Whenyou’resurfingtheInternetonyourlaptopfromyourdormorhome,doyouknowyourpersonaldetailsarebeinggatheredsecretly?Andwouldyoubesurprisedtoknowtheinformationmaybesoldcheaplytoadvertisersandmarketers?Accordin

　　Whenyou’resurfingtheInternetonyourlaptopfromyourdormorhome,doyouknowyourpersonaldetailsarebeinggatheredsecretly?Andwouldyoubesurprisedtoknowtheinformationmaybesoldcheaplytoadvertisersandmarketers?

　　AccordingtoaninvestigationbyTheWallStreetJournal,allittakesisatinyfileinacomputer-asinglecodeconsistingofalongseriesofnumbersandletters-torecordthecomputeruser’sage,gender,location,favoritemoviesandhobbies.

　　ThenewspaperreportsthatLotameSolutionsInc.,aNewYorkcompany,usessophisticated(高科技)softwarecalleda"beacon"tocapturewhatpeoplearetypingonawebsite.

　　Lotamepackagesthatdataintoprofiles（个人资料）aboutindividuals,onlywithouttheirnames,andsellstheprofilestocompaniesseekingcustomers．Batchesofsuchdatamaybesoldforafewdollars.

　　TheWallStreetJournalsurveydiscoveredthatspyingonInternetusersisoneofthefastest-growingbusinessesontheWorldWideWeb.

　　The"cookie"-atinytextfileputonyourPCbywebsitesormarketingfirmswhichmightbeusedtorememberyourpreferencesforonesite,ortotrackyouacrossmanysitesisalreadyoldnews．Therearenewandmorecomplextoolssuchas"beacons"whichscaninrealtimewhatpeoplearedoingonawebpage．ThesebeaconsinstantlyassesstheInternetuser’slocation,income,shoppinginterestsandevenmedicalconditions.

　　MillionsofInternetusersaroundtheworldalsofaceunprecedented（空前的）threats．Private,sensitive,personalandbusinessinformationisbeinggatheredandsoldwithouttheirknowledge.

　　Companiesinsisttheinformationtheygatherisanonymousandthedataisusedharmlessly.ButthetechnologyhasgrownsopowerfulthatevensomeofthebiggestwebsitesintheUSdon’tknowthattheywereinstallingintrusivefilesonvisitors’computers．TheseincludeMSN.comandYahoo.com.

　　Nexttimeyouvisitawebpageandfindanadbanneradvertisingsomethingyou’vebeenplanningtobuy,don’tbeamazedthatyourcomputercanreadyourmind.

　　小题1:Thepurposeofthepassageisto .A．introduceatinyfileinacomputer-asinglecodeB．showhowyourindividualinformationwasletoutwhenyousur