经济学人94:脸谱和用户隐私

 　　Business Facebook and privacy Sorry, friends

　　商业 脸谱和用户隐私 对不起，朋友

　　The giant social network is castigated¹ for serious privacy failings

　　社交网巨头因严重隐私缺陷而遭受公众谴责

　　FACEBOOK has been playing with fire and has got its fingers burned, again.

　　脸谱一直在玩火，这次它又烧伤了自己的指头。

　　On November 29th America's Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had reached a draft settlement with the giant social network over allegations that it had misled people about its use of their personal data.

　　11月29日美国联邦贸易委员会（FTC)声明已和该社交网巨头关于公众对它欺骗用户、滥用用户个人信息的控诉初步达成解决方案。

　　The details of the settlement make clear that Facebook, which boasts over 800m users, betrayed its users' trust.

　　这份解决方案的细目明确说明，脸谱网背叛了它所声称的八亿用户的信任。

　　It is also notable because it appears to be part of a broader attempt by the FTC to craft a new privacy framework to deal with the swift rise of social networks in America.

　　FTC有个更大的计划，那就是创建一个新的隐私框架以应对美国快速攀升的社交网用户。而这份方案似乎是这个计划中的一部分，这也是它受到广泛关注的另一个原因。

　　The regulator's findings come at a sensitive time for Facebook, which is said to be preparing for an initial public offering next year that could value it at around $100 billion.

　　调解员的调查对这个时候的脸谱网来说很敏感。据说它正在准备明年的首次招股，这将使它的价值达到一千亿。

　　To clear the way for its blockbuster flotation, the firm first needs to resolve its privacy tussles² with regulators in America and Europe.

　　为了给这次非同一般的上市计划扫清障碍，脸谱网必须首先解决与美国和欧洲协调员关于用户隐私的争端，因此这周它公开了商谈意向。

　　Hence its willingness to negotiate the settlement unveiled this week, which should be finalised at the end of December after a period for public comment.

　　经过征询公共意见后，商谈结果将在十二月底最终敲定。

　　Announcing the agreement, the FTC said it had found a number of cases where Facebook had made claims that were "unfair and deceptive³, and violated federal law".

　　宣布协议时，FTC说发现有好几回脸谱的声明都是 "不公平，虚假并触犯联邦法"的，

　　For instance, it passed on personally identifiable information to advertisers, even though it said it would not do so.

　　比如，它把用户身份信息透露给广告商，但是嘴上却声称不会做此类事情。

　　And it failed to keep a promise to make photos and videos on deactivated⁴ and deleted accounts inaccessible⁵.

　　还有，账户不再活动或取消后，上面的相片和视频却仍然可以被搜索到，这完全与它的承诺不相符。

　　The settlement does not constitute an admission by Facebook that it has broken the law.

　　脸谱没有在这份协议中承认自己触犯法律。

　　But the regulator's findings are deeply embarrassing for the company nonetheless.

　　但是，协调员的调查结果已经让这个公司陷入极为尴尬的境地。

　　In a blog post published the same day, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's boss, tried to play down the impact of the deal.

　　同一天，脸谱老板Mark Zuckerberg在一篇博文上极力淡化这份协议的影响。

　　First he claimed that "a small number of high-profile mistakes" were overshadowing the social network's "good history" on privacy.

　　在这篇博文中他首先声明"一小部分被高调炒作的错误"正在掩盖脸谱网关于用户隐私的"良好记录"。

　　Then he confessed that it could still do better and said he had hired two new "chief privacy officers".

　　接着，他承认确实有一些地方需要改进，并说明他已经雇用了两名新的"首席隐私官"。

　　The FTC is not relying on Facebook to police itself.

　　FTC不指望脸谱自我监督。

　　Among other things, the company will now have to seek consumers' approval before it changes the way it shares their data. And it has agreed to an independent privacy audit⁶ every two years for the next 20 years.

　　此外，在改变用户信息共享方式前，它还必须征询用户的同意，并且它也同意在未来二十年里每两年进行一次独立的隐私审核。

　　Jeff Chester of the Centre for Digital Democracy reckons this will make it somewhat easier for privacy activists⁷ to hold the social network to account.

　　数字民主中心的Jeff Chester认为，这从某种程度上让隐私主义者更容易相信脸谱会为自己的行为负责。

　　There is a clear pattern here.

