科技巨頭捲入政治風暴

On Feb. 6, 2018, Apple received a grand jury subpoena for the names and phone records connected to 109 email addresses and phone numbers. It was one of the more than 250 data requests that the company received on average from U.S. law enforcement each week at the time. An Apple paralegal complied and provided the information.

2018年2月6日，蘋果公司收到一份大陪審團傳票，要求提供和109個電郵地址及電話有關的名字與通聯紀錄。當時蘋果收到來自美國執法單位的提供資料要求，平均每周超過250件，這份傳票只是其一。一名法律助理遵令並提供了相關資訊。

This year, a gag order on the subpoena expired. Apple said it alerted the people who were the subjects of the subpoena, just as it does with dozens of customers each day. But this request was out of the ordinary.

關於這份傳票的一項緘口令今年到期，蘋果公司說，他們向身為傳票目標的人發出警示，如同每天處理數十名顧客的做法。但是，這項要求並不尋常。

Without knowing it, Apple said, it had handed over the data of congressional staffers, their families and at least two members of Congress, including Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., then the House Intelligence Committee’s ranking member and now its chair. It turned out the subpoena was part of a wide-ranging investigation by the Trump administration into leaks of classified information.

蘋果表示，在不知情的狀況下，它交出了國會員工、其家人以及至少兩名國會議員的資料，包括眾議院情報委員會前副主席、現任主席謝安達。原來，這份傳票是川普政府追查機密資訊外洩一項大範圍調查的一部分。

The revelations have now plunged Apple into the middle of a firestorm over the Trump administration’s efforts to find the sources of news stories, and the handling underscores the flood of law enforcement requests that tech companies increasingly contend with. The number of these requests has soared in recent years to thousands a week, putting Apple and other tech giants like Google and Microsoft in an uncomfortable position between law enforcement, the courts and the customers whose privacy they have promised to protect.

此事曝光，讓蘋果陷入川普政府試圖找出新聞報導消息來源的風暴中，而其處置方式，顯示科技公司一直不斷應付執法單位的大量要求。這些要求的數量近年增加至一周數千件，讓蘋果及谷歌、微軟等科技巨擘處於麻煩立場，夾在執法單位、法院還有他們曾經承諾保護其隱私的顧客之間。

The companies regularly comply with the requests because they are legally required to do so. The subpoenas can be vague, so Apple, Google and others are often unclear on the nature or subject of an investigation. They can challenge some of subpoenas if they are too broad or if they relate to a corporate client. In the first six months of 2020, Apple challenged 238 demands from the government for its customers’ account data, or 4% of such requests.

這些公司通常會服從要求，因為依法必須如此。傳票內容可能很含糊，所以蘋果、谷歌和其他公司通常不清楚調查的性質或主題。如果傳票範圍太廣或是和某個企業客戶有關，他們可以提出異議。在2020年的前六個月，蘋果對政府要求取得其顧客帳號數據提出238項異議，占了這類要求的4%。

As part of the same leak investigation by the Trump administration, Google fought a gag order this year on a subpoena to turn over data on the emails of four New York Times reporters. Google argued that its contract as The Times’ corporate email provider required it to inform the newspaper of any government requests for its emails, said Ted Boutrous, an outside lawyer for The Times.

在同一個川普政府的洩密調查中，谷歌今年對緘口令提出異議，相關傳票要求交出四名紐約時報記者電郵數據。谷歌主張，根據其作為紐時企業電郵服務供應商的合約，政府任何取得電郵資料的要求皆須通知該報。

But more frequently than not, the companies comply with law enforcement demands. And that underlines an awkward truth: As their products become more central to people’s lives, the world’s largest tech companies have become surveillance intermediaries and crucial partners to authorities.

