What Is Online Privacy? 什么是網絡隱私？

奧爾加·蘇什科 譯/郭碩 Olga Sushko

Online privacy， also known as internet privacy or digital privacy， refers to how much of your personal， financial and browsing information remains private when youre online.

This has become a growing worry， with browsing history and personal data all potentially at risk when online.

Many people underestimate the importance of online privacy， but they should be aware of how much information theyre sharing—not just on social networks， but just by browsing itself.

Why online privacy is so important

Its important to remember that nothing is free： whether it be downloading apps， using a companys “free” email service （such as Gmail） or social networks like Facebook. Even visiting a website means youre sharing data about yourself. And， as some people in your life know you better than others， online privacy exists on a spectrum1： some online entities gather and store more information about you than other platforms.

Online privacy is important for numerous reasons. You dont want to share details of your personal life with strangers and its hard to be sure what personal information is gathered and by whom： information collected by one company might be shared with another.

You might be uncomfortable with bespoke2， targeted ads that remember your internet search history.

Even more problematic is information sold from one company to another， or data gathered and shared without your consent. Ultimately， this is identity theft.

Public concern over internet privacy

In a recent poll of American internet users， 81% said they believe they have no control over data collected by private companies. Worse—the number climbs to 84% when asked if they could control the governments collection of their data.

GDPR

In the EU， concerns like these were addressed with GDPR （General Data Protection Regulation）. This set of laws， passed in 2016 and implemented in 2018， was intended to protect the privacy and data of every EU citizen.

There are 99 articles in GDPR. These include：

· the right to know what data a company holds about you

· an opportunity to refuse a company access to browsing history and cookies when you visit their site

· clear responsibility for companies to gain consent for customer information

· stricter regulations regarding contacting customers and sharing contact details with third parties

The right to be forgotten

“The right to be forgotten” is a relatively new phrase， but it grows in rele-vance every time someone visits a site. Some tech companies have customer information dating back years， logging every site they visited， their preferences， shopping habits， political views and more.

The right to be forgotten is the right to ask those companies to delete and surrender3 this information.

This can extend to online chatter and third-party discussions： there have been cases where people have fought to have their names and images removed from “revenge porn4” （and search engine results for same）. Some have requested past personal stories （involving petty crime or embarrassing viral stories） be taken off the internet.

This is an ongoing debate. On one side5， the right to be forgotten arguably protects those who want privacy and not be reminded of previous mistakes. Those opposed （who， incidentally include some tech giants） argue that it amounts to6 censorship7and could lead to the rewriting of history.

What is information privacy？

This is sometimes referred to as data privacy or online privacy.

Information privacy is an element of online security that looks at the following issues：

· data acquired

· how data is collected or stored

· whether or not data is shared with a third party

· regulatory restrictions， such as GDPR

Many companies such as Google， Amazon and Facebook have profited handsomely in the “data economy”， —accumulating user data to maximise either product or ad sales. Good practice regarding information privacy means keeping customer information secure， not sharing it with third parties without consent or using data maliciously or negligently.

Personal privacy vs sensitive information

When it comes to internet privacy， there is personal and sensitive information. They are defined the following ways：

Personal information—identifiers8， such as name， IP address， address， etc.

Sensitive information—very private data like medical records， but also information that you might not be ready to share publicly， such as your sexual orientation or political views.

How does privacy differ from information security？

Online privacy and security often overlap， as one sometimes affects the other. They can be differentiated this way.

Privacy—you want the company you deal with （say， a bank or a social network） to keep your data and information itself， not share it publicly or with third parties. In this instance， privacy is breached but security is maintained.

Security—this is the next step. If the data shared includes （for instance） financial information or your home address， then both privacy and security is compromised.

