新视野大学英语 读写教程第四册 unit4-c

　　Privacy in the Information Age
Imagine a small plastic card that holds all manner of information about you on a tiny memory chip (芯片): your date of birth, Social Security Number, credit and medical histories. And suppose the same card lets you drive a car, get medicine, get cash from machines, pay parking tickets, and collect government benefits.
One version of this so-called smart card is already in use. Some insurance companies issue medical history cards of customers, who need them to get medicine. This type of technology evolves out of convenience, says Evan Hendricks (伊万·亨德里克斯), editor of the Privacy Times (《私密时代》) newspaper, but "the dark side is that landlords, employers, and insurance companies could say we won't do business with you unless you show us your card."
Personal information gets harder to protect as more companies and government agencies build computerized databases (数据库) that are easily linked. "You can go from one database to another the way people go from one bar to another," says Hendricks. "The information superhighway will probably be developed by corporations, but the government is always willing to associate itself with these things. Companies develop databases to better target customers and then the government uses these databases for investigating crimes."
According to writer Simson L. Garfinkel (辛姆森·L. 加芬克尔), the database trend started with Ronald Reagan's stories of people on welfare cheating the government. "It was called Operation Match (匹配行动)," says a privacy expert, "and it matched databases of people who owed money to the government with other databases of people who received money from the government. Operation Match went after government employees who had not paid back student loans the government had given them for college, and welfare clients with large unreported incomes."
Saving the public from cheats and criminals has been an effective excuse for cutting back everyone's personal privacy. The government has been pressing for computer makers¹ to include a special chip in their machines to allow police agencies to listen to electronic communications. The administration claims that failing to do so would be begging terrorists and criminals to plot together via the information superhighway.
That may still seem like something from a spy movie; more troubling is the growing ease with which everyday information can be accessed. Take the computerization of medical records. As one writer points out, "your video renting habits are better protected by law than your medical records." That's because there's more money in your medical records. A privacy expert says insurance companies generate "lists of individuals with certain kinds of medical problems and then turn around and sell those lists to medicine companies and other businesses."
Medical records are used to make a whole host of decisions about you that aren't related to your health. According to a 1991 government report, "50 percent of employers regularly use medical record information for hiring and promotion² purposes. Of those who use this information, nearly 20 percent… do not inform their employees that their medical records have been used for such purposes." One company won't hire smokers³, and another fired an employee after finding out he drank heavily at parties.
Employers and landlords often buy this information from companies that are in the business of creating data profiles. Besides criminal history, workers' insurance claims, and civil court records, one of their core products is credit information, which isn't always accurate. One of the country's largest credit bureaus paid out a huge amount of money a few years ago after settling a court case filed by 19 states claiming the company's reports were full of errors.
But the biggest information gatherer of them all is the Department of Motor Vehicles (汽车管理部门), or DMV, of each state, according to Garfinkel. "The DMV is a one-stop shop for state agencies that want to reach out and affect our lives," he writes. Given the existing system, which links together all 51 U.S. motor vehicle agencies, "no other state agency tracks the movement of people more accurately⁴."
Nor is DMV data used solely⁵ for matters related to driving. "The state of Oregon (俄勒冈州) has 109 different offenses⁶ that can result in the temporary loss of a driver's license⁷; 50 of them have nothing at all to do with driving," writes Garfinkel. Residents of the state of Wisconsin (威斯康星州), he notes, can lose their license for not paying library fines, neglecting to shovel⁸ snow away from the walk in front of their house, or failing to trim a tree whose branches hang over a neighbor's property. In the state of Kentucky (肯塔基州), students who drop out of school, have nine or more absences without being excused, or whose grades are below a given standard, lose their driving privileges "unless they can prove family hardship".
It's hard to avoid being seen on the DMV computer screens, but there are ways to keep a low profile in other areas. One health official recommends that when you sign a medical form you change it to make it clear "that you do not consent to having information re-released or sold to a second party without your direct, written consent".
Lots of other advice is available in publications listed in the Whole Earth Review (《全球评论》)(Fall 1993). Two of the most intriguing⁹ books on the list are Privacy for Sale (《出卖隐私》) by Jeffrey Rothfeder (杰弗里·罗斯费德) and Your Right to Privacy (《你的隐私权》)by Evan Hendricks of Privacy Times newsletter. Another well-known and useful periodical is the monthly Privacy Journal (《隐私月报》).
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1 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

3 smokers   

吸烟者( smoker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily. 许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
• Chain smokers don't care about the dangers of smoking. 烟鬼似乎不在乎吸烟带来的种种危害。

4 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

5 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

6 offenses   

n.进攻( offense的名词复数 )；（球队的）前锋；进攻方法；攻势

参考例句：

• It's wrong of you to take the child to task for such trifling offenses. 因这类小毛病责备那孩子是你的不对。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Thus, Congress cannot remove an executive official except for impeachable offenses. 因此，除非有可弹劾的行为，否则国会不能罢免行政官员。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

7 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

8 shovel   

n.铁锨，铲子，一铲之量；v.铲，铲出

参考例句：

• He was working with a pick and shovel.他在用镐和铲干活。
• He seized a shovel and set to.他拿起一把铲就干上了。

9 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》