Whenyou'resurfingtheInternetonyourlaptopfromyourdormorhomedoyouknowyourpersonaldetailsarebeinggatheredsecretly?Andwouldyoubesurprisedtoknowtheinformationmaybesoldcheaplytoadvertisersandmarketers?
Whenyou'resurfingtheInternetonyourlaptopfromyourdormorhomedoyouknowyourpersonaldetailsarebeinggatheredsecretly?Andwouldyoubesurprisedtoknowtheinformationmaybesoldcheaplytoadvertisersandmarketers?
AccordingtoaninvestigationbyTheWallStreetJournalallittakesisatinyfileinacomputer—asinglecodeconsistingofalongseriesofnumbersandletter—torecordthecomputeruser'sagegenderlocationfavoritemoviesandhobbies．
ThenewspaperreportsthatLotameSolutionsInc．aNewYorkcompanyusessophisticatedsoftwarecalleda '"beacon"tocapturewhatpeoplearetypingonawebsite．
Lotamepackagesthedataintoprofiles（个人资料）aboutindividualsonlywithouttheirnamesandsellstheprofilestocompaniesseekingcustomers．Suchdatamaybesoldforafewdollars．
TheWallStreetJournalsurveydiscoveredthatspyingonInternetusersisoneofthefastest-growingbusinessesontheInternet．
The"cookie"atinytextfileputonyourPCbywebsitesormarketingfirmswhichmightbeusedtorememberyourpreferencesforonesiteortotrackyouacrossmanysitesisalreadyoldnews．Therearenewandmorecomplextoolssuchas"beacons"whichscaninrealtimewhatpeoplearedoingonawebpage．'ThesebeaconsinstantlyassesstheInternetuser'slocationincomeshoppinginterestsandevenmedicalconditions．
MillionsofInternetusersaroundtheworldalsofacegreatthreats．Theirprivatesensitivepersonalandbusinessinformationisbeinggatheredandsoldwithouttheirknowledge．
Companiesinsistthattheinformationtheygatherisanonymous（匿名的）andthedataisusedharmlessly．ButthetechnologyhasgrownsopowerfulthatevensomeofthebiggestwebsitesintheUSdon'tknowthattheywere．installing（安装）intrusive（侵入的）filesonvisitors'computers．TheseincludeMSN．comandYahoo．com．
Nexttimeyouvisitawebpageandfindanadbanneradvertisingsomethingyou'vebeenplanningtobuydon'tbeamazedthatyourcomputercanreadyourmind．
57．Thepurposeofthepassageisto______．
A．showhowyourprivateinformationisletoutwhensurfingtheInternet
B．introduceaverytinyfileinyourcomputer—asinglecode