What Are Online Privacy Issues?網(wǎng)絡(luò)隱私問題知多少？

袁峰

You might think that you wont have to deal with any of the common online privacy issues as your e-activity is not worth tracking. All you do is browse through different websites and search engines， or post updates on social media platforms. No one could have an interest in that， right？

Wrong. That couldnt be further from the truth！

For hackers and cyberthieves， this data that you produce is a rich type of personal information， stating more about your online activities than you might even imagine.

Battles have long raged over how third parties can access and use your data. But without the right privacy laws and with emerging technologies appearing constantly， our online privacy faces newer and more powerful threats each day. And these may have an even bigger effect than what is estimated on how your Web-based life is either protected or exposed.

Those preoccupied with what are the issues of privacy when online， ought to pay careful attention to the following 5 major threats， including：

Cookie generation

Wondering which is one of the biggest threats to our privacy？

Meet the cookies！

Cookies are fragments of information that gets saved whenever you visit a website. This information is later used by sites to customize your browsing experience and to recognize your device the next time you revisit that particular website.

Ever wondered how come you are receiving personalized ads as if someone knew exactly what you want and what you are searching for？ Well， you can definitely thank the cookies for that.

Online privacy issues caused by the hidden cookie application that monitors your browser and personal data are likely to multiply in the nearest future. Wondering why？

Because your system is liable to collect more cookies.

Five to ten years ago， in the event that you opened some specific websites in your web browser， you would get maybe a couple of cookies from advertising/marketing agents， but this would basically be it.

Long gone are those times now. With the advertising world， the entrepreneurs， and all the other information profiteers depending on cookies to spy on your identity and learn what you could be interested in shopping， the cookies are just getting bigger and stronger each day.

Online privacy issues caused by cloud data

You might love how easy it is to grab data through cloud services. But so do conduct law enforcement bureaus.

If you use email services， keep files in Google Drive， or upload sensitive information like your credit card or medical records， whatever you set up there can be retrieved by somebody else.

Unsecured location sharing

Your cell phone is the first nosy parker1， but the locations you post and share on social media sites are revealing sources， too. Showing your whereabouts got even simpler now as many people are using a multitude of location-beaming2 devices like smarter watches， Google Glasses， or car trackers.

Equipped with all this information， advertisers might （for example） send you promotions for nearby businesses， wherever you are.

Data never forgets individuals

Posting and tagging photographs online may feel like fun. But behind the scenes， it helps construct a facial recognition catalog which makes escaping notice increasingly hard for anybody.

If these social networking platforms would use this data strictly to help you find other people you know on their site， it might be okay. But once these websites start selling user information to third parties， image data might be integrated leading to serious privacy and GDPR concerns.

Social networking websites make one of the leading facial recognition databases in the world and the tremendous number of photographs uploaded to these websites cause one of the main online privacy issues surrounding this technology.

Scanning cybersecurity

You may not be a hacker， but this doesnt mean your online activity wont be scanned for signs of cybercrime. The federal government has made cybersecurity a high priority， as more and more concerns are raised regarding the vulnerability of the nations infrastructure in case of an online assault.

“Make no mistake3， everything we touch that is digital in the future will be a data source” says the IAPP4s Hughes.

In conclusion， you might be rightfully wondering， “Is privacy dead in the online world？”

你也許以為自己無須應(yīng)付任何常見的網(wǎng)絡(luò)隱私問題，因?yàn)槟愕木W(wǎng)上活動不值得追蹤。你所做的無非是瀏覽各種網(wǎng)站、使用不同的搜索引擎，或是在社交媒體平臺發(fā)布最新動態(tài)。沒人會對此感興趣，對吧？

不對。這與事實(shí)大相徑庭！

對黑客和網(wǎng)絡(luò)竊賊來說，你生成的上述數(shù)據(jù)是豐富的個(gè)人信息，所透露的網(wǎng)上活動底細(xì)之多超乎你的想象。

長期以來，對于第三方如何獲取和使用我們的數(shù)據(jù)一直爭論激烈。沒有恰當(dāng)?shù)碾[私法規(guī)，卻有新興技術(shù)不斷涌現(xiàn)，以致網(wǎng)絡(luò)隱私每天都面臨著更新、更強(qiáng)勁的威脅。這些威脅對網(wǎng)上生活受保護(hù)或被曝光程度的影響恐怕比人們估計(jì)的還要大。

