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. 每次使用網(wǎng)頁瀏覽器或手機(jī)上的應(yīng)用軟件，就有公司開始收集大量關(guān)于你“數(shù)字生活”里的每個(gè)點(diǎn)擊、敲打鍵盤、圖片、歌曲、通知或符號(hào)的數(shù)據(jù)。amass: 積累，收集；reams of:大量的；icon: 圖標(biāo)，符號(hào)。But don’t get up in arms2. get up in arms: 進(jìn)行武裝斗爭(zhēng)，竭力反對(duì)。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，“隱私”是這樣一個(gè)詞：它扼殺了有意義的交談，并且使我們中的許多人不再深入思考信息經(jīng)濟(jì)給我們帶來了什么特別的影響。At best it obscures; at worst it perpetuates technologically-induced inequity.4. 往好里說是掩蓋了真相，往壞里說是維持科技帶來的不平等。obscure:使……模糊不清，掩蓋；perpetuate:使永存，保持?！癙rivacy” 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，損害；uplift:（在精神、道德、情緒等方面）振作，振奮（或提高）。

Privacy ≠ Secrecy6. secrecy: 秘密，保密?！?Security

At a recent White House summit on cybersecurity and consumer protection,7. summit: 高層會(huì)議，峰會(huì)；cybersecurity:網(wǎng)絡(luò)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.”

隱私大概是現(xiàn)代人最經(jīng)常掛在嘴邊的詞匯之一了。在現(xiàn)代人的數(shù)字生活中，每當(dāng)我們選擇在社交網(wǎng)站上分享一些東西的時(shí)候，實(shí)際上我們就在設(shè)定自己的隱私界限。即便我們?nèi)绱嗽诤蹼[私，很多人卻沒有弄清它的內(nèi)涵，并且與“保密”、“安全性”等詞相混淆。

But doing everything in our power starts with clarifying the language that shapes the dialogue around these issues.8. 但是盡一切所能保護(hù)隱私，首先必須闡明有關(guān)這些問題的對(duì)話所基于的概念。

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. 每次我們選擇在網(wǎng)上分享一些東西，我們都是在設(shè)定隱私界限，基于分享受眾以及在這種特定情境下分享的舒適程度。

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. 這些后果并不會(huì)影響我們個(gè)人（比如當(dāng)這些秘密涉及他人時(shí)），因此保密被看做獨(dú)立于隱私界限。

Security is the robustness of the defenses against intrusion that the platforms that store or transmit our information offer.11. 安全性作為一道堅(jiān)固防線，由那些儲(chǔ)存或傳輸我們信息的平臺(tái)所提供，以防止信息被入侵。robustness: 堅(jiān)固，堅(jiān)實(shí)；intrusion: 闖入，侵?jǐn)_。In other words, it’s how good they are at protecting our information from unwanted access, use, or tampering.12. access: 獲得，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: 可替換地，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. 為了說明這一點(diǎn)，我們只要看每次“臉書”調(diào)整服務(wù)時(shí)引起用戶的強(qiáng)烈抨擊便可知。backlash: 強(qiáng)烈反對(duì)；ensue: 繼而發(fā)生，因而產(chǎn)生。Invariably users would complain that the company had violated their privacy,15. invariably: 總是，不變地；violate: 侵犯，下文中的violation為其名詞形式。but was that true? Facebook hadn’t changed the secrecy of its users’data, nor had the security of the site been compromised16. compromise: 妥協(xié)，折中解決?！璕ather, Facebook changed the publicness and publicity of certain pro file information,17. publicity: 宣傳，推廣；pro file: 簡(jiǎn)介，概況。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，“臉書”提高了關(guān)系狀態(tài)變化的可見性，使其在“新消息推送”中顯示出來。visibility: 能見度，可見性；surface: 使浮出水面，使……顯現(xiàn)。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，“臉書”并沒有侵犯用戶數(shù)據(jù)的保密性，而是在未取得用戶明確同意的情況下改變了默認(rèn)的隱私界限，讓用戶們大為震驚，并感覺個(gè)人隱私遭到曝光。explicit: 明確的。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，“臉書”只是創(chuàng)造它所認(rèn)為的人們需要的產(chǎn)品，無論結(jié)果好壞，它都樂于大膽地拿為用戶信息所設(shè)定的默認(rèn)隱私界限做實(shí)驗(yàn)。for better or worse: 不論好壞；boldly: 大膽地，顯眼地；default:[計(jì)]默認(rèn)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. 這種基本了解有助于我們更好地評(píng)價(jià)關(guān)于個(gè)人信息所做出的決定，設(shè)定可接受的隱私界限，必要時(shí)要求保密，并采取必要措施確保我們選擇的安全性。