但是，這些公司多半會順從執法單位命令，而這凸顯一個棘手事實：隨著他們的產品逐漸成為人們生活中心，這些世界最大科技公司已成為當局的偵察工具和關鍵夥伴。

美就業市場火熱 雇主祭新招搶人

College subsidies for children and spouses. Free rooms for summer hotel employees and a set of knives for aspiring culinary workers. And appetizers on the house for anyone willing to sit down for a restaurant job interview.

子女和配偶念大學享學費補助。飯店員工夏季免費住客房，有志成功的餐飲業人員贈送刀具組。還有，願意坐下來接受餐廳面試的，開胃菜免費享用。

Determined to lure new employees and retain existing ones in a suddenly hot job market, employers are turning to new incentives that go beyond traditional monetary rewards. In some cases, the offerings include the potential to reshape career paths, like college scholarships and guaranteed admission to management training programs.

就業市場忽然變火熱，決心吸引新員工並留住現有員工的雇主，紛紛訴諸超越傳統金錢報酬的新招。有時，鼓勵措施有改變職涯的潛力，如大學獎學金和接受管理培訓的資格保證。

The sudden reopening of vast swaths of the U.S. economy has left companies scrambling for workers as summer approaches, especially in the service sector. What’s more, in many cases the inducements are on top of increases in hourly pay.

美國經濟突然大規模重啟，使企業在夏天臨近之際爭搶員工，尤其服務業。有趣的是，企業往往在調漲時薪之外，加碼祭出這些誘因。

The result is a cornucopia of new benefits as human resources officers and employees alike rethink what makes for a compelling compensation package. And in a pathbreaking move, some businesses are extending educational benefits to families of employees.

結果是，在人力資源幹部和受雇者都在重新思考怎樣的薪酬待遇才能夠打動人心時，不計其數的新福利應運而生。一些企業讓員工家屬也享有教育補助，深具開創性。

The labor market was relatively tight before the pandemic stuck in early 2020, but the rise of noncash offerings is a new wrinkle. Many large companies find themselves pitted against other giants in the search for workers with similar types of skills and experience and want to stand out, especially in the rush to staff back up after the pandemic.

在新冠疫情爆發前的2020年初，勞動市場也相當緊俏，不過，愈來愈多企業提供現金以外誘因卻是新現象。許多大企業互相爭搶技能和經驗類似的勞工，而且想脫穎而出，尤其是在疫情過後急於補人時。

“We knew we had to do something radically different to make Waste Management attractive when you have other companies looking for the same type of worker,” said Tamla Oates-Forney, chief people officer at Waste Management. “There is such a war for talent that compensation isn’t a differentiator.”

美國「廢棄物管理公司」人力資源長塔姆拉．歐茨-佛尼說：「當其他公司也在尋找同類員工時，我們知道我們必須做些完全不同的事，才能令人心動。搶人大戰非常激烈，光靠薪酬待遇無法勝出。」

“You can never have too many drivers,” she said. “When you think about Amazon and Walmart, we’re going after the same population.”

她說：「駕駛員永不嫌多。想想亞馬遜和沃爾瑪，我們都在搶同一批人。」

The company will pay for employees to earn bachelor’s and associate degrees, as well as certificates in areas like data analytics and business management. In a significant expansion, Waste Management will begin offering these scholarships to spouses and children of workers this year.

這家公司出錢幫助員工拿到學士和副學士學位，以及數據分析、企業管理等領域的合格證書。廢棄物管理公司今年起大舉擴張福利，讓員工配偶和子女也能享有這些獎學金。

“We can do something that really changes people’s lives,” said Jim Fish, Waste Management’s chief executive. “For someone with kids in high school, this is a big deal.”

廢棄物管理公司執行長費許說：「我們可以做些真正改變別人生命的事。對那些小孩正在讀高中的人來說，這個福利很重要。」

The competition for new hires is especially intense in the leisure and hospitality industry, which has surged back to life after shutting down almost completely last spring.

搶人大戰在餐旅休閒業特別激烈，這行業今年春天幾乎完全停業，如今已經快速回春。