时间:2019-01-12 作者:英语课 分类:2011年VOA慢速英语(五)月


英语课

 


Technology Report - Mobile Devices' Location Tracking Raises Privacy Concerns


This is the VOA Special English Technology Report.

Lawmakers in the United States have expanded an investigation 1 into the use of location-tracking systems on mobile devices.

The action follows recent reports about the storing of information on the Apple iPhone, iPad and iTouch. Questions have also been raised about Google Android devices. Some people consider location tracking to be a threat to personal privacy and security.

Allan Friedman is the research director for technology and innovation at the Brookings Institution in Washington. He says all wireless 2 companies do some amount of location tracking as part of their networks. Mr. Friedman says this information is usually stored by the companies, not the devices, and there are laws to protect it.

ALLAN FRIEDMAN: "Law enforcement, for example, has to have a fairly high standard before it can access that data. And the phone company is also prohibited from selling that information."

Congress discussed the issue of mobile privacy last year. Now, two researchers reported last month that location tracking information is being stored directly on Apple devices. They said Apple's newest operating systems gather global positioning system and timestamp information.

A Motorola Xoom tablet running Google's Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system is shown at Google headquarters in Mountain View, California

The information is stored on the device in a file that is also uploaded to any computer that the device is connected to. The researchers say the information is available to anyone who has access to the device or computer.

Allan Friedman says this raises additional concerns.

ALLAN FRIEDMAN: "There's the idea that because it's on my phone and on my computer, rogue 3 applications that I pay for or that I'm tricked into downloading may be able to access this data and somehow misuse 4 it."

Apple, in a statement, says it is "not tracking the location of your iPhone." The company says it is simply keeping a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell phone towers near the user's location. It says this information is meant to help the iPhone quickly find its location when needed.

Last week, leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent letters to some of the leading mobile device developers. These include Apple and Google. The letters asked for more information about their location tracking systems.

Allan Friedman calls this an important start to strengthening privacy laws.

ALLAN FRIEDMAN: There aren’t strong controls over things like location data. We need to understand who is getting my location information, what are they doing with it, how long are they keeping it. And perhaps the most important question is, is my location data tied with other facts about me?”

A new Senate subcommittee on privacy, technology and the law plans to hold a hearing on May tenth about protecting mobile privacy.

And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report, written by June Simms, and available online at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.



n.调查,调查研究
  • In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
  • He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。
adj.无线的;n.无线电
  • There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
  • Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。
n.流氓;v.游手好闲
  • The little rogue had his grandpa's glasses on.这淘气鬼带上了他祖父的眼镜。
  • They defined him as a rogue.他们确定他为骗子。
n.误用,滥用;vt.误用,滥用
  • It disturbs me profoundly that you so misuse your talents.你如此滥用自己的才能,使我深感不安。
  • He was sacked for computer misuse.他因滥用计算机而被解雇了。
学英语单词
98
acidity
aerosol food
afghanistani
alloy irons
antibiolumphin
ashpan blower valve
automatic assembly
avi cable
bakeout degassing clamp
birchleaf pear
body-curved disease
bodywood
bottom relief map
Bozeman's position
bridge cloth
bullock blocks
bushing electric
call accepted signal
chondriomere
Cirbanal
close set
color constants
comebackers
commodity wastage
correptions
courier bag
Cunaxa
departmentation by process or equipment
electronic fire-control equipment
element name
encoded fields
end of astronomical evening twilight
engine pod
ensampling
epss network
featurism
ferret distemper virus
fiber-map
full electronic switching
gallucci
general-purpose diagnostic program
geographical north
geospatial engineering
glowfly
haberse
hardware stage
hexagonal mirror
hot penetration construction
Hudsonian godwit
Immobilon
interstitial distance (mather 1936)
investigation on audience
Krasnaya Polyana
layer-wound solenoid
leather loader
limestone neutralization treatment
maximal tubular excretory capacity
melanedema
natural rate of unemployment
nerr
non-coplanar transfer
norvasc
nosedives
OMR (optical mark reader)
optically positive
over bridges
partner with
Pashtunwali
patung series
paving stone degeneration of retina
permanent magnet moving coil meter
pivoted bucket carrier
plantar spaces
plunged into
prince fumimaro konoyes
prodan
psychoanalytical theory
Pterocles
pyrophoric lead
raw material of woodcharcaol
roller chamfer
schwab
Scythians
sequentially-lobed radar
signal smoke
signe de peau d'orange
slugft
So it goes
sp vol
spin space
Stackelberg decision theory
swansea
tandem electrostatic generator
terry swatch
the leaflets of the trifoliolate leaves
topochemical control
variable acceptance sampling
viscosity model
Warenford
weighing-appliance
zeomorphis