上网不留痕 巧用火狐浏览器保护隐私

The makers of the web-browser Firefox are working on a system which will allow Internet users to stop themselves from being tracked on-line.
　　火狐浏览器的制造商们正在开发一个互联网用户可以防止自己在线时被跟踪的系统。

Mozilla wants to build a mechanism which will allow people to opt out of companies secretly monitoring which websites they visit, currently a common practice.

火狐的Mozilla浏览器希望建立一个系统，使人们在浏览一些网站的时候可以选择脱离那些隐秘地监视他们的公司，因为网络追踪目前是一个很普遍的现象。

Internet giants like Google and Facebook use such information to sell targeted adverts and make money without ever asking the consent of the user.

诸如谷歌和Facebook这样的网络巨头也会通过将这样的信息卖给他们的目标广告商而获利，但他们并没有征得他们用户的同意。

Mozilla executives and other developers are to appear before a special panel this week in the U.S. to discuss how they will put an end to this.

火狐的高管和开发人员本周在美国出席了一个特别小组会议，商讨如何结束这个现状。

Such a move would be welcomed by privacy campaigners who have long complained that Google and Facebook are taking liberties with the information they gather without properly consulting the wider public.

这样的举措将会受到那些一直抱怨谷歌和Facebook滥用公众信息的隐私守护者的欢迎。

They say such practices are part of a wider disregard for personal data which was recently highlighted by the scandal over Google grabbing householders’ personal emails and passwords with its StreetView cars.

由于最近谷歌为了它的产品StreetView的车而攫取住户们的个人邮箱和密码，被评论说这样的做法相当于大范围地无视个人信息。

Currently companies like Google and Facebook make a fortune using ‘cookies’ that automatically save themselves onto your computer when you surf the web then monitor your browsing history.

近期，像谷歌和Facebook这样的公司利用信息记录程序cookies大赚了一笔，这些cookies会在用户的电脑上自动保存下来，之后在用户上网时监控浏览了哪些网站。This data is then sold on to advertisers who put highly lucrative targeted adverts on the individual’s screen, depending on what Internet pages they have recently been looking at.

依靠用户最近都浏览了哪些网页，他们把这些信息出售给了在个人屏幕上花大价钱的广告商们。

Officials from Mozilla and on-line advertising company Lotame want to come up with a way of stopping this amid fears the U.S. government will at some point step in and do it for them.

火狐和在线广告公司Lotame的官员希望能想出一个方式阻止人们的担心，美国政府也会在适当的时候介入此事。

At a specially convened panel they will discuss how to allow web browsers to broadcast a ‘do not track’ message at a user's request.

这个特别召集的小组讨论了如何在用户的要求下允许浏览者播放一个“请勿追踪”的信息。

For such a system to work, however, would require both the web browser to provide such a tool and tracking companies to agree to abide by the user’s wishes - an outcome which would require lengthy negotiations to say the least.

但是，这样的系统需要浏览者提供这样一个工具，同时这些追踪的公司也要信守用户的愿望。而达到这样的结果可以说至少还需要长时间的谈判。

Mike Shaver, vice president of engineering at Mozilla, summed up the plan by saying the aim was to ‘put the user in control but not overwhelm them’.

火狐技术部的副总裁Mike Shaver用这样一句话总结了这项计划，“目的是让用户主导但并不压倒他们”。

Previous attempts to remodel Internet privacy have been met with controversy - earlier this year Microsoft scaled back plans to improve privacy on its latest version of Internet Explorer after pressure from the advertising industry.

之前关于重塑互联网隐私的尝试都遇到了一些争议，在今年早些时候，面对广告业的压力，微软削减了在其新版本的IE浏览器上加强隐私保护的计划。

Firefox is the second most popular web-browser and is used by around 23 per cent of the world’s users.

火狐是第二大浏览器，世界上有23%的用户选择火狐。

Internet Explorer is still at No.1 with 59 per cent and Google’s Chrome is used by 9 per cent, in third.

IE浏览器仍然以59%的比重位列第一，谷歌的Chrome浏览器占9%，排名第三。