经济学人下载:脸谱和那些13岁以下的孩子们

Business
商业报道

Facebook and the under-13s
脸谱和那些13岁以下的孩子们

Kid gloves
小心孩子

Small children are a big headache for the social network
小孩子们现在是社交网络的一个头疼问题

ONE American in three aged 65 or older uses social networks, says a new report by the Pew Research Centre, a think-tank.
美国智库皮尤研讨中央的一份新报告显示，65岁或是65岁以上的人中，有三分之一的人在使用社交网络。

But it is the small surfers, not the silver ones, who are currently making waves.
但是在社交网络，如今兴得起风做得了浪的还是年轻的一代，在这里，年龄不是什么优势。

Facebook is examining ways to allow children under the age of 13 to use its service, with some form of parental supervision.
脸谱现在正在研究一些方法，好让年龄在13岁以下的孩子们享受脸谱的服务，当然了，这要在家长的监督之下进行。

If this happens—and Facebook stresses that it has not yet decided whether to go ahead—it would be a venture into uncharted territory.
如果这种情况发生—脸谱强调，他们现在还没有决定要不要这么做—向这片未知领域进军，那将是一种冒险。

Critics howl that young children lack the maturity to cope with social networks.
评论家们怒嚎，小孩子们太嫩，对付不了社交网络。

They also worry that Facebook will find devious ways to make money from naive children or, more likely, their parents.
他们还担心，社交网络会不会采取一些见不得光的手段，从天真的孩童身上捞钱，或者，更准确点讲，是从孩子们的父母身上捞钱。

We would be giving the keys to the chicken coop to the fox, says Doug Fodeman of ChildrenOnline.org, a pressure group.
为了防止狡猾的狐狸，我们要给鸡舍上锁，道格?佛德曼说。道格?佛德曼是儿童在线集团的人，儿童在线集团是一个关于儿童压力的组织。

There is also the thorny question of how Facebook could comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act in America,
还有一个棘手的问题，脸谱要怎么做，才能让其行为符合美国保护儿童在线隐私法。

which was designed to protect children under 13 as they use the internet.
保护儿童在线隐私法，是为了让13岁以下的孩子，在上网的时候得到保护。

The law stipulates that online services with youngsters among their customers must obtain the consent of the children's parents before collecting data from them.
它规定，如果网络服务的对象时13岁以下的孩子，那么在向孩子们收集资料的时候，必须得到孩子父母的同意

Parents also need to be able to review their children's data and have these deleted if they so wish.
。父母也需要检查孩子的资料，如果父母觉得这些资料应该予以删除，那么父母就有权删除这些资料。

The onerous nature of these and other COPPA provisions explains why social networks have tended to shun the young.
些规定，还有COPPA的规定，真的是好烦的，这也是为什么社交网络都避开孩子的原因。

Facebook insists that you have to be 13 to use its service.
脸谱强调，想要享受脸谱的服务，那么等你长到13岁吧。

The snag is that children fib about their age.
难的是孩子们对自己的年龄撒谎。

A study by Consumer Reports found that 5.6m children under 13 were using Facebook in America alone.
消费者报告的一份研究显示，单单只是美国，就有560万13岁以下的孩子在使用脸谱。

Another survey of American parents found that adults often knew that their children were less than 13 when they joined Facebook.
另一份关于美国父母的调查发现，孩子们在小于13岁的时候，就已经加入脸谱了，而对这件事，大人们通常都知道。

In many cases, the parents helped them to set up their accounts.
甚至在很多情况下，父母帮着孩子建立账号。

Regulators have noticed.
管理者们已经注意到这一点了。

Facebook's current musings may reflect the fear that the firm will run into trouble if it does nothing.
目前脸谱正在深思这一问题，如果公司跟没事人似的，问题肯定会有的，早晚的事。

It already has slightly more robust privacy settings for children between the ages of 13 and 17.
现在针对13岁到17岁之间的孩子，在隐私设置这一块，他们已经稍微做了些还算可靠的举措。

But it would need a far tighter regime for younger children, says Sarah Downey of Abine, an online consumer-privacy company.
在线隐私公司的负责人萨拉·唐尼说，对于年轻的小辈们，措施还需更为严厉些。

In spite of its plummeting share price, Facebook has oodles of cash from its recent stockmarket flotation.
虽然股份持续下降，脸谱还是从最近的股票上市中捞了一大笔钱。

So it could easily hire the extra staff needed to support parents and their youngsters, as well as to ensure compliance with COPPA.
所以雇佣更多的人员来应对父母，孩子，并且还要保证符合儿童在线隐私保护法案，这对脸谱来说，倒不是件难事。

Mark Zuckerberg, the social network's boss, has said he believes children's education should start early.
马克·扎克伯格，社交网络的老大，曾今说过，他相信教育要从娃娃抓起这件事。

Now he has a chance to prove that he means it.
现在历史给他一个机会，证明自己的时刻到了。