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Business Facebook and privacy Sorry, friends
商業 臉譜和用戶隱私 對不起，朋友
The giant social network is castigated for serious privacy failings
社交網巨頭因嚴重隱私缺陷而遭受公眾譴責
FACEBOOK has been playing with fire and has got its fingers burned, again.
臉譜一直在玩火，這次它又燒傷了自己的指頭。
On November 29th America's Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had reached a draft settlement with the giant social network over allegations that it had misled people about its use of their personal data.
11月29日美國聯邦貿易委員會（FTC)聲明已和該社交網巨頭關于公眾對它欺騙用戶、濫用用戶個人信息的控訴初步達成解決方案。
The details of the settlement make clear that Facebook, which boasts over 800m users, betrayed its users' trust.
這份解決方案的細目明確說明，臉譜網背叛了它所聲稱的八億用戶的信任。
It is also notable because it appears to be part of a broader attempt by the FTC to craft a new privacy framework to deal with the swift rise of social networks in America.
FTC有個更大的計劃，那就是創建一個新的隱私框架以應對美國快速攀升的社交網用戶。而這份方案似乎是這個計劃中的一部分，這也是它受到廣泛關注的另一個原因。
The regulator's findings come at a sensitive time for Facebook, which is said to be preparing for an initial public offering next year that could value it at around $100 billion.
調解員的調查對這個時候的臉譜網來說很敏感。據說它正在準備明年的首次招股，這將使它的價值達到一千億。
To clear the way for its blockbuster flotation, the firm first needs to resolve its privacy tussles with regulators in America and Europe.
為了給這次非同一般的上市計劃掃清障礙，臉譜網必須首先解決與美國和歐洲協調員關于用戶隱私的爭端，因此這周它公開了商談意向。
Hence its willingness to negotiate the settlement unveiled this week, which should be finalised at the end of December after a period for public comment.
經過征詢公共意見后，商談結果將在十二月底最終敲定。
Announcing the agreement, the FTC said it had found a number of cases where Facebook had made claims that were "unfair and deceptive, and violated federal law".
宣布協議時，FTC說發現有好幾回臉譜的聲明都是 "不公平，虛假并觸犯聯邦法"的，
For instance, it passed on personally identifiable information to advertisers, even though it said it would not do so.
比如，它把用戶身份信息透露給廣告商，但是嘴上卻聲稱不會做此類事情。
And it failed to keep a promise to make photos and videos on deactivated and deleted accounts inaccessible.
還有，賬戶不再活動或取消后，上面的相片和視頻卻仍然可以被搜索到，這完全與它的承諾不相符。
The settlement does not constitute an admission by Facebook that it has broken the law.
臉譜沒有在這份協議中承認自己觸犯法律。
But the regulator's findings are deeply embarrassing for the company nonetheless.
但是，協調員的調查結果已經讓這個公司陷入極為尷尬的境地。
In a blog post published the same day, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's boss, tried to play down the impact of the deal.
同一天，臉譜老板Mark Zuckerberg在一篇博文上極力淡化這份協議的影響。
First he claimed that "a small number of high-profile mistakes" were overshadowing the social network's "good history" on privacy.
在這篇博文中他首先聲明"一小部分被高調炒作的錯誤"正在掩蓋臉譜網關于用戶隱私的"良好記錄"。
Then he confessed that it could still do better and said he had hired two new "chief privacy officers".
接著，他承認確實有一些地方需要改進，并說明他已經雇用了兩名新的"首席隱私官"。
The FTC is not relying on Facebook to police itself.
FTC不指望臉譜自我監督。
Among other things, the company will now have to seek consumers' approval before it changes the way it shares their data. And it has agreed to an independent privacy audit every two years for the next 20 years.
此外，在改變用戶信息共享方式前，它還必須征詢用戶的同意，并且它也同意在未來二十年里每兩年進行一次獨立的隱私審核。
Jeff Chester of the Centre for Digital Democracy reckons this will make it somewhat easier for privacy activists to hold the social network to account.
數字民主中心的Jeff Chester認為，這從某種程度上讓隱私主義者更容易相信臉譜會為自己的行為負責。
There is a clear pattern here.
這里有個很清晰的模式。
In separate cases over the past couple of years the FTC has insisted that Twitter and Google accept regular external audits, too, after each firm was accused of violating its customers' privacy.
從過去幾年里Twitter和Google各自的案例來看，在這兩家公司分別被指控觸犯用戶隱私后，FTC也堅持要求兩家公司接受定期的外部審核，
The intent seems to be to create a regulatory regime that is tighter than the status quo, but one that still gives social networks plenty of room to innovate.
目的似乎就是為了給此類社交網絡創造一個比現狀嚴格卻又有足夠空間革新的管理制度。
The audits can be used to tweak the framework in the light of new developments.
從發展的角度講，這些審核有助于打破原本框架。
Some observers reckon web firms have agreed to all this in the hope that it will deflect a push for more onerous privacy legislation in America.
一些觀測者認為，這些網絡公司全盤接受這些審核，希望借此擺脫美國更為繁瑣的隱私保護法。
But outrage over Facebook's behaviour could spur Congress into action anyway. And it will certainly not be lost on regulators in Europe who are scrutinising the social network's privacy record too.
但是公眾對臉譜行為的不滿終將刺激國會做出反應，而正在審閱該社交網隱私記錄的歐洲協調員們也必然會給予這些不滿的呼聲以相應的重視。
Mr Zuckerberg's latest mea culpa is unlikely to be his last.
看來Zuckerberg先生最近的這次檢討不會是最后一次。
