经济学人80:互联网及文件共享 网站大搜捕

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　　商业

　　The internet and file-sharing

　　互联网及文件共享

　　Dotcom bust¹

　　网站大搜捕

　　The arrest of Kim Dotcom has rocked the world of cyberlockers

　　Kim Dotcom被逮捕的遭遇使全球网络存储业务受到震动

　　MOST people running a business that could end up on the wrong end of a lawsuit² would keep a low profile.

　　大多数人在经营与现有法律相抵触的业务时都保持低调，但是Kim Dotcom（上图左）却是个异类。

　　Not Kim Dotcom (pictured). The boss of Megaupload, a popular website that let users store and share music, films and other content,

　　他拥有的Megaupload是一家著名网站，为用户提供包括音乐、电影和其他内容在内的文件共享服务。

　　Mr Dotcom went out of his way to attract attention—and not just by changing his surname from Schmitz.

　　Kim Dotcom用各种标新立异的行为吸引众人的目光-不仅仅是将自己的姓从Schmitz改成Dotcom（网站）。

　　He surrounded himself with glamorous³ women and fast cars bearing number plates such as "GUILTY". He likened himself to Dr Evil, a movie villain⁴, though he looks more like Dr Evil's henchman, Fat Bastard⁵.

　　他的周围总有一群妙龄女郎，开着挂着"罪人"牌照的汽车飞驰而过。他将自己比作邪恶博士（Dr Evil），电影王牌大贱谍中的大反派，尽管事实上他长得更像邪恶博士的喽啰，混蛋胖子（Fat Bastard）。

　　American investigators⁶ examining Megaupload's business concluded that it was encouraging its users to share pirated content.

　　美国调查人员对Megaupload经营的业务进行了调查，调查结论是它助长了用户对盗版内容的传播。

　　They persuaded authorities in Britain, Hong Kong and other countries to seize the firm's assets and to arrest its owners, including Mr Dotcom, who was nabbed by police in New Zealand on January 20th after being found with a shotgun in a "safe room" at his mega-mansion.

　　调查人员要求英国、香港和其他地区的政府当局扣押该公司资产并逮捕包括Mr Dotcom在内的所有股东。最终，Mr Dotcom于1月20日在其新西兰豪宅的一间"安全室"里被警方逮捕，被捕时还带着猎枪。

　　The raid occurred just as Hollywood was howling after Congress gave up on a bill to crack down on piracy⁷.

　　这次突然行动发生前不久，好莱坞还在为国会搁置一项打击盗版的法案而大声抱怨。

　　The closure of Megaupload—which insists it has done nothing wrong—has triggered a swift response from other file-sharing sites, or "cyberlockers".

　　尽管不承认犯有任何错误，Megaupload还是被关闭了，这在其他文件共享网站（或者说"网络储存箱"）迅速引发强烈反响。

　　Some, such as FileSonic and FileServe, stopped users from sharing material with one another.

　　其中，FileSonic和FileServe已经停止用户间文件共享。

　　Others, such as Uploaded.to, blocked users in America from accessing their services.

　　另而像Uploaded.to的一些网站停止为美国用户提供服务。

　　And others, such as X7.to, shut down altogether.

　　另外一些网站，比如X7.to，则完全关闭了网站。

　　Their critics say this shows that cyberlockers realise illegal file-sharing will no longer be tolerated. Correspondence cited in an indictment⁸ of the Megaupload site in America suggests that the firm knew of the problems with illegal content.

　　网络共享服务的批评者说，这些反应显示了网络存储业务的提供者们已经意识到，为非法文件提供共享服务将不再被容忍。

　　"We're not pirates," writes the author of one e-mail cited in it.

　　对Megaupload的诉状援引了一封电子邮件，暗示公司其实知道其涉及非法内容。

　　"We're just providing shipping⁹ services to pirates."

　　"我们不是海盗，"电子邮件的作者写道。"我们只是为海盗们提供运输服务。"

　　The legal assault on Megaupload will probably cause at least some traffic to migrate to cyberlockers in Russia and other countries where property rights are weak.

　　对Megaupload进行的法律诉讼将很可能导致一些文件共享服务提供商将业务转移到像俄罗斯这样对知识产权保护较弱的国家。

　　Determined¹⁰ pirates could also make more use of "torrent¹¹" sites such as The Pirate Bay, which allow peer-to-peer transfers.

　　顽固的海盗们也可能更多使用"种子"网站，比如为用户提供P2P传输的The Pirate Bay。

　　The technology underlying¹² such sites could make them even trickier¹³ to deal with than cyberlockers.

　　这些网站采用的技术方式使其比网络存储网站更难对付。

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