快點連上VPN 假裝在外國

Rod Drury, an entrepreneur in Auckland, NewZealand, regularly visits the United States.Sometimes there are multiple visits a day.

新西蘭奧克蘭的創(chuàng)業(yè)者羅德·德魯里(Rod Drury)經常去美國。有時候一天要去若干次。

“People here can’t get Netflix, so they get a VPN thatgives them a U.S. I.P. address, and watch Netflix likethey’re in America,” he said. “If I want something offiTunes, I buy U.S. cards online.”

“這里的人看不到Netflix，所以要通過VPN得到一個美國的IP地址，偽裝成在美國的樣子來看Netflix，”他說。“要是想上iTunes買點什么，我會去網上買美國卡。”

Decoding the jargon: Millions of people around the world now pay for virtual private computernetworks — a security method that uses encryption to hide Internet traffic — and similarservices to hook into a server in the United States. As far as the video and retail services cantell, Mr. Drury is one more American customer.

解釋一下這堆術語：全世界有成千上萬的人在花錢購買虛擬專用電腦網絡——一種通過加密來隱藏網絡數(shù)據(jù)往來的安全方法——以及類似的服務，為的是連入美國的服務器。從視頻和零售服務商的角度看，德魯里無非是又一個美國顧客。

 

 

If the Internet breaks down national boundaries, it may happen from the comfort of ourcouches. VPNs were originally thought of as a way for companies to guarantee security ordissidents to avoid the prying eyes of their governments. Now they are part of a largermovement for people to work and play anywhere on the planet, at all times.

如果說互聯(lián)網推倒了國界，那么這一切可能是我們舒舒服服靠在沙發(fā)上時發(fā)生的。VPN原本是企業(yè)用來確保安全的一種手段，或者被異見人士用來躲避政府的監(jiān)控。如今它已經屬于一場涉及面更廣的運動，被全世界的人在工作、玩樂中隨時用到。

And if the software can’t come to consumers, the customers use VPN to get to the software.

如果軟件不能為消費者所用，顧客就通過VPN主動去使用該軟件。

“Unblock geo-restricted websites and web services like Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Skype, andmany more!” says the webpage of PureVPN, which charges $45 a year to turn you into a virtualAmerican. You might prefer being Canadian, since Netflix Canada has a bigger selection of films.

“解除Netflix、Hulu、BBC iPlayer、Skype等等等等網站和網絡服務的區(qū)域封鎖!”PureVPN的網頁上寫著。該服務收取每年45美元(約合280元人民幣)的費用，把你變成一個虛擬美國人。也許你應該選擇當加拿大人，因為Netflix加拿大站點的電影選擇更多。

Unblock-us, a service Mr. Drury uses that is similar to a VPN, charges $50 annually. It offerseasy access to scores of movie, television and sports videos that collectively would probably beimpossible to obtain in most countries.

德魯里使用的Unblock-us是一種類似VPN的服務，年費50美元。通過它可以方便地獲取大量電影、電視和體育視頻。在絕大多數(shù)國家，同時獲取這么多內容都是不太可能的。

Uzair Gadit, the co-founder and director of PureVPN, says his company provides services topeople in 90 countries who want to go virtually overseas unhindered.

PureVPN的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人、董事烏扎爾·加迪特(Uzair Gadit)說，公司的客戶遍布全世界90個國家，這些人都希望能自如地虛擬出國。

Online gamers use PureVPN to avoid service slowdowns with local Internet providers, as well ascyberattacks by rival gamers. Online retailers in many countries, Mr. Gadit says, need a stealthyway to collect prices from Amazon, eBay and others, to make sure they are competitive.Globally, he figures, perhaps 20 million consumers use VPNs and similar services to reach morethan 300 channels that are geographically blocked in some way.

網絡游戲玩家使用PureVPN來避免被本地互聯(lián)網供應商的低網速拖累，或是遭到對手的網絡攻擊。加迪特說，許多國家的網絡零售商需要通過隱蔽的方式來搜集亞馬遜(Amazon)和eBay等網站的價格，以確保它們能給出有競爭力的價格。他估計全球有大約2000萬消費者在使用VPN或類似服務，以便獲取300余種受區(qū)域限制的頻道。

“You might be amazed how much people want to watch stuff,” Mr. Gadit said. “We had 100percent growth for each of the last three years, and we’re expecting that again this year. Wehear Apple is creating a Netflix-like service — that’s great news for us.”

“你肯定猜不到人們有多想看這些東西，”加迪特說。“過去三年我們每年都有100%的增長，今年預計還是有這么大的幅度。我們聽說蘋果(Apple)在制作一種類似Netflix的服務——對我們是重大利好消息。”

PureVPN is in Hong Kong, an odd place for a company that also keeps people invisible to statespies. “China only spies on its own people,” Mr. Gadit said. “Most of the world worries about theU.S., the U.K., Australia and New Zealand — they spy on everybody.”

