【英语语言学习】哪国的公民更受监视

It's WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Susan Stamberg. The House of Representatives this past week rejected legislation that would have limited what data the NSA can collect from Americans. But the margin¹ was narrow, and House leaders predict more efforts to bring the NSA under tighter control. U.S. intelligence officials were put on the defensive² by the vote. Some argue that regulation of government surveillance programs is tighter in the U.S. than it is in many other countries. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports.

 

TOM GJELTEN, BYLINE³: The disclosure of previously⁴ secret NSA surveillance programs was met by outrage⁵ in Europe. The European Parliament actually threatened to delay trade talks with the United States. U.S. officials dismissed much of the complaining as hypocrisy⁶. Stewart Baker⁷, formerly⁸ the NSA's general counsel, told the House Judiciary Committee this month that the truth is Europeans are more likely to be spied on by their governments than Americans are by theirs. And he had data to back him up.

 

STEWART BAKER: According to the Max Planck Institute, you're 100 times more likely to be surveilled by your own government if you live in the Netherlands or you live in Italy. You're 30 to 50 times more likely to be surveilled if you're a French or a German national than in the United States.

 

GJELTEN: That study tallied⁹ surveillance orders issued by various European governments. Joris van Hoboken of the Institute for Information Law at the University of Amsterdam says those numbers are generally accurate. But he points out that many of the surveillance orders are issued by police departments, not by intelligence agencies like the NSA. He cites his own country.

 

JORIS VAN HOBOKEN: It's quite known that law enforcement in the Netherlands uses wiretapping to a great extent, and that has to do with a certain tradition in the Netherlands of using that instrument.

 

GJELTEN: As opposed to using, for example, undercover agents. That's about the likelihood of being snooped on here versus¹⁰ in Europe. But U.S. officials also argue that the legal restrictions¹¹ on surveillance are tighter here. Christopher Wolf, a lawyer specializing in privacy, recently co-wrote a study comparing the extent to which spy investigations¹³ have to get outside approval, in the U.S. and in Europe. His conclusion: For all the uproar¹⁴ here over intelligence agencies having a free hand, it's worse in Europe.

 

CHRISTOPHER WOLF: We can have a debate over whether or not the judicial¹⁵ and legislative¹⁶ approval process is working here in America, but the fact is, it exists, and in many places in Europe you don't have that kind of due process. You don't have legislative oversight¹⁷. In fact, the national security investigations are done completely in the dark or mostly in the dark.

 

GJELTEN: He cites Germany's Office of Criminal Investigation¹².

 

WOLF: For example, it's permitted to use a computer virus to search IT systems and to monitor communications and to collect data without the knowledge of users or service providers. And while there's a court order that's needed to use it, the service providers often aren't even aware of its deployment¹⁸.

 

GJELTEN: Joris van Hoboken, the Dutch information researcher, does not disagree that oversight is weaker in Europe.

 

HOBOKEN: It's actually true that in general the laws here that allow national security agencies and intelligence community to do wiretapping, they are less detailed¹⁹, and sometimes even less procedural safeguards.

 

GJELTEN: On the other hand, van Hoboken says, it's a mistake to focus too heavily on comparisons between what the NSA can do and what European intelligence agencies can do. Intelligence activities in Europe are done by individual governments and on a far, far smaller scale than what the NSA does. And one other point: the laws that limit the NSA only apply to what the agency does with U.S. citizens on U.S. territory.

 

HOBOKEN: And so that oversight is basically quite meaningless from a perspective of a foreign country or people in a foreign country.

 

GJELTEN: Where the NSA can basically do what it wants. So, U.S. officials may bristle²⁰ over some European complaints about NSA surveillance, but those European concerns are not entirely²¹ unfounded. Tom Gjelten, NPR News, Washington.

1 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

2 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

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 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

5 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

6 hypocrisy   

n.伪善，虚伪

参考例句：

• He railed against hypocrisy and greed.他痛斥伪善和贪婪的行为。
• He accused newspapers of hypocrisy in their treatment of the story.他指责了报纸在报道该新闻时的虚伪。

7 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

8 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

9 tallied   

v.计算，清点( tally的过去式和过去分词 )；加标签（或标记）于；（使）符合；（使）吻合

参考例句：

• The girl tallied them with her eyes for a moment. 新娘用目光把这些化妆品清点了一下。 来自教父部分
• His account of the accident tallied with hers. 他对事故的陈述和她的相吻合。 来自辞典例句

10 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

11 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

12 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

13 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

14 uproar   

n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸

参考例句：

• She could hear the uproar in the room.她能听见房间里的吵闹声。
• His remarks threw the audience into an uproar.他的讲话使听众沸腾起来。

15 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

16 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

17 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

18 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

19 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

20 bristle   

v.（毛发）直立，气势汹汹，发怒；n.硬毛发

参考例句：

• It has a short stumpy tail covered with bristles.它粗短的尾巴上鬃毛浓密。
• He bristled with indignation at the suggestion that he was racist.有人暗示他是个种族主义者，他对此十分恼火。

21 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。