????上周日，博思艾倫咨詢公司（Booz Allen Hamilton）一名29歲的員工愛德華?斯諾登站了出來，告訴全世界為什么他要把美國國家安全局（NSA）的絕密文件公諸于世。這些美國國家安全局的文件，尤其是其中一部分與“棱鏡”計劃有關(guān)的文件，描述了美國國家安全局從美國幾大通訊公司和科技企業(yè)獲取數(shù)據(jù)的情況。包括威瑞森（Verizon）、微軟（Microsoft）、Facebook、谷歌（Google）、雅虎（Yahoo）、蘋果（Apple）和美國在線（AOL）在內(nèi)的眾多科技巨頭被牽涉其中。這些公司全都否認(rèn)自己與“棱鏡”計劃有任何瓜葛，而且都不約而同地使用了“直接接入”這個詞的某種變相說法。

????現(xiàn)在，NSA的專家，乃至除了斯諾登以外的其他前NSA人員，都向我們描述了NSA如何在不“直接接入”這些IT企業(yè)服務(wù)的情況下，依然能夠追蹤和記錄用戶的個人數(shù)據(jù)。辦法是每個企業(yè)進(jìn)出該企業(yè)服務(wù)器的數(shù)據(jù)都要經(jīng)過一個上了鎖的郵箱，而郵箱的鑰匙在美國政府手中。這不算一個完美的比喻，不過你不妨想想：這個鑰匙還有多少拷貝存在？有多少人可以打開這個郵箱？還有多少像斯諾登這樣的美國中央情報局（CIA）的前特工目前在給政府的合同商打工？

????據(jù)斯諾登本人對《衛(wèi)報》（Guardian）說，他可以獲取他人的電子郵件、聊天信息甚至視頻圖像，而且“有權(quán)竊聽任何人，從你到你的會計師，到聯(lián)邦法官，甚至是總統(tǒng)，只要我有一封他的個人電子郵件。”斯諾登顯然是個勇敢的、會說話的年輕人，但是他在博思艾倫公司并不是一位高層員工。他從高中輟學(xué)后，在一家社區(qū)大學(xué)里學(xué)習(xí)了一些電腦課程。《Slate》雜志的法哈德?曼瓊寫道：“他是個IT男，而且還不是一個非常成熟老練的IT男。”

????博思艾倫公司在公司官網(wǎng)上發(fā)布了一則聲明稱：“有新聞報道顯示，此人自稱泄露了機(jī)密信息。這個消息令人震驚，如果消息屬實(shí)，此舉表明他嚴(yán)重違反了我們公司的行為準(zhǔn)則和核心價值。我們將密切配合我們的客戶和有關(guān)部門進(jìn)行調(diào)查。”博思艾倫公司最大、最有錢可賺的客戶之一就是美國政府。據(jù)《紐約時報》（New York Times）報道，這家公司上一個財年有13億美元的收入來自情報公司，占了公司總收入的23%。

????現(xiàn)在美國情報業(yè)越來越呈現(xiàn)私有化的傾向。據(jù)《華盛頓郵報》（Washington Post）的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查顯示，美國約有2,000家公司在美國境內(nèi)的10,000多個地點(diǎn)從事與反恐、國土安全、情報有關(guān)的工作。美國情報業(yè)目前約有854,000人擁有絕密級安全調(diào)查權(quán)（既包括政府雇員，也包括非政府雇員）。博思艾倫，乃至威瑞森、谷歌、微軟，都只是這2,000家公司中的一份子。

????現(xiàn)在，斯諾登公布的牽涉NSA數(shù)據(jù)監(jiān)控計劃的科技巨頭越來越多，連蘋果和Facebook也未能幸免，這些企業(yè)在國外的業(yè)務(wù)也可能受到影響。德國黑森州司法部長約爾格?烏維?哈恩對《德國商報》（Handelsblatt）表示：“我很震驚像谷歌和微軟這樣的公司看起來竟然如此草率地看待用戶數(shù)據(jù)。不想發(fā)生這種事的人都應(yīng)該換供應(yīng)商。”哈恩還呼吁人們抵制卷入這起風(fēng)波的科技企業(yè)。路透社（Reuters ）的一篇報道指出，歐洲在云服務(wù)方面遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)落后于美國，而在德國，隱私保護(hù)正是讓人們不愿接受云服務(wù)的主要顧慮。

????On Sunday, a 29-year-old Booz Allen Hamilton employee named Edward Snowden stepped forward and (via the Guardian) told the world why he chose to make public top-secret National Security Agency documents. The NSA files, particularly those concerning a program called PRISM, describe how the agency could access data from several of America's largest communications and technology companies. Verizon, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Apple, and AOL are all implicated, and all have offered some version of the same denial using variations of the phrase "direct access."

????And yet, NSA experts and even ex-NSA-employees other than Snowden have described how the agency could still track and log users' personal data without such "direct access" to the companies' servers. The arrangement has been described as each company's data moving to and from its servers and passing through a locked mailbox, with a key that belongs to the government. An imperfect metaphor, but sit on it a moment and ask yourself: How many copies of this key exist? How many people can open this mailbox? And how many are, like Snowden, ex-CIA staffers now employed by a government contractor?

????Snowden could access e-mails, chats, videos images and had, he told the Guardian, "the authorities to wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant, to a fedral judge or even the President, if I had a personal e-mail." As clearly brave and well-spoken this young man is, Snowden is not a high-level employee at Booz (BAH). He is a high school dropout who took some computer classes at a community college. Slate's Farhad Manjoo wrote, "He's the IT guy, and not a very accomplished, experienced one at that."

????Booz Allen released a statement on its website that reads, in part, "News reports that this individual has claimed to have leaked classified information are shocking, and if accurate, this action represents a grave violation of the code of conduct and core values of our firm. We will work closely with our clients and authorities in their investigation of this matter." One of the company's biggest and most lucrative clients is the U.S. government. The New York Times reports that the company earned $1.3 billion, 23% of its total revenue, from intelligence work during its most recent fiscal year.

????The U.S. intelligence industry is more privatized than ever before. According to a Washington Post investigation, nearly 2,000 companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security, and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States, and the industry employs an estimated 854,000 people with top-secret security clearances (both government and non-government employees). Booz Allen is just one among many, including Verizon (VZ), Google (GOOG), and Microsoft (MSFT).

????And now, as the Snowden leaks rope in still more tech giants such as Apple (AAPL) and Facebook (FB) in the massive NSA data mining operation, the companies' business abroad may suffer. "I am amazed at the flippant way in which companies such as Google and Microsoft seem to treat their users' data. Anyone who doesn't want that to happen should switch providers," Joerg-Uwe Hahn, the justice minister in Hesse, told the Handelsblatt, a German business newspaper. Hahn also called for a boycott of the companies involved. As a report in Reuters notes, Europe has long lagged behind the U.S. in the use of cloud-based services, and in Germany, privacy protection has long been a primary concern.