原声播报86：你的摄像头在偷窥吗？

National Crackdown on Online Spying Sees Dozens Arrested
你的摄像头在偷窥吗？

【文中生词】
antic 古怪的
nefarious 邪恶的
counterpart 配对物
clampdown 取缔
antitrust 反垄断的


【词汇延展】
CAC (Cyberspace Administration of China) 网信办
cyberespionage 网络间谍
digital forensics 数字鉴识
keylogger 键盘侧录程式
phishing 网络钓鱼


【单词详解】
seize
v. 抓住
to arrest or capture sb

词组
seize on/upon sth 抓住(可利用的事物)
seize up （机器）停止运转
seize the day 把握今天，把握当下

例句
Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys.
及时行乐。把握今天，孩子们。

The rumours were eagerly seized upon by the local press.
当地报章迫不及待地对这些传闻进行炒作。


gear
n. 设备
equipment

词组
get into gear 进入有效工作状态
out of gear 失去控制
gear with 适合
gear box 齿轮箱
worm gear 涡轮

例句
Hundreds of police in riot gearstruggled to control the violence.
数以百计的警察身披防爆装备，奋力镇压暴乱。

She said nothing in case her temper slipped out of gear.
她什么都没说，免得按耐不住情绪。


There’s been a huge crackdown on online spying. On Monday, China’s top Cyberspace Administration announced that 59 have been arrested and mounds of illegal surveillance equipment has been seized.

This is all part of a 3-month campaign led by various state departments including the cyberspace watchdog and the police looking to fight off illegal surveillance. In particular, they are trying to stamp out sinister antics like unlawfully using cameras to spy on people, trading these kind of private videos and passing on spying techniques. 

Okay Josh, so can you tell us a bit more about the scale of such illegal surveillance in China.

Well, it might be too early to answer that yet. But if we look at the huge numbers of dodgy spying gear that authorities have seized just during this 3-month campaign alone, this might give us a good idea of just how widespread this kind of nefarious activity is within the country.  Indeed, so far the police have detected more than 25 thousand illicit webcam access permissions, and removed over 1,500 sets of covert listening devices and spy cameras.

Alright, and I understand that some pretty big businesses have also gotten caught up in this campaign?

That is indeed the case. So, for one, the cyberspace regulator ordered its local counterparts to purge information related to illegal surveillance from a variety of content platforms. Among them are platforms operated by some of the country’s biggest internet companies. Indeed, Baidu, Tencent and an Alibaba-owned browser have come in for particular scrutiny. According to the regulator, this move has led to more than 8,000 pieces of harmful information being removed and 134 accounts being punished.

I should add that e-commerce sites have also gotten embroiled in all of this. Platforms including JD.com as well as the Alibaba-owned sites Taobao and Xianyu were ordered to take down 1,600 pieces of camera equipment and delete more than 12,000 pieces of illegal information. Over 3,700 accounts on these ecommerce platforms have been punished. 

So, in many ways, this clampdown on illegal surveillance actually also feeds into a larger regulatory campaign from the government to rein in China’s tech giants. As, I am sure many of our listeners are all too well aware, this comes at a time when Beijing is growing more concerned about matters like antitrust and data security. And indeed, just last month, the cyberspace watchdog actually fined two of the country’s biggest tech players – that’s the aforementioned Alibaba and Tencent for not removing explicit content involving children.