網絡讀懂你的心？

經常上網的人可能都遇到過這樣的情況：瀏覽網頁時總是跳出一些廣告，內容還都是你最近想買的商品。別誤會，你的電腦還沒智能到讀懂你的想法——是你的個人隱私被出賣啦！

When you’re surfing the Internet on your laptop from your dorm or home， do you know your personal details are being gathered secretly? And would you be surprised to know the information may be sold cheaply to advertisers and marketers?

According to an investigation by The Wall Street Journal， all it takes is a tiny file in a computer—a single code consisting of a long series of numbers and letters—to record the computer user’s age， gender， location， favorite movies and hobbies.

The newspaper reports that Lotame Solutions Inc.， a New York company， uses sophisticated software called “beacon” to capture what people are typing on a website. Lotame packages that data into profiles about individuals， only without their names， and sells the profiles to companies seeking customers. Batches of such data may be sold for a few dollars.

The Wall Street Journal probe discovered that spying on Internet users is one of the fastest-growing businesses on the World Wide Web now. 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.

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 “beacon” 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， and so on.

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.

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.

Personal data gathered from such tracking is now bought and sold on stock market—like exchanges.

The new technology is now exerting a profound impact on the Internet industry， especially on how retailers locate and sell to their customers. Millions of Internet users around the world also face unprecedented threats. Private， sensitive and business information is being gathered and sold without their consciousness.

Tracking companies insist the information they gather is anonymous and the data is used harmlessly. But the technology has grown so powerful and evasive that even some of the biggest websites in the US don’t know that they were installing intrusive files on visitors’ computers. These include MSN.com and Yahoo.com.

Next time you visit a webpage and find an ad banner advertising something you’ve been planning to buy， don’t be amazed that your computer can read your mind.

當你在宿舍或家中用筆記本上網時，你知道有人正在偷偷收集你的個人信息嗎？如果有人告訴你這些信息被廉價出售給廣告商和銷售商，你是否會感到吃驚呢？

《華爾街日報》一項調查顯示，電腦中一個特別小的文件——一個由一系列數字和字母組成的簡單代碼，就可以記錄電腦使用者的年齡、性別、地址、喜歡的電影和愛好。

報道稱，Lotame Solutions Inc.（一家紐約公司）使用一種名為“beacon”的高科技軟件來捕捉人們在網站上輸入的文字。接著，Lotame將很多這樣的個人信息打包出售給那些正在尋找潛在消費者的公司，出售的個人信息不包括用戶的姓名。幾批這樣的數據可能賣到幾美元。

《華爾街日報》的調查發現，目前，監視互聯網用戶已經成為萬維網上成長最快的生意之一。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。

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瀏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、甚至醫療條件等進行評估。

網站安裝、下載追蹤文件到電腦的方式多種多樣。通常，公司付費給網站來發布他們的追蹤文件。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。

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配對線下資料，比如家庭收入、所在地和教育程度等。

通過此種追蹤手段收集來的個人信息會在交易所等證券市場進行買賣交易。

這項新技術已經對時下的互聯網行業產生了巨大影響，尤其是對零售商尋找潛在用戶、銷售商品而言更是如此。與此同時，這對世界各地數百萬的互聯網用戶們來說，也是個前所未有的威脅。他們的私人、敏感甚至商業信息都在不知不覺中被收集和出售。

對此，追蹤公司表示，他們是以匿名的方式收集此類信息，而且這些信息的使用對用戶無害。但是，追蹤技術成長得如此強大，使用如此隱秘，就連美國最大的一些網站也不知道自己在用戶電腦上安裝了入侵文件。這其中就包括MSN網和Yahoo網。

所以，下次瀏覽網頁的時候，如果發現有廣告向你推薦商品，而這些商品恰恰是你最近想買的東西時，千萬別驚嘆電腦能讀懂你的心。