俄罗斯科技天才用技术挑战国家威权

LONDON — When a SWAT team appeared at Pavel Durov’s door in St. Petersburg, he started thinking about his future in Russia.伦敦——当一支特警队经常出现在帕维尔·杜罗夫(Pavel Durov)坐落于圣彼得堡的住所前时，他开始考虑到自己在俄罗斯的前途。He was home alone, and he peered at them through a monitor.当时杜罗夫独自一人在家，通过监视器看著他们。“They had guns and they looked very serious,” said Mr. Durov, once Russia’s biggest celebrity entrepreneur. “They seemed to want to break the door.”“他们末端着枪，看上去十分坦率，”杜罗夫说道。“看起来打算破门而入。

”他曾是俄罗斯最热门的著名企业家。Not long ago, Mr. Durov, 30, was seen as Russia’s Mark Zuckerberg. He founded a social network, VKontakte, which is more popular in Russia than Facebook, and made a splash by publicly offering Edward Snowden a job.旋即之前，30岁的杜罗夫还被视为俄罗斯的马克·扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)。他创立了社交网站VKontakte，在俄罗斯比Facebook更加热门。他还因为公开发表为爱德华·斯诺登(Edward Snowden)获取工作机会而引起轰动。

Then the Kremlin tightened its grip over the Internet and President Vladimir V. Putin’s allies took control of VKontakte. Mr. Durov eventually sold his remaining stake for millions and fled Russia in April, after resisting government pressure to release the data of Ukrainian protest leaders.后来，克里姆林宫增大了对网络的管控力度，总统弗拉基米尔·V·普京(Vladimir V. Putin)的盟友掌控了VKontakte。杜罗夫最后以数以百万美元收的价格出售了自己剩下的股份，并于今年4月离开了俄罗斯。在此之前，他顶着了来自政府的压力，拒绝接受透漏乌克兰抗议活动领袖的涉及信息。

Mr. Durov, known for his subversive wit and an all-black wardrobe that evokes Neo from the “Matrix” movies, is now a little-seen nomad, moving from country to country every few weeks with a small band of computer programmers. One day he is in Paris, another in Singapore.杜罗夫以智力超群、讨厌穿着一叛黑衣而著称。这种装扮让人回想《黑客帝国》(Matrix)里的尼奥(Neo)。

他现在早已出了神出鬼没的流浪者，间隔几周就不会率领一小组计算机编程人员从一个国家移往到另一个国家。某一天，他不会待在巴黎，另一天又不会现身新加坡。“Me myself, I’m not a big fan of the idea of countries,” Mr. Durov said, wearing a custom-made cross between a hoodie and a sport coat.身着兼备帽衫与休闲娱乐西服特色的自定义服装的杜罗夫说道，“我本人并不大赞成国家的概念。

”When he arrived with little warning in London for his first interview outside cyberspace since leaving Russia, he was en route to San Francisco, where he appeared at a technology conference on Tuesday. He is surfacing to showcase his new messaging app, Telegram, for people craving privacy and security.他忽然拜访伦敦，在离开了俄罗斯后首次现身拒绝接受面对面专访。当时他正在前往旧金山的途中，打算在接下来的周二参加在那里举办的科技大会。

他之所以露面，是为了展出为侧重隐私与安全性的用户设计的新即时通讯应用于Telegram。His odyssey reflects the changing nature of the Internet in Russia.杜罗夫的传奇经历体现了俄罗斯互联网性质的变迁。The Internet was once seen as a way to diversify Russia’s economy beyond oil. When VKontakte started in 2006, Mr. Durov says, he envisioned his country as a tax-free and libertarian utopia for technologists.互联网曾被视为推展俄罗斯经济挣脱对石油的倚赖而向多样化发展的一种途径。杜罗夫在2006年发售VKontakte时回应，他理想中的俄罗斯是一个让科技从业者如鱼得水的权利意志主义征税乌托邦。

