经济学人下载:希拉里的电子邮件 对透明度的破坏

Hillary Clinton's e-mails
希拉里·克林顿的电子邮件

Nothing to hide?
毫不隐瞒？

A hoo-hah about transparency
对透明度的破坏

AS SCANDALS involving people called “Clinton” go, it seems a bit tame. On March 2nd theNew York Times revealed that when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, she used a personal e-mail account rather than a government one for all her official business. This stumble reveals a more general problem with Mrs Clinton's undeclared presidential campaign.
围绕着“克林顿”家族的流言蜚语频频流出，一切看似略微无聊。3月2日，《纽约时报》文章披露希拉里·克林顿时任国务卿之际，曾使用个人邮箱账号（而非政府邮箱账号）处理她所有公务 。对于克林顿夫人未申报的总统竞选而言，这一纰漏引发了一个更加普遍问题。

The finding came through the Republican-controlled House Select Committee on Benghazi. (House Republicans have spent two years hunting fruitlessly for proof that, for political reasons, American missions in Libya were left vulnerable when they were attacked in 2012.) Federal rules require all e-mails sent for government business to be stored by departments. Mrs Clinton's evidently were not. They were in fact stored on a personal server set up in her home in Chappaqua, New York. That looks suspicious: because only Mrs Clinton possesses physical access to her e-mails, she can be selective about which ones she turns over.
这个调查结果是由共和党控制的班加西众议院特别委员会发现。（因政治原因2012年美国遭遇袭击，其在利比亚的任务濒临瓦解；为了证实，众议院共和党人花了两年时间找出证据，结果一无所获。）联邦诉讼规则要求所有与政府公务相关的邮件必须由各部门存档。显然，克林顿夫人的邮件是一个例外。实际上，那些邮件保存一个个人服务器上，该服务器安置在其纽约的查帕奎家中。这不禁引人猜疑：因为只有克林顿夫人才有权限查看这些邮件，而且她想谁看这些邮件谁就可以看。

For Republicans, the finding is politically convenient. The investigation into Benghazi had all but died for lack of anything interesting to say. The idea that Mrs Clinton may have kept back e-mails could help to revive the allegations. Trey Gowdy, the chairman of the investigative committee, quickly called for all Mrs Clinton's communications to be made available for his committee to scrutinise; on March 4th a subpoena was duly issued.
对共和党人而言，这个发现有利于政途。调查班加西（利比亚北部港口城市）的行动，险些因缺少猛料可爆而终止。对克林顿夫人可能存档邮件的猜想将有助指控生效。调查委员会主席Trey Gowdy立刻要求克林顿夫人提供其所有通信记录，以便调查。3月4日，法院传票正式发出。

For Mrs Clinton, the story could prove a lasting headache. It fits into a pattern of cloudy dealings. Republicans were already complaining about the Clinton Foundation, a charity controlled by Mrs Clinton and her husband Bill, for accepting donations from foreign governments, including some while she served at the State Department, which could raise conflicts of interest. The foundation does plenty of charitable work, but it also helps to provide a platform for Mrs Clinton to do things that look a lot like campaigning.
对克林顿夫人而言，这个纰漏极可能是一个“顽疾”。因为合乎多云交易的模式。共和党人已经对“克林顿基金”表示不满（该基金会由克林顿夫人和她丈夫比尔管理，接受国外政府的捐赠包括其在国务院任职时的捐赠，其中一些还涉及利益冲突）。“克林顿基金”不仅筹办大量慈善活动，而且为克林顿夫人搭建竞选平台助力。

Few think that such murkiness will be cleared up by better control of e-mails, however. Politicians who want to conceal shady dealings have plenty of other ways to communicate. They can meet in person or use intermediaries. Some might simply use more private electronic systems. A Snapchat message disappears after a few seconds. Does the Freedom of Information Act cover that?
然而，诸如此类的“负面形象”很难通过加强邮件管理而得到改善。想要掩盖肮脏交易的政客们还有许多其他方式通信。他们可以暗地里见面，抑或通过中间人。有些政客仅仅使用更加私人的电子系统。“阅后即焚”（Snapchat）上的信息几秒钟后就会消失。《信息自由法》适用那款软件吗？