美国司法部正式对苹果提起反垄断诉讼

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), along with 16 other state and district attorneys general, on Thursday accused Apple of illegally maintaining a monopoly over smartphones, thereby undermining, among other things, the security and privacy of users when messaging non-iPhone users.

美国司法部（DoJ）与其他16位州和地区检察长在星期四指控苹果非法维持其在智能手机市场上的垄断地位，从而在通信非iPhone用户时削弱了用户的安全性和隐私权等问题。

"Apple wraps itself in a cloak of privacy, security, and consumer preferences to justify its anticompetitive conduct," the landmark antitrust lawsuit said. "Apple deploys privacy and security justifications as an elastic shield that can stretch or contract to serve Apple's financial and business interests."

这起划时代的反垄断诉讼说：“苹果以隐私、安全和消费者偏好为借口来证明其反竞争行为。苹果将隐私和安全理由作为一个可伸缩的盾牌，以服务于苹果的财务和商业利益。”

"Apple selectively compromises privacy and security interests when doing so is in Apple's own financial interest – such as degrading the security of text messages, offering governments and certain companies the chance to access more private and secure versions of app stores, or accepting billions of dollars each year for choosing Google as its default search engine when more private options are available."

当苹果出于自己的财务利益，例如在文本消息的安全性上进行降级，为政府和某些公司提供访问更私密和安全的应用商店版本的机会，或每年接受数十亿美元选择谷歌作为其默认搜索引擎，而更私人的选项可用时，苹果选择性地妥协隐私和安全利益。

The sprawling complaint also alleged that iPhone users who message a non-iPhone user via the Messages app are defaulted to the less secure SMS format (as opposed to iMessage) that lacks support for encryption and offers limited functionality. On the other hand, iMessage is end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) and is even quantum-resistant.

值得注意的是，iPhone用户通过信息应用与非iPhone用户通讯时，默认使用支持较差的SMS格式（相比于iMessage），这种格式不支持加密且功能有限。另一方面，iMessage提供端到端加密（E2EE），甚至是抗量子加密的。

It's worth noting at this stage that iMessage is only available on the iPhone and other Apple devices. Apple has repeatedly said it has no plans of making iMessage interoperable with Android, even stating that doing so will "will hurt us more than help us."

目前阶段需要注意的是，iMessage仅在iPhone和其他苹果设备上可用。苹果多次表示无计划使iMessage与Android兼容，甚至说过这样做“对我们的伤害会比帮助我们更大。”

Furthermore, the 88-page lawsuit called out the iPhone maker for blocking attempts by third-parties to bring secure cross-platform messaging experience between iOS and Android platform.

此外，这份长达88页的诉讼还指控苹果阻止第三方尝试在iOS和Android平台之间带来安全的跨平台通讯体验。

In December 2023, Beeper managed to reverse engineer the iMessage protocol and port the service to Android through a dedicated client called Beeper Mini. Apple, however, has shut down those efforts, arguing that Beeper "posed significant risks to user security and privacy, including the potential for metadata exposure and enabling unwanted messages, spam, and phishing attacks."

2023年12月，Beeper成功对iMessage协议进行了逆向工程，并通过一个名为Beeper Mini的专用客户端将服务移植到了Android。然而，苹果关闭了这些努力，认为Beeper“对用户安全和隐私构成重大风险，包括潜在的元数据泄露以及促进不必要的消息、垃圾邮件和网络钓鱼攻击。”

These limitations have a powerful network effect, driving consumers to continue buying iPhones and less likely to switch to a competing device, the DoJ said, adding, "by rejecting solutions that would allow for cross-platform encryption, Apple continues to make iPhone users' less secure than they could otherwise be."

这些限制产生了强大的网络效应，驱使消费者继续购买iPhone并且不太可能转换到竞争设备，司法部表示，“通过拒绝支持能够实现跨平台加密的解决方案，苹果继续使iPhone用户的安全性不如他们本可能的。”

The development comes as Apple is facing more scrutiny than ever to open up its tightly-controlled software ecosystem -- the so-called "walled garden" -- which regulators say locks in customers and developers. Other major tech giants like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta have all dealt with similar lawsuits in recent years.

这一发展是随着苹果面临比以往任何时候都更多的审查，以打开其严格控制的软件生态系统——所谓的“围墙花园”，监管机构说这锁定了客户和开发商。像微软、谷歌、亚马逊和Meta等其他主要科技巨头近年来都处理过类似的诉讼。

Apple, in a surprise move late last year, announced that it intends to add support for Communication Services (RCS) – an upgraded version of the SMS standard with modern instant messaging features – to its Messages app. It also said it will work with the GSMA members to integrate encryption.

去年年底，苹果出人意料地宣布，它打算在其信息应用中增加对通信服务（RCS）的支持，这是SMS标准的升级版本，带有现代即时通讯功能。它还表示将与GSMA成员合作集成加密功能。

In response to the lawsuit, Cupertino said it will "vigorously defend" itself and that the lawsuit "threatens who we are and the principles that set Apple products apart in fiercely competitive markets." It also said that DoJ winning the lawsuit would "set a dangerous precedent, empowering the government to take a heavy hand in designing people's technology."

对于这场诉讼，库比蒂诺表示将“积极辩护”，并称该诉讼“威胁我们的本质以及设定苹果产品在激烈竞争的市场中脱颖而出的原则。”它还表示，司法部赢得诉讼将“设立一个危险的先例，使政府有权大幅介入设计人们的技术。”

参考资料

[1]https://thehackernews.com/2024/03/us-justice-department-sues-apple-over.html

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原文始发于微信公众号（知机安全）：美国司法部正式对苹果提起反垄断诉讼