电子邮件很私密？大错特错

⊙ By Andy Yen

翻译：思苇

电子邮件很私密？大错特错

⊙ By Andy Yen

翻译：思苇

Think Your Email’s Private? Think Again

美式发音 适合精读

语速：165词/分钟

谈到隐私，经常有人这么说：“不就是一封邮件/一条微博/一条微信么，我又不是什么名人，不碍事的。”真是这样的吗？一起来听听在CERN工作的科学家Andy Yen怎样以我们习以为常的电子邮件为出发点，深入浅出地探讨网络隐私问题及其影响……

Scientists at1)CERN created the World Wide Web. Since then, the Internet has transformed the way we communicate, the way we do business, and even the way we live. Today, the average person has an2)astounding amount of personal information online, and we add to this online information every single time we3)post on Facebook, each time we search on Google, and each time we send an email.

Now, many of us probably think, “Well, one email…there’s nothing in there, right?”But if you consider a year’s worth of emails, or maybe even a lifetime of email,4)collectively, this tells a lot. It tells who we have been, who we have met, and in many ways, even what we’re thinking about. And the more scary part about this is our data now lasts forever, so your data can and will outlive you. What has happened is that we’ve largely lost control over our data and also our privacy.

If we really think about it, we see that the business model of the Internet today really isn’t5)compatible for privacy. Just take a look at some of the biggest names on the web, and you see that advertising plays a huge role. And to6)optimize the ads that are shown to us, companies have to know everything about us. They need to know where we live, how old we are, what we like, what we don’t like, and anything else they can get their hands on. And if you think about it, the best way to get this information is really just7)invade our privacy.

So what do we have to do to solve this problem? Well, first of all, we need to support a different business model for the Internet, one that does not rely entirely on advertisements for8)revenue and for growth. We actually need to build a new Internet where our privacy and our ability to control our data is9)first and foremost. But even more importantly, we have to build an Internet where privacy is no longer just an option, but is also the10)default.

And today, there are dozens of projects from all around the world who are workingtogether to improve our privacy. These projects protect things from our chat to voice communications, also our file11)storage, our online search, our online12)browsing, and many other things.

This really matters, because13)ultimately, privacy depends on each and every one of us. And we have to protect it now, because online data is more than just a collection of ones and zeros. It’s actually a lot more than that. It’s our lives, our personal stories, our friends, our families, and in many ways, also our hopes and our14)aspirations.

1) CERN 欧洲核子研究中心，CERN为其前身机构的法语名称缩略，一直沿用至今。

2) astounding [ə'staʊndɪŋ] adj. 令人震惊的

3) post [pəʊst] v. 公布，在社交媒体上发布信息

4) collectively [kə'iektɪviɪ] adv. 集合地，共同地

5) compatible [kəm'pætɪb(ə)i] adj. 合得来的，相容的

6) optimize ['ɒptɪmaɪz] v. 优化，使最优化

7) invade [ɪn'veɪd] v. 侵入，侵犯

8) revenue ['revənjuː] n. 收入，收益

9) frst and foremost 首先，首要的

10) default [dɪ'fɔːit] n. 系统默认值

11) storage ['stɔːrɪdʒ] n. 存储

12) browsing ['braʊzɪŋ] n. 浏览，浏览服务

13) ultimately ['ʌitɪmətiɪ] adv. 最后，最终，根本

14) aspiration [ˌæspə'reɪʃ(ə)n] n. 渴望，抱负

见招拆招

这是一篇非常典型的议论文，思路清晰，条理分明：作者首先带出话题，以电子邮件这么常见的事物作为切入点，引出自己的观点并进行阐述，分析造成这种现象的原因，提出解决方案，最后升华主题。一篇好的议论文就应该这样，不废话，不空话，不套话，踏踏实实地将问题讲清楚。大家不妨仔细研读这篇文章，还可以找一个感兴趣的题目进行仿写练习哦。

参考译文

欧洲核子研究中心的科学家们创造了万维网。从那以后，互联网改变了我们的沟通方式、贸易方式，甚至生活方式。如今，一个普通人留在网上的个人信息量多得惊人，而且每当我们在“脸谱”上发布内容，每当我们用谷歌搜索东西，每当我们发送电子邮件，我们其实就是在为网上信息添砖加瓦。

我们当中很多人也许会这么想：“呃，一封电子邮件……里面也没什么内容吧？”但是如果你考虑下整整一年的邮件量，或者人一生中总共发了多少邮件，这就能透露出很多信息：我们的过去，我们见过什么人——在许多方面，邮件甚至能透露出我们在想什么。更可怕的是，我们的资料现在都能永久留存，所以你的资料能够——而且肯定会比你活得久。现在的情况就是，我们基本上无法控制这种资料外泄和隐私问题。

如果仔细想想，大家不难发现今天的互联网商业模式其实与个人隐私是水火不容的。只要看看一些最有名的网络品牌，你就会发现广告在其中占据着重要地位。而为了优化广告投放的效果，这些公司必须对我们了如指掌。他们需要知道我们住在哪里，多大岁数，喜欢什么，不喜欢什么，以及他们能获得的所有其他信息。仔细想来，要想获得这些信息，最有效的途径便是直接侵犯我们的隐私。

那我们要怎么做才能解决这个问题呢？首先，我们要支持一种全新的互联网商业模式，一种不需要完全依靠广告来赚钱和发展的新模式。我们确实需要建立一个将保护隐私和管理资料当作头等大事的新型互联网。但更加重要的是，我们需要构建一个全新的网络，让隐私不再只是一个选项，而是一个系统默认值。

今天，全世界有几十个研究项目在共同努力，旨在改善我们的隐私状况。这些项目能保护我们的聊天内容和电话通讯，还有文件存储、上网搜索、浏览服务，以及多种其他信息。

这是非常重要的事情，因为归根结底，保护隐私要靠我们每一个人。我们现在就要将隐私保护起来，因为网上数据并不仅仅是1和0的集合，它其实有着更为丰富的内涵。它是我们的人生，是我们亲身经历的故事，关系到我们的亲朋好友——从很多方面来看，它还承载着我们的希望与抱负。