We Have Been Harmonized

　　曾駐華多年的《南德意志報》資深記者馬凱，揭露令人戰慄的現在進行式
　　中國，正從網路威權時代，走向網路集權時代──

　　中國對內的資訊監控與壓制，正隨著數位科技進展而達到空前的高峰：臉部與語音辨識、定位追蹤、攔截私人手機信息，可從6萬人中辨識出特定對象的監控鏡頭分布在社會各處，日常訂購外送等消費資訊，也都匯入國家的大數據資料庫中，如今想在中國隱藏個人資訊，幾乎是不可能做到的事。更甚者，在分析監控資訊、對人民進行評分的「社會信用評分系統」運行之下，分數不佳的人，被施以禁止搭乘高速鐵路、禁止取得特定工作職位、子女難以進入好學校等等懲罰，甚至，將被送至再教育營。

　　從曾任CNN駐北京特派員的資深記者麥康瑞(Rebecca MacKinnon)口中的「網路威權時代」，到如今馬凱(Kai Strittmatter)筆下的「網路集權時代」，意謂著心照不宣的規則變成白紙黑字的法則，以及對個人言論的監控與人類自由的踐踏──在習近平的治理下，集權中國如漢娜．鄂蘭的著述般，逐步成形。

　　這一切不僅只代表了對個人自由的控制，更是企圖近一步對集體記憶進行「整理」──語言，能夠教化混沌，也能夠愚化眾人，將詞彙轉化成當權想要人民理解的意思，將所有不想要人民接受的資訊妖魔化成假新聞、全民公敵等形象，讓人民分不清是非對錯，喪失信念，接著，創造出集體健忘症，讓人民忘記當權者曾經造成的苦難，這時，輔以政府的權勢，要灌輸人民任何教條、掌控人民的思想，簡直易如反掌。

　　我們看見興興向榮、和平穩健的中國，不過是強權媒體塑造的形象，越深入探究，越發現這不過是一場漫天大謊。想要走向現代的國家，無不擁抱資本主義、無不投入民主。

　　然而，中國完全背道而馳。

　　不符中國當權利益的網路言論，中國便和諧掉它（刪除，使之永遠消失）；危害中國當權形象的人，中國便將其深鎖大牢。然後，成為了今天的強權大國。

　　馬凱在本書中揭露了令人震撼的數位監控社會實況、解析習近平對掌控言論與權力的渴望，更探討了私人科技公司、西方政府為了取得市場信息，在這一連串發展中所扮演的角色。(文/博客來編譯)

　　“A remarkable book. … The more one reads, the more pressing one conclusion becomes: almost everything we thought we knew about contemporary China is wrong.” —The Observer, “Book of the Week”

　　Hailed as a masterwork of reporting and analysis, and based on decades of research within China, We Have Been Harmonized, by award-winning correspondent Kai Strittmatter, offers a groundbreaking look at how the inter¬net and high tech have allowed China to create the largest and most effective surveillance state in history.

　　China’s new drive for repression is being underpinned by unpre¬cedented advances in technology: facial and voice recognition, GPS tracking, supercomputer databases, intercepted cell phone conver¬sations, the monitoring of app use, and millions of high-resolution security cameras make it nearly impossible for a Chinese citizen to hide anything from authorities. Commercial transactions, including food deliveries and online purchases, are fed into vast databases, along with everything from biometric information to social media activities to methods of birth control. Cameras (so advanced that they can locate a single person within a stadium crowd of 60,000) scan for faces and walking patterns to track each individual’s move¬ment. In some schools, children’s facial expressions are monitored to make sure they are paying attention at the right times. In a new Social Credit System, each citizen is given a score for good behavior; for those who rate poorly, punishments include being banned from flying or taking high-speed trains, exclusion from certain jobs, and preventing their children from attending better schools. And it gets worse: advanced surveillance has led to the imprisonment of more than a million Chinese citizens in western China alone, many held in draconian “reeducation” camps.

　　This digital totalitarianism has been made possible not only with the help of Chinese private tech companies, but the complic¬ity of Western governments and corporations eager to gain access to China’s huge market. And while governments debate trade wars and tariffs, the Chinese Communist Party and its local partners are aggressively stepping up their efforts to export their surveillance technology abroad—including to the United States.

　　We Have Been Harmonized is a terrifying portrait of life under unprecedented government surveillance—and a dire warning about what could happen anywhere under the pretense of national security.

　　“Terrifying. … A warning call." —The Sunday Times (UK), a “Best Book of the Year so Far”