“The best thing about Russia at that time was the Internet sphere was completely not regulated,” he said. “In some ways, it was more liberal than the United States.”“那时的俄罗斯最篮的一点在于，互联网领域几乎不受约束，”他说道。“在某些方面，俄罗斯比美国还要权利。

”Now the Internet is viewed with suspicion by Mr. Putin, who has called it a “C.I.A. project” and has taken steps to insulate Russia from the rest of the digital world. One leading Russian activist recently said the government was on a “campaign to shut down the Internet.”到了今天，普京对互联网所持猜测态度，称之为这是“中情局(CIA)的项目”，并在采取措施将俄罗斯与数字世界的其他部分隔绝出去。俄罗斯一位知名活动人士最近回应，政府正在“积极开展行动压制网络”。“Since I’m obviously a believer in free markets,” Mr. Durov said, “it’s hard for me to understand the current direction of the country.”“我深信自由市场，”杜罗夫说道，“所以我很难解读这个国家目前的发展方向。

”Russia’s economy is also increasingly isolated, with its currency plummeting amid Western sanctions. The government is now predicting a recession for next year. Mr. Putin’s big challenge is falling oil prices, which Mr. Durov calls “the only chance” for economic and political reform.俄罗斯经济日益遭孤立无援，在西方国家的制裁之下，货币大幅度升值。俄罗斯政府目前预测本国经济明年将陷于衰落。油价大大暴跌是普京面对的极大挑战，而杜罗夫称之为这是展开经济及政治改革的“唯一机会”。

“When the petrol prices are high, there is no incentive for those reforms,” he said. “It can stay like this forever; nobody really cares.”“汽油价格很高时，没改革的动机，”他说道。“过去的状态不会仍然延续下去，没有人知道介意。”As the tensions in Russia play out, Mr. Durov says he is focused on Telegram, which he started last year.随着俄罗斯国内经常出现紧绷气氛，杜罗夫回应，他目前注目的是去年启动的Telegram。

There will be no outside investors, he says, no ads and no marketing, and it is available free, though he is likely to eventually charge for additional services. He says he has about 50 million users, almost entirely outside Russia.他回应，他们会有外部投资者，没广告，也没市场营销。这款应用于眼下可以免费取得，但他有可能最后不会为可选服务缴纳费用。他回应，Telegram现在约有5000万用户，完全全部来自俄罗斯之外的地方。

Mr. Durov learned programming from his brother, Nikolai, a mathematician and Mr. Durov’s right-hand man at VKontakte and Telegram. By 11, the younger Mr. Durov was coding his own versions of games like Tetris. The two developed a strategy game set in ancient China, which they called Lao Unit.杜罗夫向哥哥尼古拉(Nikolai)学会了编程。尼古拉是一名数学家，也是杜罗夫在VKontakte和Telegram的得力助手。

11岁的时候，杜罗夫就不会撰写自己版本的游戏，比如俄罗斯方块。兄弟二人研发了一款背景原作在古代中国的策略游戏，取名为“老子军团”(Lao Unit)。At St. Petersburg State University, Mr. Durov studied linguistics. In lieu of military service, he trained in propaganda, studying Sun Tzu, Genghis Khan and Napoleon, and he learned to make posters aimed at influencing foreign soldiers.在圣彼得堡国立大学(St. Petersburg State University)就读于期间，杜罗夫自学语言学。他没服兵役，而是自由选择拒绝接受宣传方面的训练，研究孙子、成吉思汗和拿破仑。

他还自学了如何制作目的挽回外国部队军心的海报。The posters said things like “You are surrounded, surrender, there’s no hope,” or they would suggest to foreign soldiers that “some other guy is entertaining himself with your wife,” he recalled.这些海报上印着“你们已被围困，除了战败，别无出路，”或者告诉他敌军“其他男人在和你们的妻子厮混”，他回想道。His main interest was developing a social network. A friend who studied in America showed him Facebook, then in its infancy, and he learned from it.他主要的兴趣是研发社交网络。在美国自学的一个朋友向他讲解了当时还正处于跟上阶段的Facebook，他借此糅合了一些东西。

