酷兔英语


You may not know a company called [x+1] Inc., but it may well know a lot about you.


你可能不知道有一家名叫[x+1] Inc.的公司,但这家公司知道你的很多事情。



From a single click on a web site, [x+1] correctly identified Carrie Isaac as a young Colorado Springs parent who lives on about $50,000 a year, shops at Wal-Mart and rents kids' videos. The company deduced that Paul Boulifard, a Nashville architect, is childless, likes to travel and buys used cars. And [x+1] determined that Thomas Burney, a Colorado building contractor, is a skier with a college degree and looks like he has good credit.


只要点击某个网站,[x+1]公司就能准确识别出这是卡丽•艾萨克(Carrie Isaac),住在科罗拉多斯普林斯市(Colorado Springs),是个年轻的母亲,每年收入约5万美元,习惯在沃尔玛超市(Wal-Mart)购物,经常去租片店租一些小孩看的碟。这家公司还推断,保罗•布里法德(Paul Boulifard)是个建筑师,住在田纳西州首府纳什维尔市(Nashville),没有孩子,喜欢旅行,买了一辆二手车。公司还确定托马斯•伯内(Thomas Burney)是名建筑承包商,住在科罗拉多州,喜欢滑雪,大学本科毕业,信用记录看起来不错。



The company didn't get every detail correct. But its ability to make snap assessments of individuals is accurate enough that Capital One Financial Corp. uses [x+1]'s calculations to instantly decide which credit-card offers to show first-time visitors to its website.


这家公司不一定能做到每个细节都准确无误,但美国第一资本金融公司(Capital One Financial Corp.)认为,其对个人的快速判断能力已经足够准确,因此用该公司的计算结果来决定向其网站的初次访问者显示哪一款信用卡产品。



In short: Websites are gaining the ability to decide whether or not you'd be a good customer, before you tell them a single thing about yourself.


简而言之,网站判断访客是不是一个潜在好顾客的能力越来越强,而且是在你根本没有透露自己的任何情况之下。



The technology reaches beyond the personalization familiar on sites like Amazon.com, which uses its own in-house data on its customers to show them new items they might like. By contrast, firms like [x+1] tap into vast databases of people's online behavior -- mainly gathered surreptitiously by tracking technologies that have become ubiquitous on websites across the Internet. They don't have people's names, but cross-reference that data with records of home ownership, family income, marital status and favorite restaurants, among other things. Then, using statistical analysis, they start to make assumptions about the proclivities of individual Web surfers.


这种技术已经超越了亚马逊网站(Amazon.com)等公司所使用的定制化技术。亚马逊利用自己积累的消费者数据来向顾客提供其可能喜欢的产品。而[x+1]这样的公司不同,它们利用的是记录人们上网行为的庞大数据库──主要通过已在互联网上非常普遍的各种追踪技术来悄悄收集。它们不记录人们的姓名,但会将收集到的个人标识与其住房拥有情况、家庭收入、婚姻状况和常去的餐厅等众多信息进行交叉比对和汇集,然后通过统计分析,开始推测上网者的个人喜好。



'We never don't know anything about someone,' says John Nardone, [x+1]'s chief executive.


"我们绝不可能对一个人一无所知。" [x+1]公司的首席执行长约翰•纳顿(John Nardone)说。



Capital One says it doesn't use the full array of [x+1]'s targeting technology, and it doesn't prevent people from applying for any card they want. 'While we suggest products that we believe will be of interest to our visitors, we do not limit their ability to easily explore all products available,' spokeswoman Pam Girardo says.


第一资本金融公司表示,公司并没有完全使用[x+1]的每一项顾客定位技术,也不阻止人们申请自己想要的信用卡。公司发言人潘•吉拉多(Pam Girardo)说,虽然我们列出了访问者可能会感兴趣的产品,但也没有做出限制,他们可以很简单地就看到所有可供选择的信用卡产品。



A Wall Street Journal investigation into online privacy has found that the analytical skill of data handlers like [x+1] is transforming the Internet into a place where people are becoming anonymous in name only. The findings offer an early glimpse of a new, personalized Internet where sites have the ability to adjust many things -- look, content, prices -- based on the kind of person they think you are.


