How free is our freedom of the press? | Trevor Timm

翻译人员: Gu Yu 校对人员: Lydia Yu

So this is James Risen.

这是詹姆斯·瑞森。

You may know him as the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter

他是纽约时报的记者 因获得普利策奖

for The New York Times.

被大家所熟知。

Long before anybody knew Edward Snowden's name,

在大家还没听说过 爱德华·斯诺登的时候，

Risen wrote a book in which he famously exposed

瑞森因为写了一本揭露 美国国家安全局非法窃听

that the NSA was illegally wiretapping the phone calls of Americans.

美国民众通话的书 而备受瞩目。

But it's another chapter in that book

但是在那本书的另一章节

that may have an even more lasting impact.

可能有着更深远的影响。

In it, he describes a catastrophic US intelligence operation

那里他描述了美国情报部门 的一次灾难性的行动，

in which the CIA quite literally handed over blueprints

上面说中情局 把核弹的设计图

of a nuclear bomb to Iran.

交给了伊朗。

If that sounds crazy, go read it.

如果你觉得太疯狂 你可以去读一下。

It's an incredible story.

真是难以置信。

But you know who didn't like that chapter?

谁不喜欢那一章？

The US government.

美国政府。

For nearly a decade afterwards,

将近十年之后，

Risen was the subject of a US government investigation

瑞森成为了美国政府调查的主要人物

in which prosecutors demanded that he testify

这次调查中检查方要求他

against one of his alleged sources.

对于他所谓的消息来源做不利的证明。

And along the way, he became the face for the US government's recent pattern

他逐渐被推到了美国政府 起诉和监视新闻举报

of prosecuting whistleblowers and spying on journalists.

一系列行动的风口浪尖上。

You see, under the First Amendment,

在第一修正案下

the press has the right to publish secret information in the public interest.

为了公众利益 新闻界有权报道各种秘密的消息

But it's impossible to exercise that right if the media can't also gather that news

但是如果媒体无法收集消息

and protect the identities of the brave men and women

无法保护自己勇敢的线人 就没有办法行使

who get it to them.

自己的权利。

So when the government came knocking,

所以当政府人员找上门的时候

Risen did what many brave reporters have done before him:

瑞森像以前很多勇敢的记者一样

he refused

他拒绝提供任何信息。

and said he'd rather go to jail.

他说他宁愿坐牢。

So from 2007 to 2015,

2007年到2015年，

Risen lived under the specter of going to federal prison.

瑞森在监视下 开始了联邦监狱的生活。

That is, until just days before the trial, when a curious thing happened.

就在审判前几天 奇怪的事情发生了。

Suddenly, after years of claiming it was vital to their case,

突然在坚持 瑞森是本案关键几年之后，

the government dropped their demands to Risen altogether.

政府放弃了 对瑞森的所有的要求。

It turns out, in the age of electronic surveillance,

实际上在电子监控的年代，

there are very few places reporters and sources can hide.

记者和线人无处可逃。

And instead of trying and failing to have Risen testify,

与其一次次要求瑞森举证 又被一次次拒绝，

they could have his digital trail testify against him instead.

政府选择用他的电子记录 来做不利证明。

So completely in secret and without his consent,

在完全机密且 未经同意的情况下，

prosecutors got Risen's phone records.

检查方拿到了瑞森的电话记录

They got his email records, his financial and banking information,

邮箱记录和 财产及银行信息，

his credit reports,

他的信用记录，

even travel records with a list of flights he had taken.

甚至他所乘坐的航班记录列表。

And it was among this information that they used to convict Jeffrey Sterling,

用上述的信息 他们确认杰弗里·斯特林

Risen's alleged source and CIA whistleblower.

就是瑞森的消息来源 也是中情局的告发者。

Sadly, this is only one case of many.

很遗憾，这样的事情有很多。

President Obama ran on a promise to protect whistleblowers,

奥巴马总统承诺保护告发者，

and instead, his Justice Department has prosecuted more

而相反地， 他的司法部门逮捕的告发者

than all other administrations combined.

