微軟起訴美國司法部濫用保密命令
Microsoft is suing the Department of Justice over its requests to access customer data stored in the cloud, expanding the fight between US technology companies and Washington over privacy concerns.
微軟(Microsoft)正就美國司法部(DoJ)獲取存儲在雲端的客戶數據的要求向該部提起訴訟，此舉擴大了美國科技公司與美國政府在隱私問題上的對抗。
Microsoft’s lawsuit takes aim at the DoJ’s practice of issuing “secrecy orders” that ban Microsoft from telling customers when their information is being accessed by the government. It names Loretta Lynch, the US Attorney General, as a defendant.
微軟的訴訟將目標對準司法部發布“保密命令”的做法，這種做法禁止微軟告知客戶：政府正獲取他們的信息。微軟將美國司法部長洛蕾塔•林奇(Loretta Lynch)列爲被告之一。
Microsoft says this practice, which is legal under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, violates its customers’ Fourth Amendment right to know when they are being searched and violates Microsoft’s First Amendment right to speak about these investigations.
微軟表示，根據《電子通信隱私法》(Electronic Communications Privacy Act)屬於合法的這種做法，侵犯了其客戶根據美國憲法《第四修正案》(Fourth Amendment)對於自己被搜查的知情權，同時侵犯了微軟根據美國憲法《第一修正案》(First Amendment)告知這些調查的權利。
“People do not give up their rights when they move their private information from physical storage to the cloud,” the lawsuit states. The DoJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
訴狀稱：“當人們將自己的私人信息從物理存儲器轉移到雲端時，他們沒有放棄自己的權利。”美國司法部沒有立即對置評請求做出迴應。
The lawsuit comes at a time of growing public debate over how the US government should be able to access electronic records. Apple fought the FBI’s demand for special software to access the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino terrorists, until the FBI found another way to unlock the device.
有關美國政府應如何獲取電子數據的公開辯論正在升溫。蘋果(Apple)曾對抗美國聯邦調查局(FBI)提出的要求該公司提供特殊軟件解鎖聖貝納迪諾(San Bernardino)恐襲案的案犯之一的iPhone的做法，最後FBI通過別的途徑解鎖了那部手機。
Microsoft said the practice of issuing search warrants with secrecy orders had become more common as more customers move to cloud computing. “The government . . . has exploited the transition to cloud computing as a means of expanding its power to conduct secret investigations,” the filing said.
微軟表示，隨着更多用戶採用雲計算，發出保密命令的做法變得更爲普遍。訴狀稱：“政府……利用客戶將信息轉移到雲計算，擴大了其展開祕密調查的權力。”
Over the past 18 months, courts have issued more than 5,000 demands for customer information to Microsoft, around half of which contain secrecy orders. Of those, two-thirds have no fixed end-date, meaning that a user might never find out their information had been searched.
過去18個月，法庭向微軟發出了逾5000項調查客戶信息的要求，其中約一半含有保密命令。其中三分之二沒有固定截止期限，這意味着，用戶可能永遠無法發現自己的信息遭到了搜查。