《华尔街日报》一项针对网络隐私的调查发现,[x+1]公司这样的数据中间商所掌握的分析技术正在改变互联网的面貌,人们在网络上除了姓名不公开,其它隐私一概暴露无遗。该调查让人们对一种新型的定制化网站开始所有了解,这种网站能够根据对访客的判断来调整很多东西,比如版面、内容和价格等等。



New York-based Demdex Inc., for instance, helps websites build 'behavioral data banks' that tap sources including online-browsing records, retail purchases and a database predicting a person's spot in a corporate hierarchy. It crunches the data to help retailers customize their sites to target the person they think is visiting.


举例而言,纽约的Demdex Inc.公司帮助企业网站构建一个 "消费者行为数据银行",其中包括访客的网上浏览记录和个人消费项目等资料,还构建一个能够预测其工作职务高低的数据库。这家公司通过对数据进行深入分析,协助零售商根据不同访客的特性来定制其网站内容。



'If we've identified a visitor as a midlife-crisis male,' says Demdex CEO Randy Nicolau, a client, such as an auto retailer, can 'give him a different experience than a young mother with a new family.' The guy sees a red convertible, the mom a minivan.


Demdex的首席执行官兰迪•尼古拉(Randy Nicolau)说,如果发现某个访客是一个处于中年危机的男性,那么Demdex服务的企业客户,如汽车零售商,就能为其提供有别于一个刚建立家庭的年轻母亲的购车体验。他们会向这样的男性展示红色的敞篷汽车,而向年轻妈妈展示厢式旅行车。



The technology raises the prospect that different visitors to a website could see different prices as well. Price discrimination is generally legal, so long as it's not based on race, gender or geography, which can be deemed 'redlining.'


这种技术也有可能实现让每个网站访问者看到不同的价格。差异化定价一般来说是合法的,只要这种价格差异不是基于种族、性别或地理位置,否则就会被认为是歧视。



In financial services, fair-lending laws prohibitdiscrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, gender, receipt of public assistance or marital status. The laws also require that borrowers have access to any data used to evaluate their creditworthiness.


在金融服务领域,公平放贷的相关法律禁止金融机构根据种族、肤色、宗教、出生地所在国、性别、是否接受公共救济以及婚姻状况等因素提供区别性的借贷服务。法律还要求,借款人有权了解金融机构用于评估其信用状况的任何数据。



But the law doesn't specifically bar using web-browsing history to make lending decisions. That means, in theory, a bank could deny a loan based on knowledge of the applicant's visits to, say, gambling sites. In such a case, however, the bank would be required to let the applicant see the browsing data and correct it if inaccurate.


然而,法律没有明确禁止金融机构利用网络浏览记录来决定是否放款。也就是说,理论而言,银行可以根据贷款申请人的网站访问记录(比如访问了赌博网站)而拒绝向其提供贷款。不过,在这种情况下,银行应该让申请人看到这些上网记录,并在数据不准确时予以纠正。



Capital One says it doesn't use [x+1] or browsing history in lending decisions. Rather, it uses [x+1] to suggest offers to individuals.


第一资本金融公司表示,其在做出放贷决策时并没有使用[x+1]的技术或申请人的上网记录,而只是用[x+1]的技术来确定向顾客推荐哪种产品。



The regulators who monitor fair lending at the Federal Trade Commission say suggesting offers isn't illegal. But it could violate the law if the suggestions result in protected groups such as minorities being steered into paying higher credit-card rates despite having solid credit.


联邦贸易委员会(Federal Trade Commission)负责监管公平放贷的官员表示,这种推荐产品的做法本身并不违法,但如果这种做法导致受保护的群体(如少数族裔)尽管信用状况稳定但被迫支付更高的信用卡还款利率,那就触犯了相关法律。



'Steering can be a law violation depending on how they do it,' says Alice Hrdy, an assistantdirector at the FTC. 'Credit decisions have to be based on the customer's creditworthiness.'


"引导消费者到某个特定的产品可能也是一种违法行为,这要看具体的做法而定。"联邦贸易委员会主任助理爱丽丝•赫蒂(Alice Hrdy)说,"是否放贷的决策依据必须基于顾客的信用状况。"



Capital One spokeswoman Ms. Girardo says, 'Our practices are fully compliant with banking regulations and privacy laws.'


第一资本金融公司的发言人吉拉多(Girardo)说:"我们的做法完全符合银行监管法规和相关的隐私权保护法律。"



[x+1] says none of its credit-card services use gender, ethnicity or age data. It adds that the company doesn't have the names of the individuals it analyzes.


