Questions 1-5

Advances in surveillance technology could seriously damage individual privacy unless drastic measures are taken to protect personal data, scientists have said. Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, gave warning last year that Britain was "sleepwalking" into a surveillance society. Yesterday the country's leading engineers developed the theme, fleshing out a dystopian vision that not even George Orwell could have predicted.

科学家称, 除非实施激烈的措施去保护个人数据, 否则监控技术的进步可能会严重侵害个人隐私. 信息技术专员理查德托马斯去年提出警告, 说英国正 “无意识进入”了监控社会. 昨天, 英国一些前沿工程师绘声绘色的描述了一个连乔治奥威尔也无法预测出来的可怕预言.

 They said that travel passes, supermarket loyalty cards and mobile phones could be used to track individuals' every move. They also predicted that CCTV (close-circuit television) footage could become available for public consumption and that terrorists could hijack the biometric chips in passports and rig them up as a trigger for explosives.

他们声称, 旅游护照, 超市会员卡和移动电话都可以用来追踪个人用户的一举一动, 他们还预测说闭路电视胶片可以为公共消费所用, 恐怖分子也可以侵入护照上的统计芯片, 用其触发爆炸装置.

The report by the Royal Academy of Engineering, Dilemmas of Privacy and Surveillance-Challenges of Technological Change, argues that the scientists developing surveillance technology should also think about measures to protect privacy. "Just as security features have been incorporated into car design, privacy-protecting features should be incorporated into the design of products and services that rely on divulging personal information," the report says.

这份由皇家工程学院公布的报告题为 “隐私和监管的两难境地---科技变革带来的挑战”, 提出科学家们发展监视技术应该同时考虑到保护隐私的措施. “正如设计汽车要合并考虑安全性能一样, 依靠个人信息进行设计的产品和服务也应该合并考虑保护隐私的措施.

"There is a choice between a Big Brother world where individual privacy is almost extinct and a world where the data are kept by individual organizations or services and kept secret and secure." The report says that shoppers should be allowed to buy goods and services without revealing their identities to the companies that provide them. It argues that travel and supermarket loyalty cards and mobile phones are mines of personal information that should be closely scrutinized to make sure that data is not abused.

“在‘老大哥’的世界里, 几乎谈不到个人隐私的保护;而在另一个世界中,个人数据被独立组织机构视为秘密, 安全地保管起来. 我们可以取中庸之道.” 该报告称应该允许消费者在购买商品及服务时, 不向供应商泄露他们的身份. 旅行社, 超市会员卡和移动电话是个人信息最集中的地方, 应该进行严格的检查,确保信息不被滥用.

Professor Nigel Gilbert, chairman of the report group, said: "In most cases, supermarket loyalty cards will have your name on. Why? What is needed in a loyalty card is for the supermarket to know what has been bought so you can get your discounts.

身为报告小组的主席奈杰尔吉尔伯特教授说, “在多数情况下, 超级市场的会员卡上会标有你的名字. 这是为什么? 会员卡的目的是让超市方面知道你的购物情况, 从而给你一定的折扣.”

"Does it need to identify you? No, it just needs authentication that you've bought the goods. It is the same for Oyster cards on the Tube, some of which you have to register for. These are all apparently small things but people are being required to give away more identification information than is required."

这需要身份识别吗? 不需要, 这样做仅仅是需要确认你购买过商品. 就跟伦敦地铁交通卡一样, 需要登记. 在这些鸡毛蒜皮的小事上, 人们也必须提供远远超过需要的个人信息.

Ian Forbes, the report's coauthor, said that because footage from CCTV cameras could be digitized and potentially stored for ever, that necessitated greater scrutiny of the controlling networks. Britain has about five million CCTV cameras, one for every 12 people.

该报告的合作作者伊安福布斯说, 因为闭路电视摄像头的胶片可以进行数字化并永久保存起来, 导致现在需要更好的检查措施来控制网络. 英国现在约有五百万个摄像头, 平均每12个人1个.

The report says: "Give this potential, it cannot be guaranteed that surveillance images will remain private, or will not be altered, misused or manipulated." The report also gives warning that biometric passports and identity cards would give fresh opportunities to fraudsters and terrorists to read remotely the data chips that they contain. It says that it could be possible to rig a bomb to go off in the presence of a certain person or someone of a particular nationality.

报告说, “考虑到这种可能性, 无法保证监控画面保持隐私, 不被更改, 误用, 或被人利用.” 报告还警告人们, 护照上的统计芯片和身份识别卡将给侵权者和恐怖分子提供良机,使其可以远程读取上面的数据, 并且有可能安装炸弹, 一旦某人或某国公民出现即被引爆.

The report proposes that the Information Commissioner should be given extended powers, and that stiffer penalties, including prison sentences, should be introduced for those who misuse personal data. The Commons Home Affairs Select Committee is expected to announce an inquiry into the growing use of surveillance.