　　这里有个很清晰的模式。

　　In separate cases over the past couple of years the FTC has insisted that Twitter and Google accept regular external audits⁸, too, after each firm was accused of violating its customers' privacy.

　　从过去几年里Twitter和Google各自的案例来看，在这两家公司分别被指控触犯用户隐私后，FTC也坚持要求两家公司接受定期的外部审核，

　　The intent seems to be to create a regulatory regime that is tighter than the status quo, but one that still gives social networks plenty of room to innovate⁹.

　　目的似乎就是为了给此类社交网络创造一个比现状严格却又有足够空间革新的管理制度。

　　The audits can be used to tweak the framework in the light of new developments.

　　从发展的角度讲，这些审核有助于打破原本框架。

　　Some observers reckon web firms have agreed to all this in the hope that it will deflect¹⁰ a push for more onerous¹¹ privacy legislation in America.

　　一些观测者认为，这些网络公司全盘接受这些审核，希望借此摆脱美国更为繁琐的隐私保护法。

　　But outrage¹² over Facebook's behaviour could spur Congress into action anyway. And it will certainly not be lost on regulators in Europe who are scrutinising the social network's privacy record too.

　　但是公众对脸谱行为的不满终将刺激国会做出反应，而正在审阅该社交网隐私记录的欧洲协调员们也必然会给予这些不满的呼声以相应的重视。

　　Mr Zuckerberg's latest mea culpa is unlikely to be his last.

　　看来Zuckerberg先生最近的这次检讨不会是最后一次。

1 castigated   

v.严厉责骂、批评或惩罚（某人）( castigate的过去式 )

参考例句：

• He castigated himself for being so stupid. 他责怪自己太笨。
• He castigated the secretaries for their sloppy job of filing. 由于秘书们档案工作搞得马虎草率，他严厉地斥责了他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 tussles   

n.扭打，争斗( tussle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They need no running fights with large, fierce rats or tussles with grown rabbits. 它们不必奔跑着与大又凶的老鼠搏斗了，也不必跟大兔子扭斗了。 来自辞典例句
• The magazine has had a series of tussles with Asian governments. 该杂志曾与亚洲多国政府发生争执。 来自互联网

3 deceptive   

adj.骗人的，造成假象的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• His appearance was deceptive.他的外表带有欺骗性。
• The storyline is deceptively simple.故事情节看似简单，其实不然。

4 deactivated   

v.解除动员( deactivate的过去式和过去分词 )；使无效；复员；使不活动

参考例句：

• \"The brain can be deactivated. It can be yours to command.\" “大脑计算机可以被停止。如果你下达命令的话。” 来自互联网
• He successfully deactivated a nuclear reactor in a laboratory before meltdown. 他成功停用一个核反应堆在实验室之前崩溃。 来自互联网

5 inaccessible   

adj.达不到的，难接近的

参考例句：

• This novel seems to me among the most inaccessible.这本书对我来说是最难懂的小说之一。
• The top of Mount Everest is the most inaccessible place in the world.珠穆朗玛峰是世界上最难到达的地方。

6 audit   

v.审计；查帐；核对；旁听

参考例句：

• Each year they audit our accounts and certify them as being true and fair.他们每年对我们进行账务审核，以确保其真实无误。
• As usual,the yearly audit will take place in December.跟往常一样，年度审计将在十二月份进行。

7 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 audits   

n.审计，查账( audit的名词复数 )v.审计，查账( audit的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Requires that use of all bond funds is subject to independent audits. 需要使用的所有债券基金是受独立审计。 来自互联网
• Support the locations during customer-visits, audits and quality-improvement programs. 支持客户参观，稽核和提高品质等项目。 来自互联网

9 innovate   

v.革新，变革，创始

参考例句：

• We must innovate in order to make progress.我们必须改革以便取得进步。
• It is necessary to innovate and develop military theories.创新和发展军事理论是必要的。

10 deflect   

v.(使)偏斜，(使)偏离，(使)转向

参考例句：

• Never let a little problem deflect you.决不要因一点小问题就半途而废。
• They decided to deflect from the original plan.他们决定改变原计划。

11 onerous   

adj.繁重的

参考例句：

• My household duties were not particularly onerous.我的家务活并不繁重。
• This obligation sometimes proves onerous.这一义务有时被证明是艰巨的。

12 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。