評論
打印
Leaders
社論
Identity
身份
Les stats, C'est moi
統計數據，就是我
A new way to think about data is needed
需要用新方法看待數據
“Data”, runs a common refrain, “is the new oil.” Like the sticky black stuff that comes out of the ground, all those 1s and 0s are of little use until they are processed into something more valuable. That something is you.
有一句經常描述數據的語句：“數據是新石油?！本拖駨牡乩镢@出來的黏糊糊的黑色石油一樣，所有這些由1和0組成的數據都能被加工為更有價值的東西。而這種東西就是你。
Seven of the world’s ten most valuable companies by market capitalisation are technology firms. Excluding Apple, which makes money by selling pricey gadgets, and Microsoft, which charges businesses for its software and services, all are built on a foundation of tying data to human beings. Google and Facebook want to find out as much as it is possible to know about their users’ interests, activities, friends and family. Amazon has a detailed history of consumer behaviour. Tencent and Alibaba are the digital wallets for hundreds of millions of Chinese; both know enough about consumers to provide widely used credit scores.
全球市值最高的10家公司中，有7家是科技公司。除了通過銷售昂貴電子產品賺錢的蘋果公司，以及向企業收取軟件和服務費用的微軟公司，其他公司都是建立在將數據和人類聯系在一起的基礎上。谷歌和臉書希望盡可能了解用戶的興趣、活動、朋友和家庭。亞馬遜則有消費者行為的詳細歷史記錄。騰訊和阿里巴巴是數億中國人的數字錢包；這兩家公司都充分了解消費者，還提供廣泛使用的信用評分。
Where tech companies have blazed a trail, others have followed. Consumer brands in every industry collect data on their customers to improve design and advertise products and services. Governments have looked at these firms and instituted their own systems to gather information on their citizens. Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, cites Facebook as an inspiration. That is apparent in the ever-expanding reach of Aadhaar, an id system for India’s 1.3bn residents that is required for nearly every government service imaginable.
科技公司開辟道路時，其他公司也在跟進。每個行業的消費品牌都在收集客戶的數據，用來改進產品和服務的設計和廣告。政府已經關注了這些公司，并建立了自己的系統來收集公民的信息。印度總理納倫德拉•莫迪將臉書作為靈感來源。這點在Aadhaar數據系統不斷擴大的范圍中顯而易見，Aadhaar數據系統是印度13億居民的身份證系統，幾乎所有可以想象得到的政府服務都需要它。
That data are valuable is increasingly well-understood by individuals, too, not least because personal information is so often hacked, leaked or stolen. India’s database has been shown to be vulnerable to scammers and state abuse. Facebook has spent most of 2018 dealing with the reputational damage of multiple breaches, most notably via Cambridge Analytica, a consulting firm. The list of other companies that have suffered some sort of data breach in 2018 alone reads like a roll call of household names: Google, Marriott, Delta, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Best Buy, Sears, Saks 5th Avenue, even Panera Bread. Such events have caused a tectonic shift in the public understanding of data collection. People have started to take notice of all the data they are giving away.
個人也越來越清楚地認識到數據的價值，尤其是因為個人信息經常遭到黑客入侵、泄露或竊取。印度的數據庫已被證明易受騙子和政府濫用職權的攻擊。2018年的大部分時間里，臉書都在處理多重入侵造成的名譽損害，其中最引人注目的是通過咨詢公司劍橋分析公司處理這些事情。2018年其他遭受某種數據泄露的公司名單讀起來就像一份明星公司名單：谷歌、萬豪、達美航空、英國航空公司、國泰航空公司、百思買公司、西爾斯百貨、薩克斯第五大道百貨公司，甚至帕尼羅面包店。這些事件已經導致公眾對數據收集的理解發生了結構性轉變。人們已經開始注意到他們提供的所有數據。
譯文由可可原創，僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載。