[x+1]公司表示,其信用卡服务领域的资料库中不包含任何性别、种族和年龄数据,公司也不知道其分析对象的姓名。



Emily Steel / Julia Angwin
  • ability [ə´biliti] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.(办事)能力;才干 (初中英语单词)
  • accurate [´ækjurət] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.准确的;精密的 (初中英语单词)
  • financial [fi´nænʃəl] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.金融的,财政的 (初中英语单词)
  • instantly [´instəntli] 移动到这儿单词发声 ad.立即,立刻 (初中英语单词)
  • customer [´kʌstəmə] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.顾客,买主,主顾 (初中英语单词)
  • contrast [´kɔntrɑ:st] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.对比 v.使对比(照) (初中英语单词)
  • mainly [´meinli] 移动到这儿单词发声 ad.主要地;大体上 (初中英语单词)
  • income [´inkʌm] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.收入,所得 (初中英语单词)
  • analysis [ə´næləsis] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.分解;分析(结果) (初中英语单词)
  • journal [´dʒə:nəl] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.日记;日报;杂志 (初中英语单词)
  • investigation [in,vesti´geiʃən] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.调查(研究) (初中英语单词)
  • glimpse [glimps] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.&v.瞥见 (初中英语单词)
  • adjust [ə´dʒʌst] 移动到这儿单词发声 vt.调整;校准;使适应 (初中英语单词)
  • instance [´instəns] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.例子,实例,例证 (初中英语单词)
  • visitor [´vizitə] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.访问者;来宾;参观者 (初中英语单词)
  • prospect [´prɔspekt, prəs´pekt] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.景色;境界 v.勘察 (初中英语单词)
  • origin [´ɔridʒin] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.起源;由来;出身 (初中英语单词)
  • receipt [ri´si:t] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.收到;收据 (初中英语单词)
  • assistance [ə´sistəns] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.协作;援助;帮助 (初中英语单词)
  • monitor [´mɔnitə] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.班长 v.监控;检查 (初中英语单词)
  • federal [´fedərəl] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.联邦的,联邦制的 (初中英语单词)
  • despite [di´spait] 移动到这儿单词发声 prep.尽管 (初中英语单词)
  • assistant [ə´sistənt] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.助手;助理;助教 (初中英语单词)
  • director [di´rektə] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.指导者;....长;导演 (初中英语单词)
  • correctly [kə´rektli] 移动到这儿单词发声 ad.正确地;恰当地 (高中英语单词)
  • colorado [,kɔlə´rɑ:dəu] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.科罗拉多(州) (高中英语单词)
  • architect [´ɑ:kitekt] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.建筑师 (高中英语单词)
  • behavior [bi´heiviə] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.举止,行为 (高中英语单词)
  • explore [ik´splɔ:] 移动到这儿单词发声 v.勘探;探索;探查 (高中英语单词)
  • client [´klaiənt] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.委托人;顾客 (高中英语单词)
  • geography [dʒi´ɔgrəfi] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.地理(学) (高中英语单词)
  • prohibit [prə´hibit] 移动到这儿单词发声 vt.禁止;阻止 (高中英语单词)
  • access [´ækses] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.接近;通路;进入 (高中英语单词)
  • applicant [´æplikənt] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.请求者;申请人 (高中英语单词)
  • commission [kə´miʃən] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.委任(状) vt.委任 (高中英语单词)
  • contractor [kən´træktə] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.订约人;收缩物 (英语四级单词)
  • ownership [´əunəʃip] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.所有权;所有制 (英语四级单词)
  • status [´steitəs] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.身份;情形;状况 (英语四级单词)
  • privacy [´praivəsi, -pri] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.隐退;独处;秘密 (英语四级单词)
  • retail [´ri:teil, ri´teil] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.&a.&v.零售(商品的) (英语四级单词)
  • violate [´vaiəleit] 移动到这儿单词发声 vt.违背;冒犯;侵害 (英语四级单词)
  • violation [,vaiə´leiʃən] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.破坏;冒犯;侵害 (英语四级单词)
  • banking [´bæŋkiŋ] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.银行业 (英语四级单词)
  • anonymous [ə´nɔniməs] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.不具名的;匿名的 (英语六级单词)
  • discrimination [di,skrimi´neiʃən] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.区别,歧视 (英语六级单词)
  • illegal [i´li:gəl] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.不合法的,非法的 (英语六级单词)