FOR a government allegedly keen on constraining the state and advocating greater transparency, the coalition has some big ideas about electronic surveillance—and an appetite for what critics are calling “secret justice” in court cases. On two fronts, it has become embroiled in clashes about the balance between liberty and security.

英国的联合政府据说是一个热衷于限制国家权力而且倡导更高透明度的政府，但是它却在电子监控方面有一些大胆的想法，而且偏好在诉讼案件中实行评论家所称的“秘密司法”。这两个提议使得联合政府也卷入了该如何平衡民众自由与国家安全的论战。

First, it plans in early May to set out proposed measures giving the authorities access in real time to more data on public communications, including not only mobile phones and e-mail—which they can track now with a bit of effort—but also Skype, Facebook and online games. Theresa May, the home secretary, said this week that extending surveillance was crucial to keeping the public safe against terrorists and criminals in a high-tech age.

首先，联合政府打算在五月初开始推行一些提议的措施，这些措施将使当局能够实时地获取更多的民众通信数据，其中不但包括手机和电子邮件（现在，这些数据当局只需稍费力气就能获得），还包括Skype、Facebook及在线游戏。内政大臣特雷莎•梅（Theresa May）本周表示，在一个科技高度发达的时代，扩大监控范围对于防止恐怖分子与犯罪分子对公共安全构成威胁至关重要。

At the same time, a rift has emerged between David Cameron, the Conservative prime minister, and Nick Clegg, his Liberal Democrat deputy, over how courts should deal with sensitive evidence in cases of suspected terrorism. Mr Clegg has broken ranks over a previously announced plan to extend the system of “closed material procedures” in which evidence is heard privately, without the defendant present. He opposes the idea that ministers, rather than judges, should decide whether civil proceedings are held in private, and objects to extending secret hearings to coroner’s court cases. Mr Cameron’s government has been coming under pressure from America over the amount of detail that can be revealed publicly in tricky proceedings. There are fears that intelligence-sharing could be restricted.

与此同时，由于对法庭如何处理涉嫌恐怖主义的案件中的敏感证据持不同意见，保守党首相大卫卡梅伦与其自由民主党副手尼克克莱格之间产生了裂痕。政府之前宣布了一个扩大“不公开材料处理流程”系统的计划，这里面涉及到的证据都是在被告不在场的情况下秘密获得的，由于意见不合，克雷格已经与其他人闹掰了。他反对将民事诉讼是否应该公开审理的权力交给各部部长而非法官的做法以及将秘密听证会用于死因裁判案例。由于在审理棘手的诉讼案件时披露了过多的案件细节，卡梅伦政府已经受到了来自美国方面的压力。有人担心这会影响两国的情报共享。

Attempts to extend the reach of the secret state caused headaches for the previous Labour government, which lost its battle for a longer detention period for terrorist suspects and failed in its attempt to introduce compulsory identity cards. Now the coalition, which promised a lighter touch on civil liberties, is in similar straits, especially over plans to curtail privacy on the internet.

上一届工党政府也曾试图扩大秘密情报部门的监控范围，当时这一做法让其头疼不已。前任政府在试图延长恐怖分子嫌疑犯的监禁期及推行强制身份识别卡时均未能成功。如今，承诺要更好地保障民众自由的联合政府的做法（尤其是那些侵犯民众互联网通信隐私的计划）无异于步其前任的后尘。

The government insists it will not seek access to the content of communications, but says it can gain valuable intelligence by simply monitoring who is talking to whom, and where and when. Getting such traffic figures does not require a judicial warrant now, so the new plans are about modernising surveillance techniques, not expanding their scope.

政府坚称不会寻求获取通信内容，但又表示他们将仅监控谈话者的身份及谈话的时间和地点以获取有价值的情报。现在，要获取此类通信数据并不需司法搜查令，因此新计划就是要提高监控的技术水平，而不是扩大监控范围。

Critics, such as Shami Chakrabarti of Liberty, a civil-rights group, disagree. Scanning the sites people access and identifying their contacts is akin to building up an intimate picture of them, she says; doing so faster and more thoroughly “increases the amount of surveillance without adding safeguards”. The Office of the Information Commissioner is equally unconvinced.

