New Design: Mark Zuckerberg talks about a new look for Facebook at a conference earlier this month. |
Facebook has admitted that it monitors every single web page its members visit – even when they have logged out. In its latest privacy blunder, the social networking site was forced to confirm that it constantly tracks its 750million users, even when they are using other sites. Most would assume that Facebook stops monitoring them after they leave, but technology bloggers have discovered this is not the case. In fact, data is regularly sent back to the social network’s servers – helping Facebook make billions of pounds each year from advertising, as such information is highly valuable. The website’s practices were exposed by Australian technology blogger Nik Cubrilovic and have provoked a furious response across the internet. Mr Cubrilovic found that when you sign up to Facebook it automatically puts files known as ‘cookies’ on your computer which monitor your browsing history. Some cookies remain on your computer after you log out, and report back when you visit a site connected to Facebook. This covers millions of websites and refers to anything with a Facebook ‘like’ or ‘recommend’ button on it. The data that is sent back is the IP address, or unique identifier of your computer, and a log of what you have been viewing. The admission is the latest in a series of privacy blunders from Facebook, which has a record of only correcting such matters when they are brought to light by other people. Earlier this year it stopped gathering browser data from users who had never even been to Facebook.com after it was exposed by a Dutch researcher. The site was forced into a partial climbdown over changes to privacy settings which many claimed made too much public. It also came under attack for launching a ‘stalker button’ which allowed users to track another person’s every move in a list which was constantly being updated. (Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
Facebook承認它監(jiān)視用戶訪問的每個網頁,就算用戶已經退出登陸。 在最近爆出的一次隱私問題中,該社交網站被迫證實它一直跟蹤記錄7.5億用戶的隱私信息,即使當用戶在使用其他網站時。 大多數人可能會認為在他們退出Facebook后就不會再受到監(jiān)視,然而網絡科技達人發(fā)現,事實并非如此。 事實上,用戶的數據定期被傳送到該社交網站的服務器,幫助Facebook每年從廣告中盈利數十億英鎊,因為這些都是非常有價值的信息。 該網站的這些行為被澳大利亞科技達人尼克?庫布里洛維克在博客上曝光,并引爆了廣大網民的憤怒情緒。 庫布里洛維克發(fā)現,當你注冊Facebook時,它會自動將名為“小甜餅”的文件存到你的電腦上,這一文件將監(jiān)視你的網頁瀏覽歷史。 一些“小甜餅”在你退出登陸后依然留在你的電腦上,并在你訪問和Facebook有關聯(lián)的網站時將信息報送給Facebook。這覆蓋了數百萬網站,包括任何帶有“喜歡”或“推薦”的Facebook按鈕的網站。 被傳送回服務器的數據包括IP地址(你的電腦獨特的識別符號),還有你瀏覽過的網頁的記錄。 這是Facebook一系列隱私問題中最新被承認的事實,Facebook在這些隱私問題被他人曝光后一貫的做法是治標不治本。 今年早些時候在被一位荷蘭研究者曝光隱私問題后,Facebook停止向從未訪問過Facebook網站的用戶收集瀏覽器數據。 該網站被迫對隱私設置進行改動,做出了部分讓步,因為許多人都認為Facebook暴露了太多隱私。 此外,Facebook還因啟動了“跟蹤者按鈕”而受到抨擊,該按鈕讓用戶能跟蹤另一個人的每一步行動,并將其列在一個不斷更新的表單上。 相關閱讀 (中國日報網英語點津 陳丹妮 編輯:馮明惠) |
Vocabulary: monitor: 監(jiān)控;監(jiān)聽;監(jiān)測;監(jiān)視 blunder: 大錯 climbdown: 讓步 |