比之前的总统加起来还多。

Now, you can see how this could be a problem,

这就是一个巨大的问题，

especially because the government considers so much of what it does secret.

尤其当政府对于 保护他们的秘密如此重视的时候。

Since 9/11, virtually every important story about national security

自9.11之后，基本上所有 关于国家安全的重大新闻

has been the result of a whistleblower coming to a journalist.

都是由线人提供给记者的。

So we risk seeing the press unable to do their job

所以因为政府的监视遍布所有人，

that the First Amendment is supposed to protect

我们很难看到新闻界行使

because of the government's expanded ability to spy on everyone.

第一修正案赋予他们的权利。

But just as technology has allowed the government

不过正如科技让政府

to circumvent reporters' rights,

监视记者们的一举一动一样，

the press can also use technology

新闻界也可以利用科技

to protect their sources even better than before.

更好地保护他们的线人。

And they can start from the moment they begin speaking with them,

而且保护可以从 第一次的对话开始，

rather than on the witness stand after the fact.

而不是庭审在站上证人席的时候。

Communications software now exists

现在很多通信软件

that wasn't available when Risen was writing his book,

是瑞森写他的书时所没有的，

and is much more surveillance-resistant than regular emails or phone calls.

而且反监视能力 比常规的邮件和电话好很多。

For example, one such tool is SecureDrop,

比如有一款叫做 SecureDrop的软件，

an open-source whistleblower submission system

这是一款开源的 检举揭发系统

that was originally created by the late Internet luminary Aaron Swartz,

由亚伦·斯沃茨， 一位已故的互联网大师创造。

and is now developed at the non-profit where I work,

在我所工作的地方 新闻自由基金会

Freedom of the Press Foundation.

开发使用。

Instead of sending an email,

不采取发邮件的方式

you go to a news organization's website,

你可以去某个新闻机构的网站，

like this one here on The Washington Post.

比如这里的华盛顿邮报。

From there, you can upload a document or send information

在这里你可以上传文档或发送信息

much like you would on any other contact form.

就想用其他方式传递信息一样。

It'll then be encrypted and stored on a server

消息会被加密存放在服务器中

that only the news organization has access to.

只有新闻机构的人可以查看。

So the government can no longer secretly demand the information,

所以政府再也无法秘密追踪这些信息，

and much of the information they would demand

就算追踪到了信息

wouldn't be available in the first place.

也不知道最初来自哪里。

SecureDrop, though, is really only a small part of the puzzle

SecureDrop只是 21世纪保护新闻自由

for protecting press freedom in the 21st century.

的一块小小的拼图。

Unfortunately, governments all over the world

不过世界各地的政府

are constantly developing new spying techniques

也无时无刻不在 开发新的监视技术

that put us all at risk.

让我们更加危险。

And it's up to us going forward to make sure

所以让我们努力前行

that it's not just the tech-savvy whistleblowers,

不仅仅保护高科技的告发者

like Edward Snowden, who have an avenue for exposing wrongdoing.

像斯诺登一样 有自己的渠道揭露恶行的告发者

It's just as vital that we protect the next veteran's health care whistleblower

也要保护那些 提醒我们医院过于拥挤的

alerting us to overcrowded hospitals,

揭发退伍老兵医疗卫生问题的告发者

or the next environmental worker

保护那些对弗林特市污水

sounding the alarm about Flint's dirty water,

敲响警钟的环卫工人

or a Wall Street insider

保护那些让我们警惕

warning us of the next financial crisis.

下一次金融危机的华尔街线人。

After all, these tools weren't just built to help the brave men and women

所以，这些工具 不是为了保护那些勇敢的敢于

who expose crimes,

揭露罪行的线人们

but are meant to protect all of our rights under the Constitution.

而是为了保护 宪法下所有人应有的权利。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）