批评人士（如民权团体Liberty的Shami Chakrabarti）对此却并不认同。她说密切监控民众访问的网站并追查联系双方的身份这种做法就像逐渐描绘出一幅清晰的当事人照片；加快并加大力度实行这一做法“在没有增加保障措施的情况下提高了监控量”。信息专员办公室（The Office of the Information Commissioner）对政府这一做法同样持反对态度。

Practically, the idea also raises thorny questions. CCTV has been widely introduced in Britain over the past two decades to help prevent crime. Yet it often emerges when crimes occur that cameras were either not monitored or the images produced were not accurate enough to yield useful evidence. Whitehall sources say such flaws are less likely in proposed internet trawls, since the intelligence services focus on existing suspects, rather than random tracking of internet use. It does mean, however, that sophisticated offenders may take to using anonymous re-mailer and proxy servers based outside Britain, just driving the cat-and-mouse game to a deeper level.

事实上，政府的这个计划也引发了一系列难以应对的质疑。在过去的二十年中，为了防止预防犯罪，英国安装了大量的闭路电视监控系统。然而，当犯罪发生时，该系统未能监控到犯罪行为或者由于图像不够清晰而无法提供有效证据的情况经常出现。英国政府消息人士称，由于情报部门是针对已经锁定的嫌疑人，而不是漫无目的地搜索互联网，在提议的互联网监控系统中不大可能出现上述情况。不过，这确实也意味着那些老到的利用攻击者可能会转而利用位于英国境外的匿名邮件转发器（Anonymous remailer）和代理服务器，这会让这场“猫捉老鼠”的游戏更加复杂。

Many countries are struggling to keep abreast of the security implications of new communication technology. In 2008 the Labour government proposed a similar extension of internet surveillance, only to be shouted down by, among others, Tories and Liberal Democrats. Americans discovered in 2005 that their spooks were hoovering up vast quantities of internet traffic and scanning it for anything suspicious, a practice that has continued despite doubts about its legality. In Germany the constitutional court ruled in February that the content of e-mails should be made available only in cases where lives or state property were in danger.

为了让安全监控手段能够跟得上新型通信技术的发展，许多国家都做出了很大的努力，但效果却并不理想。2008年，当时的劳工党政府当时也提出了一个类似的计划，建议加强对互联网的监控力度，结果这一提议被包括保守党及自由民主党在内的一干人等厉声喝止。2005年，美国民众发现国家间谍正在监控大量的互联网通信数据，并对这些数据进行了扫描以寻找可疑之处。虽然饱受质疑，但这一做法却一直在继续。今年二月，德国宪法法院裁定：只有在民众生命或者国家财产受到威胁的案件中才能获取民众电子邮件的内容。

Politically, this territory is fraught for Mr Cameron: not only does it exacerbate coalition tensions with the Lib Dems; it also annoys many civil libertarians on his own side. Some compromise looks inevitable. The internet proposals, slated for inclusion in the Queen’s Speech laying out the government’s firm legislative agenda, have been downgraded to a mere draft for consultation. Mr Clegg is also insisting that he wants the government to row back on closed hearings. One way and another, extending the secret state does not look like a political winner.

从政治上来看，这个问题对卡梅伦来说非常棘手：不仅使得保守党和共组联合政府的自由民主党之间本已紧张的关系更趋恶化，此举也惹恼了他自己阵营中的民主自由人士。他似乎必须得作出一些让步。关于加强网络监控的提议本安排在女王演讲中，该演讲将宣布政府已经非常确定的立法议程。但现在该提议已经被降级，变成了区区一份征求意见草案。克雷格还坚持让政府取消推行闭门听证的计划。不管怎样，扩大秘密军情部门的监控范围在政治上都算不上明智之举。