PureVPN位于香港，對于一個同時還在幫助人們躲開政府監(jiān)控的公司來說，這個選址是很奇怪的。“中國只監(jiān)視自己的國民，”加迪特說。“大多數(shù)人擔心的是美國、英國，澳大利亞和新西蘭——它們什么人都監(jiān)視。”

Netflix’s terms of service forbid customers from circumventing regional barriers to its content,though the company is aware this is not universally respected. “There’s not a lot we can do totrack that since VPNs by their very nature are set up to be difficult to spot,” Cliff Edwards, aNetflix spokesman, said in an email. Netflix also plans to offer service in New Zealand nextmonth.

Netflix的服務條款禁止用戶規(guī)避其內容的區(qū)域壁壘，不過公司知道并非所有人都把這條規(guī)矩當回事。“我們也沒什么辦法來搞追蹤，VPN本身的特性決定了它很難被發(fā)現(xiàn)，”Netflix發(fā)言人克里夫·愛德華茲(Cliff Edwards)在電子郵件中說。Netflix還計劃下月在新西蘭開展服務。

What drives this enthusiasm for VPNs, it could be argued, is the way media companies are notproviding entertainment fast enough in a world where everyone can be hip to the newestmovie and television show. New Zealand movie theaters are now showing “Dumb and DumberTo,” which was on screens in the United States in November.

可以說，在這樣一個大家都追逐最新影視節(jié)目的世界里，媒體公司提供娛樂內容的速度卻不夠快，對VPN熱潮起到了推動作用。新西蘭的電影院現(xiàn)在放映的《阿呆與阿瓜2》(Dumb and Dumber To)，在美國是去年11月上映的。

“There is a mismatch between the perception that you get what you want over the Internetand distribution doesn’t matter anymore, and a copyright holder selling things by territory,”said Tim Wu, a professor of media and copyright at Columbia Law School.

“一方面你覺得從互聯(lián)網可以得到想要的一切，發(fā)行已經無關緊要，另一方面，版權持有人又在分區(qū)出售內容，兩者是對不上的，”哥倫比亞大學法學院(Columbia Law School)媒體與版權教授吳修銘(Tim Wu)說。

“The industry is depending on 95 percent of the population thinking the technology is toocomplex for them to use,” he said. “If there is a simple device that does this for consumers,entertainment’s easy assumption of territoriality will change.”

“這個產業(yè)指望的是95%的人認為技術太復雜，不適合他們用，”他說。“如果有一種簡單的設備能幫消費者完成這些事，娛樂分區(qū)這種想當然的設定就要動搖了。”

While it is diverting to consider what these copyright-beating services mean toentertainment, the end of borders and regions because of global networks has significantimplications for the workplace.

想到這些摧垮版權的服務將給娛樂帶來怎樣的改變，固然值得欣喜，但全球網絡對國界和地區(qū)的終結，在商務層面有著更加深遠的影響。

Mr. Drury is founder and chief executive of Xero, which makes cloud-based accountingsoftware. He has customers in 150 countries, 2014 revenue of $100 million and 1,100employees spread over four nations. A substantial amount of Xero’s revenue comes fromaccountants who make a living by doing the books of companies in countries on the other sideof the world.

德魯里是云端財會軟件開發(fā)商Xero的創(chuàng)始人兼首席執(zhí)行官。他的客戶遍布150個國家，2014年的營收達1億美元，在四個國家擁有1100名員工。Xero的收入中，有相當一部分來自那些給地球另一端的公司做賬的會計員。

Xero built a basic accounting software model, then adapted it to a country’s local accountingquirks. It relies on back-end computing that does not need to be near the work.

Xero創(chuàng)建了一種基本的財會軟件模型，然后根據(jù)每個國家的財會偏好做出相應調整。這種服務依賴后端計算，并不需要在用戶身邊。

Elsewhere, individuals who toiled online via freelance sites like Elance and ODesk did $67 millionworth of work outside their country of residence in January. That was an increase of more than50 percent in two years. On the Indonesian island of Bali, a tropical paradise popular withforeigners, 100,000 online freelancers are registered with Elance and ODesk, which operatejointly.

在別的領域，許多個人通過Elance和ODesk等自由職業(yè)者的網站勤奮工作，僅在1月份就在他們所在國家以外的地方掙出了6700萬美元。這是在兩年內實現(xiàn)了超過50%的增長。在印度尼西亞的巴厘島，一個受外國游客青睞的熱帶天堂，10萬網絡自由職業(yè)者在Elance和ODesk上注冊。這兩家網站是聯(lián)合運營的。

“Tech is globalizing everything, so anyone building just a regional strategy isn’t thinking bigenough,” Mr. Drury said.

“科技將一切都全球化了，如果有誰還在制定一種地區(qū)性的策略，那就是目光短淺，”德魯里說。