IN 1933 Britain’s parliament was considering the Banditry bill—the government’s response to a crime wave. The problem was that criminals were using a newfangled invention, the motor car, to carry out robberies faster than the police could respond. The bill’s proposed answer to these “smash-and-grab” raids was to create new powers to search cars and to construct road blocks.
1993年英国议会正在考虑抢盗法案-政府对于犯罪浪潮的回应。问题是罪犯们利用流行的发明：摩托车来实施抢劫，比警方作出反应的速度还要快。这个提议回应那些打砸抢掠等袭击的法案创造了新的搜寻车辆和建造道路街区的权力。
In the end, the Banditry bill was not enacted. Its powers were too controversial. But the problem did not go away; what the bill proposed was eventually permitted, and now seems normal. Since then, the technology of theft has not stood still. Indeed, just as in the 1930s, it remains one step ahead of the authorities.
最后，抢盗法案并没有颁布。它的权力充满争议。但是问题并没有解决：法案提议最终被通过了。现在看起来正常。从那时起，盗贼的科技仍没有止步。确实，就像在20世纪30年代，它仍然比官方领先一步。
On May 12th, for instance, security companies noticed that a piece of malicious software known as WannaCry was spreading across the internet, first in Britain and Spain, and then around the world. It would reach 230,000 computers in 48 hours, an unprecedented scale of infection according to Europol, Europe’s international police agency. WannaCry rendered useless some of the computers that help run Britain’s National Health Service (NHS), causing ambulances to be diverted and shutting down non-emergency services. It also nabbed machines at Telefónica, Spain’s biggest telecommunications company; at Hainan, a Chinese airline; and even in Russia’s interior ministry.
例如，在5月12日，安全公司注意到一种被称作想哭的病毒软件在互联网上传播，首先是在英国和西班牙，最后传播到世界各地。根据欧洲刑警组织，欧洲国际警察机构的消息，它以空前的感染速度在48小时内感染了230000台计算机。“想哭”释放了一些无用的电脑帮助运行英国国民健康保险制度，导致救护车被转移，并关闭了非紧急服务。它也控制了西班牙最大的通讯公司的机器以及海南的一条中国航线，甚至是俄罗斯的内政部。
Malicious software (“malware”, for short) is designed to infect and damage computers. Sometimes, especially if the creators are youngsters flexing their programming muscles, it is written for the sheer hell of it. Sometimes, it is the work of governments, designed to harm the interests of rivals or enemies. Usually, though, it is written for profit. This seems to have been the case for WannaCry, the modus operandi of which is to encrypt a victim’s files and demand payment to reverse that encryption—a common technique, known as ransomware. What makes the WannaCry attack special is its scale and the high-profile nature of its victims. That public profile has led to the asking of questions similar to those which resulted in the Banditry bill.
蛇蝎美人软件（简称恶意软件）是用来传染并破坏电脑的。有时，特别是如果开发者是为了展示自己的编程能力的年轻人，那是为了纯粹的地狱。有时，它是政府的工作，设计出来损害对手或者敌人的利益。然而它经常是用来获取利益。这似乎已经是想哭的案例，将受害人的文件编译成密码并要求付款来解密-一种勒索软件的常用技术。”想哭“病毒袭击的特别之处是它的规模和受害者的备受瞩目的性质。这一公共形象导致了一些与那些导致盗抢法案类似的问题的提出
