谷歌街景地图涉嫌侵犯隐私惹争议

　　Google was accused of spying on households yesterday after it admitted secretly copying passwords and private emails from home computers. The internet search giant was forced to confess it had downloaded personal data during its controversial Street View project, when it photographed virtually every street in Britain.
　　近日，美国谷歌公司承认，谷歌用于在全球收集街道图像的“街景车”意外错误地“秘密”收集了沿街居民电脑内各种私人信息，其中包括私人电子邮件和密码等。

　　In an astonishing invasion of privacy, it admitted entire emails, web pages and even passwords were 'mistakenly collected' by antennae on its high-tech Street View cars.

　　谷歌出品“街景车”离奇获取民众私人信息的新闻一经曝光立刻引来了舆论一片哗然。

　　Privacy campaigners accused the company of spying and branded its behaviour 'absolutely scandalous'. The Information Commissioner's Office said it would launch a new investigation. Scotland Yard is already considering whether the company has broken the law. Google executive Alan Eustace issued a grovelling apology and said the company was 'mortified', adding: 'We're acutely aware that we failed badly.'

　　隐私维权人士强烈谴责谷歌这种“令人发指的可耻行为”，英国信息委员会办公室负责人称，他们对此展开调查。此外伦敦警察厅也考虑是否追究谷歌公司的法律责任。谷歌工程研发高级总裁艾伦·尤斯塔斯对此深表歉意，并称谷歌已经意识到事件的严重性，会给大众一个解释。

　　Google's cars collected wi-fi network locations in more than 30 countries. The firm insisted the private data was not analysed or used for any commercial purpose.

　　据悉，谷歌公司 收集街道图像的“街景车”在全世界30个国家使用，虽然该产品涉及侵犯隐私，然而谷歌公司坚称被获取的私人信息没有投入任何商业用途。

　　Google, which made a profit of ?4.5billion last year, said its Street View cars no longer collected any type of wireless information, and promised to improve its privacy policies. Daniel Hamilton, campaign director at privacy group Big Brother Watch, said: 'The harvesting of sensitive personal information like this is completely unacceptable.

　　据悉，谷歌公司在09年的收益是45亿英镑，该公司负责人说“街景车”将不再收集无线信息数据，并保证改善自身保护隐私方面的政策。公司高层承认，获取公众的私人信息是完全不能接受的。

Vocabulary:

　　scandalous adj. 可耻的；诽谤性的