聯合翻譯有限公司/聯合翻譯社

Wikileaks Causes Diplomatic Storm

No-one likes it when their dirty laundry is aired in public. When the laundry belongs to the most powerful government in the world, the story is explosive. This is what happened when the website Wikileaks published hundreds of thousands of secret US documents at the end of 2010.

In fact, many of the documents were low level diplomatic messages. They were little more than gossip. Even so, many of the messages were very embarrassing for the US government. Others involved the wrong-doing of the US’s allies.

The US reacted very angrily. It tried to force the Wikileaks website off the web. Nevertheless, information is still coming out. What the story shows most clearly, though, is that in today’s wired world, be careful what you write down. You never know where it might end up.

「維基解密」掀起外交風暴

當醜聞遭到踢爆，總是令當事人感到極度不悅，尤其是全球最強大的政府面臨挑戰時，爆炸性的新聞往往成為眾所矚目的焦點。「維基解密」網站在2010年底公佈了幾十萬份美國外交機密文件，無疑地在全球投下一顆震撼彈。

事實上，許多外洩的日常外交訊息，反而較像是未經證實的傳言。即便如此，這些傳言已足以讓美國政府感到非常難堪，部份訊息並連帶抖出美國盟友犯錯的證據。

美國對於此事表達強烈的不滿，並試圖要求「維基解密」關閉網站。然而，所謂的外交機密仍持續在網上流傳。這起事件提醒了大眾：在現今的網路世界裡，必須小心檢視你所撰寫的內容，因為你永遠不知道它可能流傳至何處。