“Some things like the layout of the early VKontakte was very influenced by Facebook,” Mr. Durov said. “Otherwise it could take ages for me to build, and I was not a professional designer.”“有些东西，比如Vkontakte早期的页面布局，不受Facebook的影响就相当大，”杜罗夫说道。“否则，我可能会花上很长的时间才能已完成，却是我不是专业的设计师。”He also recruited fellow linguistics students to build a database catering to the post-Soviet university system, a step he said gave VKontakte “a tremendous competitive advantage.”他还请来语言学专业的同学，针对苏联解体后的大学体系创建了一个数据库。

此举给Vkontakte带给了“极大的竞争优势”，他说道。In 2007, he decided to allow users to upload audio and video files, without regard to copyright. Such policies have drawn criticism from the United States Trade Representative and lawsuits from major record labels.2007年，他要求不考虑到版权问题，容许用户上载音频和视频文件。这个作法早已遭了美国贸易代表的谴责和主要唱片公司的控告。

“Some people told me when I was implementing it that I would go to jail the next day,” he said. “I was very careless.”“我这么做到的时候，有人警告，我第二天就不会站立入监牢，”他说道。“我当时显然不在乎。”Demonstrations in 2011 over parliamentary elections resulted in a government showdown. During the SWAT standoff at his home that followed, he called his brother.2011年针对议会选举的示威活动，造成了政府向他摊牌。

之后，当他的家被特警冲入时，他给哥哥打了一个电话。“I realized I don’t have a safe means of communications with him,” he said, adding, “That’s how Telegram started.”“我意识到，我和他之间的所有通讯手段都不安全性，”他说道，“这就是Telegram的因缘。

”Telegram is competing in a crowded field of messaging apps that promise varying degrees of security. Telegram has its fans and detractors, but it was rated respectably in a recent evaluation by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The Telegram company, based in Berlin, has a deliberately complex structure of scattered global shell companies intended to keep it a step ahead of subpoenas from any one government.Telegram所在的领域竞争很白热化，有大量即时通讯应用于允诺为用户获取程度各异的安全性确保。Telegram有粉丝也有反对者，但在电子前沿基金会(Electronic Frontier Foundation)最近的一项评估中，它的名列较为靠前。

Telegram公司总部设于柏林，故意设计了一个简单的结构，由全球各地的空壳公司构成，力图做比任何国家的政府收到的传票都领先一步。“This is very unusual for Russian entrepreneurs, to succeed outside of Russia,” said Sergei Guriev, a prominent economist who fled Russia last year. “He may not be a usual person in many ways, but he is definitely a very talented entrepreneur.”“俄罗斯创业者在本国以外的地方获得成功，是很不奇怪的一件事，”去年逃出俄罗斯的知名经济学家谢尔盖·古里耶夫(Sergei Guriev)说道。

“从很多方面而言，他有可能都不是一个平常人，但他意味著是一个才华横溢的创业者。”When Mr. Durov sold his stake in VKontakte last December, there was speculation it was worth a few hundred million dollars. Mr. Durov would not give a specific figure, citing a nondisclosure agreement.去年12月，杜罗夫出售了他在Vkontakte的股份。有人猜测这部分股份价值数亿美元。杜罗夫说道他签定了保密协议，无法透漏明确的数字。

“In my days in Russia, I visited some very rich guys,” he said. “I visited big ships, private airplanes, houses — and I know for sure I don’t want this for myself.”“在俄罗斯的时候，我见过一些十分有钱人的人，”他说道。“我参观了他们的大型游艇、私人飞机和豪宅——我确切地告诉，我不期望自己变为这样。”“I’m very happy right now without any property anywhere,” he added. “I consider myself a legal citizen of the world.”“现在我在任何地方都没任何资产，回应我深感很快乐，”他说道。

“我把自己那也是这个世界的合法公民。

本文来源：皇冠游戏中心官网-www.sriingenieria.com