想來美國旅游？先交出社交賬號
US government collecting social media information from foreign travelers
The US government has begun asking select foreign travelers to disclose their social media activities as part of an expanded effort to spot potential terrorist threats.
美政府加大排查潛在恐怖威脅力度,已要求部分外國游客公開他們的社交媒體活動信息.
The request functions as a prompt on the online Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or Esta, a visa waiver application that many visitors are required to submit before travelling to the US.
這一要求能鼓勵游客使用在線旅行授權電子系統（Esta）,很多符合免簽證計劃的旅客在去美國旅游之前都要獲得該系統許可.
The choices include platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube, and additional space for applicants to input their account names on those sites.
目前,可用的平臺包括臉書、推特、谷歌+、Instagram、領英和YouTube等.用戶在這些網站上輸入用戶名即可.
The Customs and Border Protection, which began the program last week, has previously said it wouldn't prohibit entry to foreigners who didn't provide their social media account information.
美國海關與邊境保護局于上周開始這項計劃,并已事先聲明,不會禁止未提供社交網絡賬號的外國游客入境.
The government has faced a barrage of criticism since it first floated the idea last summer.
自從美政府于去年夏天提出該項舉措,就不斷有批評者提出抗議.
Privacy rights activists say there are few guidelines about how the information, once obtained, is used or shared with other agencies.
隱私權活動家稱,幾乎沒有準則說明美國政府獲得游客的社交網絡信息后將如何利用或與其他機構分享.
The Internet Association, which represents companies including Facebook, Google and Twitter, has argued that policy threatens free expression.
包括臉書、谷歌和推特在內的互聯網協會抗議稱,該政策將限制言論自由.
Michael W Macleod-Ball, chief of staff for the American Civil Liberties Union's Washington office, told Politico last week:
上周,美國公民自由聯盟華盛頓辦事處主任邁克爾•W•麥克勞德-鮑爾告訴政客網：
"While the government certainly has a right to collect some information ... it would be nice if they would focus on the privacy concerns some advocacy groups have long expressed."
"雖然政府確實有權力收集一些信息……但政府更應該關注某些團體長期以來提出的各種隱私問題."
A spokesperson for the internet privacy group Access Now told Politico the group feared that the choice to hand over social media information was not really a choice at all, and that the program could act as an opaque entry point for more exacting probes.
互聯網隱私團體"正在訪問"的發言人告訴政客網,他們擔心民眾實際上并沒有選擇是否向政府提供社交媒體信息的權利,而該計劃只是開始更加嚴格的監控的幌子罷了.
"The process to enter the US is confusing, and it's likely that most visitors will fill out the card completely rather than risk additional questions from intimidating, uniformed officers the same officers who will decide which of your jokes are funny and which ones make you a security risk", explained Nathan White of Access Now.
"正在訪問"的內森•懷特解釋說："入境流程讓人倍感困惑,大多數游客更愿意把整個表完整填完,而非回答海關人員的附加問題.這些身著制服的海關人員令人生畏,他們會決定你的玩笑是風趣還是危險."
The US government approves around 10m visa applications a year and had 77.5 million foreign visitors in 2015. Collecting social media accounts for all visitors could produce one of the largest government-controlled databases of its kind almost overnight.
美國政府每年大約要通過1000萬個簽證申請,2015年,共7750萬外國游客赴美旅行.美國政府如果收集所有游客的社交媒體賬號,就能在一夜之間建立起由政府控制的數據庫,其規模會是同類數據庫中最大的之一.
英文來源：衛報
