【翻译】香港抗议者使用中共无法封锁的网状消息应用程序，其使用量暴增了3685%
John
Koetsier
2019年9月2日下午 1:23
How
do you communicate when the government censors the internet? With a
peer-to-peer mesh broadcasting network that doesn't use the internet.
当政府审查互联网时，你如何沟通? 可采用不使用互联网的点对点网状广播网络。
That's
exactly what Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters are doing now, thanks to San
Fransisco startup Bridgefy's Bluetooth-based messaging app. The protesters can
communicate with each other — and the public — using no persistent managed
network.
这正是香港亲民主抗议者们当下正在做的事情，得益于San Fransisco初创公司Bridgefy开发的基于蓝牙的消息APP，抗议者以及公众可以不使用持久托管网络来相互通信。
HONG KONG, CHINA - SEPTEMBER 02 Getty
Images 9月2日，中国，香港Getty
图片
And
it's led to swift growth for Bridgefy: downloads are up almost 4,000% over the
past 60 days, according to Apptopia estimates (Apptopia is an app metrics
company).
这也为Bridgefy带来了快速增长，Apptopia是一家应用指标公司，具其估计该APP过去60天的下载量增长了近400%。
Apptopia download and daily average user
estimates – Apptopia Apptopia下载量和日均用户估计
– Apptopia
The
app can connect people via standard Bluetooth across an entire city, thanks to
a mesh network. Chatting is speediest with people who are close, of course,
within a hundred meters (330 feet), but you can also chat with people who are
farther away. Your messages will simply "hop" via other Bridgefy
users' phones until they find your intended target.
得益于网状网络，该应用可以通过标准蓝牙连接整个城市的人们。当然了在100米(330英尺)以内，和距离你很近的人聊天速度最快，但你也可以和距离你较远的人聊天。你的消息将简单地通过其他Bridgefy用户的手机“跳转”，直到他们找到你的目标。
While
you can chat privately with contacts, you can also broadcast to anyone within
range, even if they are not a contact.
在你与联系人私下交谈时，你也可以向范围内的任何人广播，即使他们不是你的联系人。
That's
clearly an ideal scenario for protesters who are trying to reach people but
cannot use traditional SMS texting, email, or the undisputed uber-app of China:
WeChat. All of them are monitored by the state.
对抗议者来说，这显然是一个理想化的场景：抗议者试图接触到人们，但不能使用传统的短信、电子邮件或无可争议的中国超级APP——微信，所有这些都受国家监控。
I
asked Bridgefy's co-founder and CEO, Jorge Rios, for more information.
我向Bridgefy的联合创始人兼首席执行官Jorge Rios咨询了更多信息。
Koetsier:
Tell me about the app ... what it's for, why you built it, and why most people
use it.
Koetsier:
给我讲讲这个应用程序……它是干什么用的，为什么你要做它，以及为什么大多数人会用它。
Rios:
Bridgefy is a messaging app that works with or without Internet. It's based on
Bluetooth instead, and we built it because we know that the lack of
communication can be vital in many places and situations. Most people download
it before going to a large music of sporting event, but we're currently having
huge spikes in downloads from Hong Kong due to the protests.
Rios：Bridgefy是一款基于蓝牙技术的通讯应用，可以用互联网也可以不用互联网。造它的原因是我们知道，在很多场合和情况下，没法交流会是个性命攸关的事情。大多数人在观看大型体育音乐赛事前都会下载，但由于抗议活动，目前香港的下载量出现了大幅飙升。
Koetsier:
I hear it's being used in Hong Kong by the protesters. Tell me why what
purposes they're using it for and how big a spike you've seen in
downloads/registrations/usage.
Koetsier:
我听说抗议者在香港使用它。告诉我为什么，他们使用其目的是什么，以及在下载、注册和使用中，你所看到有多大的峰值。
Rios:
People are downloading it for two reasons:
Rios:
人们基于两个原因下载它:
·
Because Internet access
is starting to be limited by the authorities.
·
因为互联网正在被当局开始限制使用。
·
Because it's a safe way
for people to communicate with there being very little risk of messages being
read by unwanted eyes.
·
因为它对于人们来说，是一种安全的交流方式，基本不存在会被不相关人看到内容的危险。
We've
seen more than 60,000 app installations in just the past seven days, most of
them from Hong Kong. People are using it to organize themselves and to stay
safe, without having to depend on an Internet connection.
在过去7天里，我们已经看到了该应用程序超过6万次的安装，其中绝大部分来自香港。人们用它来进行组织并注意安全，而不必依赖互联网连接。
Screenshots of Bridgefy's iOS app - John
Koetsier IOS 版Bridgefy APP截屏 -- John Koetsier
Koetsier:
Anything else?
Koetsier:
还有什么要说到吗？
Rios:
Whenever there's a hurricane or earthquake in the world, we see spikes in app
downloads. It's important for us to say that our core technology is also
available to developers, so that they may integrate it into their own apps and
make them work offline. We license it based on the amount of offline users, and
are currently working so that some day we might be able to use apps like
WeChat, Tinder, Uber, and Whatsapp without Internet.
Rios:
每当世界上发生飓风或地震时，我们就会看到该应用程序的下载量激增。对我们来说重要的是，我们的核心技术对开发者来说也是可用的，这样他们就可以把它集成到他们自己的应用程序中，并让它们离线工作。我们根据离线用户数量对其进行授权。目前正按此进行中，有一天我们可以在没有互联网的情况下使用微信、Tinder、Uber和Whatsapp等应用程序。