上網(wǎng)時(shí)會有哪些隱私問題？對此憂心忡忡的人應(yīng)密切注意以下五大威脅：

緩存文件的生成

想知道我們的隱私面臨的最大威脅是什么嗎？

就是緩存文件！

緩存文件是訪問網(wǎng)站時(shí)被保存的信息片段。網(wǎng)站此后會利用該信息為你提供個(gè)性化瀏覽體驗(yàn)，并在你下次重訪該網(wǎng)站時(shí)識別你的設(shè)備。

你是否曾納悶自己怎么會收到個(gè)性化廣告？似乎有人確切知道你想要什么、正在搜索什么。知道吧，這絕對是緩存文件干的好事。

監(jiān)控瀏覽器和個(gè)人數(shù)據(jù)的隱藏式緩存文件應(yīng)用程序會導(dǎo)致網(wǎng)絡(luò)隱私問題，在不久的將來，這些問題多半會成倍增加。想知道原因嗎？

這是因?yàn)槟愕南到y(tǒng)可能會收集更多的緩存文件。

五到十年前，要是在瀏覽器中打開某些特定網(wǎng)站，你會招來區(qū)區(qū)幾個(gè)來自廣告/營銷代理商的緩存文件，但基本上僅此而已。

這樣的時(shí)代早已一去不復(fù)返。隨著廣告界、企業(yè)家以及所有其他信息牟利者借助緩存文件來窺探你的身份、了解你的購物意向，緩存文件正日益強(qiáng)大。

云數(shù)據(jù)引發(fā)的網(wǎng)絡(luò)隱私問題

你大概喜歡通過云服務(wù)輕松獲取數(shù)據(jù)，而執(zhí)法部門也是如此。

如果使用電子郵件服務(wù)，將文件保存在谷歌云端硬盤，或上傳信用卡或病歷等敏感信息，那放置于云端的任何信息都能被他人檢索到。

不安全的位置共享

手機(jī)是頭號泄密者，而在社交媒體網(wǎng)站上發(fā)布和分享位置也會暴露信息?，F(xiàn)在許多人都在使用智能手表、谷歌眼鏡、汽車追蹤器等諸多位置傳送設(shè)備，探明你的行蹤因而越發(fā)輕松簡單。

有了所有這些信息，廣告商可能會（例如）向你發(fā)送附近商家的促銷信息，無論你置身何處。

數(shù)據(jù)從不放過個(gè)人

在網(wǎng)上發(fā)布和標(biāo)記照片想必饒有趣味。但在背地里，這有利于構(gòu)建人臉識別目錄，讓任何人都越來越難以逃脫注意。

如果社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)平臺嚴(yán)格使用這類數(shù)據(jù)來幫助你在其網(wǎng)站上查找認(rèn)識的人，這興許沒問題?？梢坏┻@些網(wǎng)站開始向第三方出售用戶信息，圖像數(shù)據(jù)就會被集成，導(dǎo)致嚴(yán)重的泄露隱私和違反《通用數(shù)據(jù)保護(hù)條例》問題。

社交網(wǎng)站是世界上主要的人臉識別數(shù)據(jù)庫之一，巨量照片被上傳到此類網(wǎng)站，導(dǎo)致圍繞人臉識別技術(shù)的一大網(wǎng)絡(luò)隱私問題。

監(jiān)察網(wǎng)絡(luò)安全

你可能不是黑客，但這并不意味著你的網(wǎng)上活動不會受到旨在發(fā)現(xiàn)網(wǎng)絡(luò)犯罪跡象的監(jiān)察。美國基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施脆弱不堪，難抵網(wǎng)絡(luò)攻擊，此類擔(dān)憂越來越多，聯(lián)邦政府因而已將網(wǎng)絡(luò)安全列為重中之重。

國際隱私專業(yè)人士協(xié)會的休斯表示：“要知道，未來我們接觸到的任何數(shù)字化事物都將是數(shù)據(jù)源?！?/p>

綜上所述，你或許有理由發(fā)問：“網(wǎng)絡(luò)世界是否已不存在隱私？”

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎?wù)撸?/p>