US tech firms share Dutch regulator officials’ names with Senate

美国科技公司向美国参议院披露荷兰监管官员名单

Companies such as Microsoft and Meta have shared the names of civil servants and academics working on European tech regulation with a senate committee investigating “tech censorship” or “jawboning”, news magazine Vrij Nederland reported on Friday.

据新闻杂志《Vrij Nederland》周五报道，微软（Microsoft）和Meta等公司已向美国参议院一个负责调查“科技审查”或“施压（jawboning）”的委员会，提供了参与欧洲科技监管工作的公务员和学者的名单。

The cabinet has described the news as “extremely worrying”, given that the named officials could now face travel bans or even sanctions, Vrij Nederland said.

《Vrij Nederland》称，荷兰内阁将此消息描述为“极其令人担忧”，因为名单上的官员现在可能面临旅行禁令甚至制裁。

“If you want to discuss policy, then you do it with us, not over the backs of civil servants,” digital economy minister Willemijn Aerdts told the magazine. “That has happened and we will now talk to our contacts, including those in the US.”

“如果你想讨论政策，那就直接与我们沟通，而不是通过针对公务员的方式，”数字经济大臣威廉敏·阿尔茨（Willemijn Aerdts）告诉该杂志。“这种情况已经发生，我们现在将与我们的联系人进行沟通，包括美方的联系人。”

The cabinet has also raised the issue with the US ambassador to the Netherlands. “We told him how extremely undesirable we think this is,” Aerdts said. “He heard what we are saying and will pass it on.”

荷兰内阁也已向美国驻荷兰大使提出了这一问题。阿尔茨表示：“我们告诉他，我们认为这种行为极其不可取。他听取了我们的意见，并将向上级转达。”

Junior economic affairs minister Eric van der Burg said the news is “more than worrying” and that he still needs to assess what documents were shared with the US and if they were publicly available.

经济事务部副大臣埃里克·范德堡（Eric van der Burg）表示，这一消息“不仅仅是令人担忧”，他仍需评估究竟有哪些文件被分享给了美国，以及这些文件是否属于公开信息。

However, stopping working with Microsoft and other US tech companies is not an option in the short term, he told the magazine.

然而，他告诉该杂志，在短期内停止与微软及其他美国科技公司的合作并非可行之选。

Vrij Nederland said the names include people working for the competition authority ACM and the privacy watchdog AP. Researcher Claes de Vreese, who investigates disinformation, is also on the list.

《Vrij Nederland》称，名单中包括在荷兰竞争管理局（ACM）和隐私监管机构（AP）工作的人员。研究虚假信息的学者克拉斯·德·弗里斯（Claes de Vreese）也在名单之列。

Van der Burg is currently grappling with the issue of Solvinity, a Dutch cloud service provider which is widely used by government departments including the Digid identity system, and which is on the verge of being sold to a US company.

范德堡目前正忙于处理Solvinity的相关问题。Solvinity是一家荷兰云服务提供商，被包括Digid身份系统在内的多个政府部门广泛使用，目前正处于被一家美国公司收购的边缘。

Under the US Cloud Act, American companies are required to hand over all information they store to the government if requested to do so, even if it is stored abroad.

根据美国《云法案》（Cloud Act），美国公司在收到政府要求时，必须移交其存储的所有信息，即使这些数据存储在海外。

The Dutch tax office is also currently switching to Microsoft systems, despite MPs’ concerns.

尽管议员们表示担忧，荷兰税务局目前也正在转向使用微软系统。

Research by public broadcaster NOS earlier this year found that 67% of some 16,500 websites used by government bodies, hospitals, schools and other essential organisations are linked to at least one American cloud service.

荷兰公共广播公司NOS今年早些时候的一项研究发现，政府机构、医院、学校和其他重要组织所使用的约16,500个网站中，有67%至少关联了一项美国云服务。