Bill Gates has broken ranks with Silicon¹ Valley in the stand-off between Apple and the US government, saying technology companies should be forced to co-operate with law enforcement in terrorism investigations².

在苹果(Apple)与美国政府之间的这场对决上，比尔盖茨(Bill Gates)破坏了硅谷的队形，他表示应强制科技公司协助执法部门的反恐调查。

The Microsoft founder³ took issue with Tim Cook’s characterisation of the government’s order that Apple help break open the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone as a demand for a “back door”, denying that it would set a wider precedent⁴.

这位微软(Microsoft)创始人反对蒂姆錠克(Tim Cook)带有个人色彩的描述，库克将政府让苹果帮助破解圣贝纳迪诺枪击案凶手iPhone的命令，描述为要求苹果开“后门”。盖茨认为这不会成为一个更深远的先例。

“This is a specific case where the government is asking for access to information. They are not asking for some general thing, they are asking for a particular case,” Mr Gates told the Financial Times.

盖茨对英国《金融时报》表示：“这是政府要求获得信息的一件个别案例。他们不是为了一般事提出要求，而是为了一个特例而提出要求。”

“It is no different than [the question of] should anybody ever have been able to tell the phone company to get information, should anybody be able to get at bank records. Let’s say the bank had tied a ribbon round the disk drive and said ‘don’t make me cut this ribbon because you’ll make me cut it many times’.”

“这个问题就好比，任何人都可以要求电话公司提供信息吗？任何人都可以取得银行记录吗？比方说银行在磁盘驱动器上绑了一条缎带，然后说‘不要让我割断这条缎带，因为你还会多次要求我割断它。’”

Apple has been pulled into a war of words with US law enforcement in the last week, after a judge ordered the company to write software that would enable FBI investigators⁵ to unlock Syed Rizwan Farook’s iPhone. Mr Cook, Apple’s chief executive, has called the request a “chilling” example of “overreach” by the US government that would set a “dangerous precedent that threatens everyone’s civil liberties”.

由于法官下令苹果编写软件帮助美国联邦调查局(FBI)调查人员解锁赛义德里兹万法鲁克(Syed Rizwan Farook)的iPhone，上周苹果与美国执法部门陷入一场论战。苹果首席执行官库克称这一要求是美国政府“伸手过长”的一个“可怕”范例，将会建立“一个危险的先例，威胁着每一个人的公民自由。”

Mr Gates’ stance sets him apart from the rest of the tech industry, including the company he founded. Satya Nadella, Microsoft chief, has not publicly commented on the matter, but a spokesperson for the Seattle-based company pointed⁶ to a statement by the Reform Government Surveillance organisation⁷, of which it is a member, opposing the order.

盖茨的立场有别于科技界其他人士，包括他自己创办的公司。微软首席执行官萨提亚纳德拉(Satya Nadella)没有对此事发表过公开评论，但这家西雅图公司的发言人表示，微软所在的“政府监管改革”(Reform Government Surveillance)组织已发表声明反对政府的这一命令。

Silicon Valley executives including Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook chief; Jack⁸ Dorsey, Twitter founder; and Sundar Pichai, head of Google, have all sided with Mr Cook. National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden called the showdown “the most important tech case in a decade”.

包括Facebook首席执行官马克丠克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)、Twitter创始人杰克多西(Jack Dorsey)、谷歌(Google)首席执行官桑德尔皮查伊(Sundar Pichai)在内的硅谷高管都站在了库克一边。美国国家安全局(National Security Agency)泄密者爱德华斯诺登(Edward Snowden)称这场对决“是十年来最重要的科技事件。”

But James Comey, FBI director, has insisted that the case is “quite narrow”.

但联邦调查局局长詹姆斯科米(James Comey)坚持认为此案范围“相当有限”。

“We don’t want to break anyone’s encryption or set a master key loose on the land,” Mr Comey wrote in a blogpost on Sunday night.

詹姆斯科米周日晚上在一篇博文中写道：“我们不希望破解任何人的加密，或释放一把万能钥匙。”

Mr Gates told the FT that there were benefits to the government being able to enforce taxation⁹, stop crime and investigate terror threats, but said there must be rules on when the information can be accessed.

盖茨向《金融时报》表示这些信息对于政府来说是有利的，能够加强税收、制止犯罪和调查恐怖威胁，但他表示必须对获取信息的时间设定规则。

“I hope that we have that debate so that the safeguards are built and so people do not opt¹⁰ — and this will be country by country — [to say] it is better that the government does not have access to any information,” he said.

盖茨说：“我希望我们进行这样的讨论，这样就可以建立保障措施，而且这样人们——每个国家都是——就不会去说政府最好不要获得任何信息。”