'We will serve ads to you based on your identity,' said Erin Egan, chief privacy officer at Facebook, 'but that doesn't mean you're identifiable.' Facebook, Rapleaf and other companies also say that they anonymize their data.

Facebook公司的首席隐私长埃林·伊根(Erin Egan)说：“我们会根据你的身份向你提供广告，但是那并不意味着你的身份已经透明了。Facebook、Rapleaf和其它一些公司都说它们对数据进行了匿名化处理。

How does anonymization work? A website uses a formula to turn its users' email addresses into jumbled strings of numbers and letters. An advertiser does the same with its customer email lists. Both then send their jumbled lists to a third company that looks for matches. When two match, the website can show an ad targeted to a specific person, but no real email addresses changed hands.

匿名化是怎么操作的？一家网站使用了一个公式，把用户的电子邮件地址转变成由数字和字母组成的杂乱的字符串。一家广告公司对其客户的电子邮件清单也进行了相同的处理。之后两家公司都把它们处理后的杂乱字符清单送交给一家第三方企业，这家公司会从中进行对应匹配，对应成功的，那家网站就可以向具体的某个人播放广告了，但是真正的电子邮件地址并没有易手。

Still, the sheer ease with which personal details can be shared online makes it difficult for people to know whether their information is safe. A Wall Street Journal survey of 50 popular websites, plus the Journal's own site, found that 12 sent potentially identifying information such as email addresses or full real names to third parties.

【小心，有人在网上“追踪”你】相关文章：

★ 你染上春节“节日病”了吗？

★ 台湾女性不惧当“剩女”

★ 北京奥运闭幕式：贝克汉姆“领衔”伦敦8分钟

★ 双语：未来“台湾塔”

★ 双语美文：人生中的“蝴蝶效应”

★ 欧盟报告称立陶宛为“谋杀之都”

★ 东盟加快资本市场一体化步伐

★ 印度：个人奥运首金 举国同庆

★ 双语阅读：不当办公室里的“困兽”

★ 今年圣诞不寂寞 “扁平爸爸”相作伴