Privacy Is a Four-letter Word

Chris Messina

You and me? We’re being tracked whether we like it or not.

Use a web browser, apps on your phone—there’s a company (or companies) out there amassing reams of data about every click, tap,photo, song, noti fication, or icon in your digital life.1. 每次使用网页浏览器或手机上的应用软件，就有公司开始收集大量关于你“数字生活”里的每个点击、敲打键盘、图片、歌曲、通知或符号的数据。amass: 积累，收集；reams of:大量的；icon: 图标，符号。But don’t get up in arms2. get up in arms: 进行武装斗争，竭力反对。over the loss of your “privacy”. This word, “privacy” —it’s a problem.

In common usage, it’s one of those words that kills useful conversation and prevents many of us from thoughtfully engaging with how the information economy uniquely affects each of us.3. 在通常的用法中，“隐私”是这样一个词：它扼杀了有意义的交谈，并且使我们中的许多人不再深入思考信息经济给我们带来了什么特别的影响。At best it obscures; at worst it perpetuates technologically-induced inequity.4. 往好里说是掩盖了真相，往坏里说是维持科技带来的不平等。obscure:使……模糊不清，掩盖；perpetuate:使永存，保持。“Privacy” is a word that puts people on the defensive and confuses them about the choices and rights they have (or should have) as 21st century digital citizens.

We must fix this. We don’t, we jeopardize the acceptance and use of new apps and services, and their potential to uplift humanity.5. jeopardize: 危及，损害；uplift:（在精神、道德、情绪等方面）振作，振奋（或提高）。

Privacy ≠ Secrecy6. secrecy: 秘密，保密。≠ Security

At a recent White House summit on cybersecurity and consumer protection,7. summit: 高层会议，峰会；cybersecurity:网络安全。Apple CEO Tim Cook said: “If those of us in positions of responsibility fail to do everything in our power to protect the right of privacy, we risk something far more valuable than money. We risk our way of life.”

隐私大概是现代人最经常挂在嘴边的词汇之一了。在现代人的数字生活中，每当我们选择在社交网站上分享一些东西的时候，实际上我们就在设定自己的隐私界限。即便我们如此在乎隐私，很多人却没有弄清它的内涵，并且与“保密”、“安全性”等词相混淆。

But doing everything in our power starts with clarifying the language that shapes the dialogue around these issues.8. 但是尽一切所能保护隐私，首先必须阐明有关这些问题的对话所基于的概念。

Let’s start by separating privacy from secrecy, and de fine security:

Privacy is the set of boundaries that we de fine for ourselves about what we will or won’t reveal to others. We trust software to help us maintain and manage these boundaries online. Every time we choose to share something, we’re deciding where to set a privacy boundary given the audience and how comfortable we feel sharing in that speci fic context.9. 每次我们选择在网上分享一些东西，我们都是在设定隐私界限，基于分享受众以及在这种特定情境下分享的舒适程度。

Secrecy is choosing to keep something to ourselves knowing that there may be consequences if it were to be revealed. Since these consequences may not affect us personally (i.e. if the secret relates to someone else), secrecy can be considered independently from our privacy boundaries.10. 这些后果并不会影响我们个人（比如当这些秘密涉及他人时），因此保密被看做独立于隐私界限。

Security is the robustness of the defenses against intrusion that the platforms that store or transmit our information offer.11. 安全性作为一道坚固防线，由那些储存或传输我们信息的平台所提供，以防止信息被入侵。robustness: 坚固，坚实；intrusion: 闯入，侵扰。In other words, it’s how good they are at protecting our information from unwanted access, use, or tampering.12. access: 获得，取得；tampering: 篡改。

We must remember that privacy is about boundary setting and secrecy is about preventing access to information. Security is what ensures that privacy boundaries are enforced, and that secrets stay secret.

In the past, privacy and secrecy have been used interchangeably13. interchangeably: 可替换地，可交替地。. To illustrate this, we need only look at the user backlashes against Facebook that ensued whenever they changed their service.14. 为了说明这一点，我们只要看每次“脸书”调整服务时引起用户的强烈抨击便可知。backlash: 强烈反对；ensue: 继而发生，因而产生。Invariably users would complain that the company had violated their privacy,15. invariably: 总是，不变地；violate: 侵犯，下文中的violation为其名词形式。but was that true? Facebook hadn’t changed the secrecy of its users’data, nor had the security of the site been compromised16. compromise: 妥协，折中解决。…Rather, Facebook changed the publicness and publicity of certain pro file information,17. publicity: 宣传，推广；pro file: 简介，概况。in violation of its users’expectations. For example, in 2006 Facebook boosted the visibility of relationship status changes by surfacing them in the newsfeed.18. 比如，2006年，“脸书”提高了关系状态变化的可见性，使其在“新消息推送”中显示出来。visibility: 能见度，可见性；surface: 使浮出水面，使……显现。Previously you had to visit a pro file directly to see this. So Facebook hadn’t violated the secrecy of its users’ data, rather it had moved an understood privacy boundary without asking for explicit permission,surprising users, and leaving them feeling exposed.19. 因此，“脸书”并没有侵犯用户数据的保密性，而是在未取得用户明确同意的情况下改变了默认的隐私界限，让用户们大为震惊，并感觉个人隐私遭到曝光。explicit: 明确的。For its part, Facebook was simply building the product that it believed people wanted, and for better or worse, was willing to boldly experiment with the default privacy boundaries it set for user information.20. 就其本身而言，“脸书”只是创造它所认为的人们需要的产品，无论结果好坏，它都乐于大胆地拿为用户信息所设定的默认隐私界限做实验。for better or worse: 不论好坏；boldly: 大胆地，显眼地；default:[计]默认的。

Thus, as digital citizens, every time we see the word privacy, we should consider whether secrecy would be a more appropriate concept, and vice versa21. vice versa: 反之亦然。. This basic understanding should help us better evaluate decisions concerning our personal information, set privacy boundaries that we’re comfortable with, demand secrecy when necessary, and take the steps necessary to ensure the security of our choices.22. 这种基本了解有助于我们更好地评价关于个人信息所做出的决定，设定可接受的隐私界限，必要时要求保密，并采取必要措施确保我们选择的安全性。