The sophisticated encryption software that now comes as standard with many electronic gadgets is, in many ways, just another instrument of modern life. Like air travel, international banking and mobile telephones, it contributes to all kinds of productive human endeavour — and also presents new security risks. But there is a difference. Its rapid and organic growth left little scope for regulatory control and balance.

从许多方面来说，那些如今已成为许多电子设备标准配置的精密加密软件，不过是现代生活中的又一个工具而已。和航空旅行、国际银行结算以及移动电话一样，这种软件也在为人类的各种生产活动作出贡献——同时也带来了新的安全隐患。不过不同的是，加密软件迅速而有机的增长，几乎没有为监管控制和平衡留下多少余地。

 The police are sometimes characterised as despotic agents of digital repression. That is wrong. I have never believed that encryption should be banned; it is a fundamental part of how the internet works. But its utility and effectiveness, like that of the internet as a whole, also creates significant criminal opportunity by masking identity and hiding communication.

有的时候，警方会被描述为进行数字镇压的专制机构。这种说法是错误的。我从来不认为应该禁止加密技术的使用，它是确保互联网运转的基础之一。但是，通过屏蔽身份和隐藏通信内容，对加密技术的运用及其有效性也催生了巨大的犯罪机会——这一点和互联网整体的情况类似。

Other innovations that have multiplied the freedoms of modern life were the product of democratic deliberation, and incorporated security by design. When telephones were introduced, a set of balanced legal instruments gave police the power to intercept them. Financial institutions have become more complex, but they are compelled to operate strong anti-money laundering controls.

相比之下，其他成倍扩大现代生活自由的创新都是民主深思的成果，从设计之初就植入了安全方面的考虑。当电话进入人类生活的时候，一系列相应的法律文件赋予了警方拦截电话的权力。同样，金融机构也已变得更加复杂，但是它们被强制要求实施了严密的反洗钱控制。

When Europe’s Schengen agreement abolished internal border controls in the 1990s, measures designed to increase cross-border police co-operation were adopted at the same time, so the system would not be undermined by enterprising drug traffickers and terrorists. The development of the internet has been different.

上世纪90年代，当欧洲《申根协定》(Schengen Agreement)废除欧洲内部的边境管控之时，多种旨在加强警方跨境合作的举措也同时引入。这样，整个系统就不会因胆大妄为的毒品贩子和恐怖分子而遭到削弱。相比之下，互联网的发展则与上述情况不同。

This is not really about privacy. People acc