美国国家公共电台 NPR Behind China's VPN Crackdown, A 'Game Of Cat And Mouse' Continues

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

China has constructed the world's most sophisticated system of Internet content control. It's been dubbed¹ not the Great Wall but the great firewall. Now, savvy² Internet users can tunnel under that wall using tools known as virtual private networks or, as you might know them, VPNs. But as NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Beijing, China's government is now stepping up its efforts to block those VPNs.

ANTHONY KUHN, BYLINE³: A software developer in southern China surnamed Xie was at his home on a recent day when he responded to a knock on the door. He opened it to find three plainclothes policemen. Xie asks that we just use his last name because he fears being arrested. At the time, Mr. Xie was selling VPN apps on Apple's China App Store. The tool helps people access internet content that's blocked in China. He says police told him...

XIE: (Through interpreter) Somebody has discovered that you're selling circumvention⁴ software. That's illegal. Then they asked me to let them inspect my computer.

KUHN: Xie says the police told him to remove his VPN from the Apple App Store. Xie didn't want to go to jail. So he complied, and the cops left. He said he could have put the VPN back later. But not long after that, Apple removed all VPNs from its China App Store. Apple says it's just complying with Chinese law. But not everyone is sympathetic.

HAROLD LI: Restrictions⁵ like these are a threat to free speech and civil liberties.

KUHN: Harold Li is vice⁶ president of ExpressVPN, a British Virgin⁷ Islands-based company.

LI: We were surprised and disappointed because we believe in the importance of VPNs, like ExpressVPN, for ensuring that there's a free and open Internet.

KUHN: Li says that for the past eight years, his company has managed to keep providing VPN services to customers in China, despite government attempts to block it. Even as the government finds new methods to block VPNs, providers find new ways to end run the blocks. And it's not clear that either side has a decisive advantage. Li describes the situation as...

LI: ...An ongoing⁸ game of cat and mouse or whack-a-mole.

KUHN: The Chinese government insists that companies in China can apply to use unrestricted connections to overseas websites. But at a recent press conference, Ministry⁹ of Industry and Information Technology official Wen Ku issued this warning.

WEN KU: (Through interpreter) We strictly¹⁰ forbid the transmission of harmful information or terrorist information over the internet.

KUHN: By harmful information, the government often means dissenting¹¹ political views. It blocks access to overseas sites, including Google, Twitter, Facebook, The New York Times and the BBC, just to name a few. Zhou Shuguang is a citizen journalist and blogger who goes by the pen name Zuola. He believes that the Chinese government has the technical ability to seal the country's internet off from the outside world. But he says they're not prepared to go that far yet.

ZHOU SHUGUANG: (Through interpreter) Authorities are not seeking to prevent 100 percent of the people from evading¹² censorship. They're just trying to keep things within their control.

KUHN: Zuola says that China is not going to risk crippling the internet economy with total censorship. He says China's main goal in shutting down VPNs is to shape public discourse¹³.

ZHOU: (Through interpreter) The Chinese government has always paid a lot of attention to controlling the agenda. They just want to ensure that other topics don't interfere¹⁴ with the topics they're focusing on.

KUHN: He also notes that in times of emergency, China's government has the legal authority to completely shut down the country's internet. China's western region of Xinjiang did just that during ethnic¹⁵ rioting in 2009. But the whole country's internet has never gone black yet. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Beijing.

(SOUNDBITE OF LOW IN THE SKY'S "FAX MN")

1 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 savvy   

v.知道，了解；n.理解能力，机智，悟性；adj.有见识的，懂实际知识的，通情达理的

参考例句：

• She was a pretty savvy woman.她是个见过世面的漂亮女人。
• Where's your savvy?你的常识到哪里去了？

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 circumvention   

n.陷害，欺骗

参考例句：

• They gave a pledge that there would be no circumvention via third coutries. 他们保证不会有通过第三国进行包围的事。 来自辞典例句
• The anti-circumvention clause has its " validity and rationality. " 反规避条款有其存在的合法性和合理性。 来自互联网

5 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

6 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

7 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

8 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

9 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

10 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

11 dissenting   

adj.不同意的

参考例句：

• He can't tolerate dissenting views. 他不能容纳不同意见。
• A dissenting opinion came from the aunt . 姑妈却提出不赞同的意见。

12 evading   

逃避( evade的现在分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出

参考例句：

• Segmentation of a project is one means of evading NEPA. 把某一工程进行分割，是回避《国家环境政策法》的一种手段。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Too many companies, she says, are evading the issue. 她说太多公司都在回避这个问题。

13 discourse   

n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述

参考例句：

• We'll discourse on the subject tonight.我们今晚要谈论这个问题。
• He fell into discourse with the customers who were drinking at the counter.他和站在柜台旁的酒客谈了起来。

14 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

15 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。