave of encryption rippling through the personal technology world washes up against the realities of the data economy?
当个人科技产品世界掀起的加密浪潮拍上数字化经济的现实时，会发生什么情况？
Most of the recent debate over the spread of encryption has centred on the implications for personal privacy and national security. Less has been said about business: in particular, what a greater use of encryption will mean for the usability of tech products and services, and for the business models that rely on capturing and extracting value from data.
近期围绕普及加密技术的讨论，主要集中在加密之于个人隐私及国家安全的意义，较少涉及其在商业方面的影响。特别是，加密技术的广泛使用对科技产品及服务的可用性、以及依赖于从数据中挖掘价值的商业模式来说意味着什么？
This week, it was WhatsApp’s turn to push encryption deeper into everyday life, with the news that conversations between its 1bn users will be scrambled. WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned messaging app, has already run into problems in Brazil for not storing messages demanded by a court. Now, it will not be able to “read” real-time communications either.
这回轮到WhatsApp让加密技术更深入人们的日常生活——上周，有报道称，其10亿用户之间的对话内容将被加密。Facebook的这款通讯应用软件此前已在巴西惹上麻烦，原因是其未按法院要求存储信息。现在，它也将无法“读取”实时对话了。
When the makers of mass-market products and services make a show of taking steps such as this to protect their users, it can shift expectations. Although Apple’s legal fight with the US government over an encrypted iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino killers ended inconclusively, it sent a clear message about the lengths the company would go to to protect its users.
当大众市场产品及服务的提供商故意表现出要采取此类措施保护用户的姿态时，这可能会改变人们的期望。尽管苹果(Apple)与美国政府的法律之争——围绕圣贝纳迪诺枪击案凶手一部加密iPhone——已无果而终，但这明确传达出了苹果不遗余力保护用户的态度。
At least at the device level, encryption is quickly becoming the norm. Amazon’s reversal last month over its latest Fire operating system proved the point. News that the software no longer encrypts data as a matter of course brought an instant outcry from privacy activists — forcing the company to backtrack hastily with a promise to restore the capability in a future update.
至少在设备层面上，加密正在迅速成为行业惯例。上个月，亚马逊(Amazon)围绕其最新Fire操作系统的态度大转变便证明了这一点。有关该软件不再把数据加密作为理所当然的义务的新闻一经报道，立刻引起了隐私维权人士的强烈抗议——迫使该公司匆忙转变态度，承诺在未来的更新版本中重新恢复加密技术。
After delays, Google has also moved to default encryption in the most recent release of Android, its mobile operating system. Not that many of the world’s Android users will see the benefit in the short term: five months after the software’s release, only 2.6 per cent of Android phones are running the latest operating system, according to the company.
在数次推迟后，谷歌(Google)也在最新发布的手机操作系统Android中默认采用加密功能。并非很多Android用户都会在短期内看到加密的好处：根据谷歌的数据，在该版本发布5个月后，只有2.6%的Android手机运行了最新版本的操作系统。
But this is only one side of the story. Few people would want to lock all their data into a single gadget. Besides the risk of loss, it would be to turn back the clock on one of the main benefits of cloud computing: accessing personal information from different devices. The San Bernardino terrorists also used Apple’s iCloud, even if the last time they backed up data from an iPhone was some seven weeks before last year’s shootings.
但是，这只是故事的一方面而已。没有多少人想把所有的信息都锁在一台设备中。除了丢失的风险，这还相当于让时光倒流到没有云计算的时代——利用云技术，用户可以在不同设备上访问个人信息。贝纳迪诺枪击案中的恐怖分子也用苹果iCloud，虽然他们最后一次对iPhone数据进行备份是在枪击案发生前7周左右。
Data in iCloud are encrypted — but, crucially, Apple has the keys, making it possible for courts to order it to hand over information. As a result, since its fight with the FBI, Apple has also been looking at how to put encrypted iCloud data beyond its own reach.
存储在iCloud的数据也是经过加密的——但是，关键是苹果掌握着iCloud的钥匙，所以法院可以命令苹果交出信息。因此，自从与美国联邦调查局(FBI)抗争之后，苹果也在寻找将iCloud加密数据脱离自己掌控的办法。
There are good reasons, though, to think this drive towards strong encryption will reach a natural limit. Putting cloud-based data beyond the reach of the companies hosting it would limit its value. At the most basic level, it would mean users would not be able to recover their personal information if they forgot their passwords.
不过，我们有理由认为，这股朝着“强加密”发展的趋势将自然而然达到一个极限。让云数据脱离科技公司掌控的做法会限制数据的价值。最简单来说，这意味着一旦用户忘记了密码，他们将无法找回个人信息。
Making information unreadable would also make it harder to tailor many online services. Personalisation is the great hope for a world awash with too much data. Shaping digital experiences relies on being able to analyse a user’s personal and behavioural information.
使数据不可读也会令企业难以定制在线服务。在充斥着太多数据的世界，个性化被寄予了很大希望。打造数字化体验，依赖于分析用户的个人数据和行为信息。
There are also powerful economic motivations for limiting encryption. As Harvard University’s Berkman Center said in a recent report , the advertising businesses of companies such as Google and Facebook rely on being able to target adverts based on what they know about their users.
还有强大的经济动因支撑着对加密技术加以限制。正如哈佛大学(Harvard University)伯克曼中心(Berkman Center)在最近一份报告中所说的那样，谷歌(Google)和Facebook等公司的广告业务依赖于根据他们对用户的了解来针对性地投放广告。
Many new types of data are also valued for their ability to be processed. For instance, the “internet of things” is founded on the idea of being able to collect, collate and analyse vast amounts of information thrown off by myriad smart objects. Besides sensors, many of these devices will have cameras and microphones: they will, in effect, be watching and listening.
很多新型数据也因为可以被加工而受到重视。例如，“物联网”是基于对众多智能设备释放的大量数据进行收集、整理和分析的理念而建立。除传感器外，很多智能设备将配有摄像头和麦克风：实际上，它们将拥有看和听的功能。
It is no wonder that many in the tech industry reject the idea that the spread of encryption will make life harder for law enforcement, and instead argue that a “golden age of surveillance” is at hand.
难怪很多科技行业人士否认普及加密技术会加大执法难度，相反他们认为“监控的黄金时代”即将到来。
That is hardly a phrase guaranteed to instil confidence in their customers. But privacy concerns often take a back seat when new digital services bring greater convenience to users’ lives. A battle over encryption is set to rage in the coming years, but its impact on the broader data economy should not be overstated.
这不是一个会给他们的用户带来信心的说法。但是，当新的数字化服务为用户的生活带来更多便利时，对隐私的担忧往往会靠边站。未来数年，加密之战注定会越演越烈，但是不应该夸大这对数字化经济的影响。
