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CollegeEnglishCollegeEnglishCollegeEnglishCollegeEnglish2012.03笤笤FacebookandPrivacy“”/hegiantsocialnetworkiscastigated1forseriouspriva-cyfailings.Facebookhasbeenplayingwithfire2andhasgotitsfingersburned,again.OnNovember29thAmerica’sFederalTradeCommission3(FTC)announcedthatithadreachedadraftsettlementwiththegiantsocialnetworkoverallegations4thatithadmisledpeopleaboutitsuseoftheirpersonaldata.ThedetailsofthesettlementmakeclearthatFacebook,whichboastsover800musers,betrayeditsusers’trust.ItisalsonotablebecauseitappearstobepartofabroaderattemptbytheFTCtocraft5anewprivacyframework6todealwiththeswiftriseofsocialnetworksinAmerica.Theregulator’sfindingscomeatasensitivetimeforFacebook,whichissaidtobepreparingforanini-tialpublicoffering7nextyearthatcouldvalueitataround$100billion.Toclearthewayforitsblock-busterflotation,thefirmfirstneedstoresolveitspri-vacytussleswithregulatorsinAmericaandEurope.8Henceitswillingnesstonegotiatethesettlementun-veiled9thisweek,whichshouldbefinalised10attheendofDecemberafteraperiodforpubliccomment.Announcingtheagreement,theFTCsaidithadfoundanumberofcaseswhereFacebookhadmadeclaimsthatwere“unfairanddeceptive11,andviolat-ed12federallaw”.Forinstance,itpassedonpersonallyidentifiable13informationtoadvertisers,eventhoughitsaiditwouldnotdoso.AnditfailedtokeepapromisetomakephotosandvideosondeactivatedandTNotes:1.castigate[＇k覸stigeit]，。2.playwithfire，。3.America’sFederalTradeCommission。4.allegation。5.craft。6.framework，。7.publicoffering。8.：，。flotation。tussle，。9.unveil，。10.finalise[＇fain藜laiz](、)，。11.deceptive，。12.violate，。13.identifiable。，2012，。？———？？？12CollegeEnglish2012.03CollegeEnglishCollegeEnglishCollegeEnglish笤笤deletedaccountsinaccessible.14Thesettlementdoesnotconstituteanadmis-sionbyFacebookthatithasbrokenthelaw.15Buttheregulator’sfindingsaredeeplyembarrassingforthecompanynonetheless.Inablogpostpub-lishedthesameday,MarkZuckerberg,Facebook’sboss,triedtoplaydown16theimpactofthedeal.Firstheclaimedthat“asmallnumberofhigh-profilemistakes”wereovershadowingtheso-cialnetwork’s“goodhistory”onprivacy.17Thenheconfessedthatitcouldstilldobetterandsaidhehadhiredtwonew“chiefprivacyofficers”.TheFTCisnotrelyingonFacebooktopo-lice18itself.Amongotherthings,thecompanywillnowhavetoseekconsumers’approvalbeforeitchangesthewayitsharestheirdata.Andithasa-greedtoanindependentprivacyaudit19everytwoyearsforthenext20years.JeffChesteroftheCentreforDigitalDemocracy20reckons21thiswillmakeitsomewhateasierforprivacyactiviststoholdthesocialnetworktoaccount22.Thereisaclearpatternhere.InseparatecasesoverthepastcoupleofyearstheFTChasinsistedthatTwitterandGoogleacceptregularexternalau-dits,too,aftereachfirmwasaccusedofviolatingitscustomers’privacy.Theintentseemstobetocreatearegulatoryregimethatistighterthanthestatusquo,butonethatstillgivessocialnetworksplentyofroomtoinnovate.23Theauditscanbeusedtotweak24theframeworkinthelightof25newdevelopments.SomeobserversreckonwebfirmshaveagreedtoallthisinthehopethatitwilldeflectapushformoreonerousprivacylegislationinAmerica.26ButoutrageoverFacebook’sbe-haviourcouldspur27Congressintoactionanyway.Anditwillcertainlynotbelostonregula-torsinEuropewhoarescrutinizing28thesocialnetwork’sprivacyrecord,too.MrZucker-berg’slatestmeaculpa29isunlikelytobehislast.FromTheEconomist,Dec.3,201114.：，。deactivated。15.：。16.playdown，。17.：“”“”。high-profile，，overshadow，……。18.police，。19.audit，。20.CentreforDigitalDemocracy。21.reckon，。22.account，；……。23.：：，。24.tweak，，。25.inthelightof，。26.：，，。deflect，。onerous[＇蘅n藜r藜s]，。27.spur，。28.scrutinize[＇skru蘼tinaiz]。29.meaculpa，。13