Eco中英文对照

Iran’s election and the internet

伊朗总统选举与互联网

Behind a thick curtain

重重幕帘后的伊朗总统选举

In the run-up to the presidential poll, the authorities are blocking the web

总统选举民意测验姗姗走来，互联网转身离开

Jun 15th 2013| TEHRAN |From the print edition

AFTER a string of strong performances on the world stage in recent years, Iran’s national kick-boxing team has had to drop out of an international championship in Greece this month. The Greek embassy in Tehran, citing “communications disruptions in Iran”, said that poor internet c onnectivity, which has drastically slowed down in the run-up to the presidential election on June 14th, was to blame. Apparently the Greeks could not get onto an essential server to process the fighters’ visas. “When the elections come, the internet goes,”explains a 31-year-old Iranian teacher. “We are behind a thick curtain at the moment. It happens at every election, even the parliamentary ones.”

这个月，曾经叱咤风云几度春秋的伊朗国家跆拳道队不得不黯然离开希腊国际大奖赛的舞台。希腊驻德黑兰大使馆指责伊朗境内几乎停滞的缓慢网速是罪魁祸首。6月14日，总统选举前夕，“伊朗出现了‘沟通混乱’”。慢得掉渣的网速使希腊大使馆完全无法展开正常工作，更别提给这些跆拳道选手们发放Visa了。“大选迎面走来，但是互联网离我们远去”，一个31岁的伊朗教师解释道，“一块深深幕帘遮挡住了我们。这种‘遮挡’发生在每次选举的前夕，即便是国会选举也是如此。”

Wary of the role social networks and videos played in fomenting massive street protests after the disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinej ad as president in 2009, the state’s cyber sleuths are taking no chances this time. Since March, virtual private networks (VPNs), the chief means whereby many of Iran’s 43m internet users evade censorship filters, have been blocked. This is the first time the authorities have managed so protracted and comprehensive a blockage of the VPNs, which means that thousands of foreign websites, including The Economist’s, are blocked, along with Twitter and Facebook. Users trying to get access to such sites are redirected to a slide-show of flowers and mosques.

2009年，内贾德几经波折，终于再次当选总统之后，席卷而来的社交网络与宣传短片煽动了规模庞大的街头抗议。这次教训使得今年的网络侦探们格外谨慎行事。早在三月份，虚拟的私营网络（VPNs）——这个曾经帮助43，000，000伊朗网民摆脱网络监视的“法宝”，就被政府封锁了。这是有史以来伊朗权威部门如此兴师动众地大规模封锁VPNs，这一举动意味着包括经济学人、推特、脸书等在内的成千上万的国外网站一同从伊朗网络上消失。那些仍不死心的网民打开输入这些网址时，发现进入的是一些满是鲜花与清真寺的幻灯片。

The only way netizens can reach censored sites is by using an array of “proxy” applications that work only sporadically and are considered less safe from the Revolutionary Guard’s snooping internet police. Speeds on these proxies are often intolerably slow, uploading virtually impossible. An owner of an engineering firm in Tehran says he has stopped sending technical drawings to clients over the net and uses an expensive private courier instead.

唯一的能打开这些“禁网”的方法就要靠一系列“代理软件”了。即便如此，这些软件也动不动就“罢工”。伊朗革命自卫队的网络警察眼里，这些网站极不安全。经过代理软件处理的网速通常是极其缓慢，想要下载任何东西几乎也是天方夜谭。德黑兰的一位工程公司的老板无奈地表示，形势逼迫他放弃了用网络给客户发技术草图，转