網絡隱私，又稱互聯網隱私或數字隱私，指人們上網時個人信息、財務信息及瀏覽記錄不被他人知悉的程度。

由于上網時瀏覽歷史和個人數據都面臨著潛在風險，人們對網絡隱私的擔憂日益加劇。

很多人對網絡隱私的重要性不以為意，但對于自己泄露了多少個人信息應該心中有數——不只是那些發布在社交網絡上的，還包括通過瀏覽行為本身泄露的。

網絡隱私為何如此重要

無論是下載應用軟件，還是使用谷歌等公司的“免費”郵箱服務，抑或是使用臉書等社交網絡，須知世上沒有免費的午餐，這點很重要。即便只是訪問某個網站，也會泄露有關自己的數據。另外，就像生活中有些人會比其他人更了解你一樣，網絡隱私的泄露也有程度之分：一些網絡公司收集和存儲的個人信息比其他平臺要多。

網絡隱私之所以重要，原因眾多。你不會愿意和陌生人分享個人生活的種種細節，你也很難確切了解是誰收集了你的哪些信息，因為一家公司可能會把它收集到的信息泄露給其他公司。

那些通過記憶網絡搜索歷史而為你量身定制的廣告推送，可能也會令你不勝其煩。

更有甚者，個人信息由一家公司販賣給另一家，個人數據未經同意就被收集、傳播。歸根結底，這是身份盜竊。

公眾對互聯網隱私的擔憂

近來一項美國網民民意調查顯示，81%的人認為自己對私企收集數據的行為毫無辦法。更不容樂觀的是，當被問及他們能否左右政府收集數據的行為時，持否定回答的人數比例上升至84%。

《通用數據保護條例》

歐盟出臺了《通用數據保護條例》（GDPR）以解決諸如此類的擔憂。這套法規于2016年通過，于2018年施行，旨在保護每一位歐盟公民的隱私和數據。

該條例共99條。其中包括：

· 公民對企業掌握的個人數據內容享有知情權

· 公民有權利拒絕企業在其訪問網站時獲取其瀏覽記錄和本地緩存

· 企業有明確責任在獲取客戶信息前征得其同意

· 對聯系顧客及向第三方提供聯絡信息的行為有更為嚴格的規定

被遺忘權

“被遺忘權”雖然是個比較新的短語，但網站訪問量每有新增時，都更顯其重要性。一些科技公司握有客戶多年的個人信息，記錄了他們訪問過的每個網站，以及他們的愛好、購物習慣、政治觀點等很多內容。

被遺忘權即人們有權要求這些公司刪除并銷毀此類信息。

這也適用于線上聊天和涉及第三方的討論。曾有人打官司要求把自己的名字和照片從“報復式色情”內容以及搜索結果列表中清除。也有人要求從網絡上刪掉他們過往的個人經歷（包括輕罪史和廣為流傳的尷尬事）。

如今，這場爭論依舊如火如荼。一方面，被遺忘權按理可為注重隱私、不愿重提前非的人提供保護;而另一方面，碰巧也包括一些科技巨頭在內的反對者則認為，這無異于內容審查，可能導致歷史遭篡改。

何為信息隱私？

信息隱私有時也稱為數據隱私或網絡隱私。

信息隱私是網絡安全的一部分，主要關注以下方面：

· 獲取的數據內容

· 收集或存儲數據的方式

· 數據是否提供給第三方

· 監管部門的限制規定，比如GDPR

谷歌、亞馬遜、臉書等諸多公司，通過積累用戶數據實現了產品或廣告銷售的最大化，從而在“數據經濟”中賺得盆豐缽滿。良好的信息隱私保護行為要求確?？蛻舻男畔踩?，未經客戶同意不向第三方提供其數據，不惡意、隨意使用這些數據。

個人隱私 vs 敏感信息

說到互聯網隱私，它涉及個人信息和敏感信息。二者定義如下：

個人信息：能夠識別個人身份的各種信息，如姓名、網際協議地址、住址等。

敏感信息：病歷等非常隱私的數據，也包括一些不愿公之于眾的信息，比如說性取向或政治立場。

隱私與信息安全有何區別？

網絡隱私和網絡安全常有交集，因為二者有時互為影響?？梢赃@樣來區分兩個概念。

先說隱私。假設你希望你打交道的公司（比如銀行或社交網絡）自己保存你的數據和信息而不將其泄露給公眾或第三方，那么這種情況下，隱私沒有得到保全，但是安全有保障。

再說安全。如果提供的數據包含（例如）財務信息或家庭住址，那么隱私和安全就都無保障了。

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎者;單位：天津鐵道職業技術學院）