Apple has revealed new details about its controversial data centres in China, amid a dispute with the FBI that has raised questions about its privacy policies outside the US.
苹果(Apple)披露了其备受争议的中国数据中心的最新细节。目前,苹果与美国联邦调查局(FBI)之间发生的争执,已使其在美国以外地区执行的隐私政策受到了质疑。
In China — Apple’s fastest-growing market — the company has acceded to unusual government requests, such as using China-based data centres and incorporating a Chinese WiFi standard, drawing criticism over whether it was turning a blind eye to government snooping. China accounts for a quarter of Apple’s revenue, with sales of $18bn last quarter.
中国市场是苹果业绩增长最快的市场。在中国,苹果答应了政府提出的一些不寻常的要求,比如使用设在中国的数据中心,以及纳入中国的WiFi标准。一些人就此批评苹果是否是对政府的监听睁一只眼闭一只眼。上一季度,苹果在中国市场的销售额达180亿美元,占苹果总收入的四分之一。
Apple attempted to address these concerns in court documents filed on Tuesday in preparation for its hearing next week in the case brought by the FBI. The bureau is seeking court approval to compel Apple to unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino terrorists.
周二,苹果试图在提交给法庭的文件中化解这些担忧。这些文件是为下周该公司将出席的一场听证会准备的。这场听证会是围绕FBI提起的一个案子。FBI正在争取法庭批准强迫苹果解锁圣贝纳迪诺案恐怖分子使用过的一部iPhone。
The Department of Justice has accused Apple of making special accommodations in China. In a court submission, Apple’s software head defended its dealings with governments around the world. However, he stopped short of saying that user data had never been accessible by any foreign government.
美国司法部(DoJ)指责苹果在中国作出了特殊的让步。在提交给法庭的一份文件中,苹果软件部门负责人为苹果与世界各国政府所打的交道作了辩护。然而,他并未表示从未有任何外国政府获取过苹果用户的数据。
“Apple has never made user data, whether stored on the iPhone or in iCloud, more technologically accessible to any country’s government,” said Craig Federighi, head of software engineering, in a statement.
“苹果从未让任何国家的政府从技术上更容易获取苹果用户的数据,无论它们是存储在iPhone上,还是存储在iCloud上,”苹果软件工程部门主管克雷格•费代里吉(Craig Federighi)在一份声明中表示。
“It is my understanding that Apple has never worked with any government agency from any country to create a ‘backdoor’ in any of our products or services,” he wrote.
“我的理解是,苹果从未配合任何国家的任何政府机构在我们的任何产品或服务上创建‘后门’,”他写道。
Apple attorneys said that its servers in China stored data that was fully encrypted, and that the servers were there to reduce the lag-time, or latency, for Apple users in China. Only Chinese citizens’ data were stored there, the attorney said, and the fact that the server was physically located in China was irrelevant because the encryption key was in the US.
苹果的律师表示,该公司中国服务器上存储的数据是完全加密的,服务器设在中国是为了缩短中国苹果用户的时延。律师表示,只有中国公民的数据存储在中国,而且服务器的物理位置在中国并不要紧,因为秘钥在美国。
Apple began storing Chinese users’ data in local servers there in 2014, before the iPhone 6 went on sale in the region.
苹果是在2014年于中国发售iPhone6前开始把中国用户的数据存储在中国服务器上的。
Mr Federighi said Apple only ever provided an unmodified iPhone as part of its applications for regulatory approval around the world, and had never shared the iPhone source code with any government.
费代里吉表示,苹果只提供过一部未修改过的iPhone——那是为了在世界各地申请获得监管批准——并且从未与任何政府分享过iPhone的源代码。
Apple received requests from the Chinese government for data on more than 4,000 devices during the first half of last year, and complied with three-quarters of the requests. By comparison, Apple received more than 9,000 requests from the US during the same period.
去年上半年,苹果收到了中国政府提出的逾4000次数据请求,遵从了其中的四分之三。相比之下,同期苹果收到的美国政府提出的数据请求超过9000次。