The Wall Street Journal probe discovered that spying on Internet users is one of the fastest-growing businesses on the World Wide Web.
《華爾街日報》的調查發(fā)現,目前,監(jiān)視互聯網用戶已經成為萬維網上成長最快的生意之一。
Today, tracking consumers is far more intrusive than the public realizes. For example, the top 50 websites in the US on average installed 64 pieces of tracking technology onto the computers of visitors, usually with no warning.
現如今,追蹤技術的植入程度已經遠超社會大眾的想象。例如,全美最大的50家網站平均在訪問者的電腦上安裝了64種追蹤技術,而且通常都沒有任何警告。
The "cookie"- a tiny text file put on your PC by websites or marketing firms which might be used to remember your preferences for one site, or to track you across many sites-is already old news. There are new and more complex tools such as "beacons" which scan in real time what people are doing on a webpage. These beacons instantly assess the Internet user`s location, income, shopping interests and even medical conditions.
過去,網站或營銷公司會在你的電腦上安裝一個小文本(cookie),用來記錄你對一個網站的喜好,或者跟蹤你訪問各個網站的情況。但如今,像beacon這種更新穎、更復雜的軟件可以在人們?yōu)g覽網頁時進行實時掃描,然后立即對用戶的地址、收入、購物興趣,甚至醫(yī)療條件等因素進行評估。
Tracking files get onto websites and are downloaded to a computer, in several ways. Often, companies simply pay sites to distribute their tracking files. But tracking companies sometimes hide their files within free software offered to websites, or hide them within other tracking files or ads. When this happens, websites aren`t always aware that they`re installing the files on visitors` computers.
網站安裝、下載追蹤文件的方式多種多樣。通常,公司付費給網站來發(fā)布他們的追蹤文件。但是,追蹤公司偶爾也會將文件隱藏在網站上的免費軟件或其他追蹤文件或廣告中。這種情況下,網站本身也不清楚他們在用戶電腦上安裝了追蹤文件。
Tracking companies are often staffed by math gurus with expertise in quantitative analysis. Some use probability algorithms to try to pair what they know about a person`s online behavior with data from offline sources about household income, geography and education, among other things.
追蹤公司的員工多為精通定量分析的數學專家。他們通過使用幾率算法,根據了解到的用戶的線上行為來推算線下資料,比如家庭收入、所在地和教育程度等。