美国国家公共电台 NPR Is It Even Possible To Protect Your Privacy On Facebook?

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The recent revelations that a voter targeting firm harvested the personal data of some 50 million Facebook users have left many people on that social network feeling uneasy. As NPR's Laura Sydell reports, there are some ways to better protect your personal data. But, ultimately, they may be limited.

LAURA SYDELL, BYLINE¹: Shauna Carlisle Roy (ph) is a part-time student living in a remote area of northern California. She's on Facebook, but she's uncomfortable with its privacy policies.

SHAUNA CARLISLE ROY: I feel trapped with the site because it's such a form of connection that I've come dependent on.

SYDELL: Carlisle Roy spoke² to NPR over Skype. She does try and use Facebook's privacy settings, but it's not so easy.

CARLISLE ROY: You're expected to go and try to research it yourself, read through all the fine print. And it's still really elusive³.

SYDELL: There are a few things you can do. Let's start with apps. Cambridge Analytica got the user data through a researcher who had an app. Apps are one way your Facebook information winds up outside of its walls. When you use an app for a game, survey or anything, you're sharing your data. There is a way to stop this. Emory Roane is with the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

EMORY ROANE: Immediately, users can and certainly should go to their Facebook page and check their connected apps.

SYDELL: Go to settings. Click on apps. Click on apps, websites and plugins. You got that? And then you can just deny access to all apps. That's straightforward⁴. Or you can deny access to certain details about yourself - your religion, your family connections, your interests. If you have Facebook on your phone, turn off location services.

ROANE: If it's asking for your location information all the time or when the app is up, maybe set it to only when the app is up or disable it altogether.

SYDELL: Or just don't use Facebook on your phone. Still, Terrel McSweeny, a commissioner⁵ at the Federal Trade Commission, says there are certain details that will be made public on Facebook no matter what you do.

TERRELL MCSWEENY: Your name, your profile picture, your gender⁶, your cover photo, your networks, your username are always publicly available. That's part of the policy of that website.

JEFF CHESTER: You could spend all day trying to protect your privacy on Facebook. You wouldn't be able to go to work or school. You'd be spending your day full time dealing⁷ with Facebook.

SYDELL: Jeff Chester is the executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, which advocates for privacy rights. Chester does not think creating better privacy controls is the answer for consumers.

CHESTER: I think for the average person, there is nothing that one can do to protect their privacy.

SYDELL: Chester thinks Europe has the right idea. On May 25, a new law will take effect.

CHESTER: Regulators in Europe are going to be able to come down heavy on Facebook, Google and the others, require them to get your permission first before they can use your data and create new limits on the ways that Facebook and Google and others operate.

SYDELL: Chester thinks it'll be interesting to see if the new rules in Europe cut back on Facebook profits. In an interview earlier this week on CNN, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he wouldn't object to some regulation of Facebook, though it seems unlikely he'd welcome what's about to happen in Europe. Laura Sydell, NPR News.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 elusive   

adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的

参考例句：

• Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
• Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。

4 straightforward   

adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的

参考例句：

• A straightforward talk is better than a flowery speech.巧言不如直说。
• I must insist on your giving me a straightforward answer.我一定要你给我一个直截了当的回答。

5 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

6 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

7 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。