美国父母担忧社交网络危及孩子隐私

When it comes to protecting the privacy of their children, US parents give social networks a failing grade.

Three out of four parents polled by Zogby International believe social networks are not doing a good job of protecting kids' online privacy.

The survey was conducted for Common Sense Media, a noNPRofit organization dedicated to helping families navigate the world of media and technology.

Ninety-two percent of parents said they are concerned that children share too much information online, and 85 percent said they are more concerned about online privacy than they were five years ago.

The poll found a great deal of concern about geo-location services which pinpoint someone's whereabouts.

Ninety-one percent of parents said search engines and social networking sites should not be able to share the physical location of children with other companies until parents give authorization.

"The poll results present a clear divide between the industry's view of privacy and the opinion of parents and kids," Common Sense Media chief executive and founder James Steyer said.

"American families are deeply worried about how their personal information is being used by technology and online companies, yet the companies appear to be keeping their heads deep in the sand," Steyer said.

Technology companies need to step up but parents, children, schools and government also need to do more, he said.

"Parents and kids have to educate themselves about how to protect their information," he said. "Schools should teach all students and their parents about privacy protection."

"And finally, policymakers have to update privacy policies for the 21st century," he said.

According to the Zogby poll, more than 60 percent of parents want the US Congress to update online privacy laws for children and teenagers.

Zogby polled 2,100 adults in August. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.

在保护孩子的隐私方面，美国父母认为社交网络做得不合格。

左格比国际公司开展的民意调查显示，四分之三的父母认为社交网络在保护孩子的网上隐私方面做得不好。

这一调查是“常识媒体”委托开展的。“常识媒体”是一家致力于帮助家庭应对深受媒体和技术影响的世界的非盈利机构。

92%的父母说他们担心孩子在网络上分享了太多信息，85%的父母说他们比五年前更担心网络上的隐私问题。

调查发现，很多人对于能够确定某人所在位置的地理定位服务感到担忧。

91%的父母说搜索引擎和社交网站应该在得到父母准许的情况下才能和其他公司分享孩子的所在地信息。

“常识媒体”的总裁兼创始人詹姆斯．斯代尔说：“民意调查结果显示（IT）行业对隐私问题的观点与父母和孩子对该问题的看法明显存在分歧。”

斯代尔说：“美国家庭对于他们的个人信息被技术公司和网络公司利用而深感忧虑，然而企业们似乎一直在回避这一问题。”

他说，技术公司需要采取进一步行动，但是父母、孩子、学校和政府也需要做出更多努力。

他说：“父母和孩子必须自学如何保护个人信息，学校也应该教所有的学生和家长懂得保护隐私。”

他说：“最后，决策者也必须对21世纪的隐私保护政策进行更新。”

根据左格比的民意调查，超过60%的父母希望美国国会能为儿童和青少年制定新的网络隐私保护法律。

左格比公司在八月份调查了2100名成年人。这一民意调查的误差幅度在正负2.2%以内。

Vocabulary:

a failing grade: 不及格

navigate: to find the right way to deal with a difficult or complicated situation 找到正确方法（对付困难复杂的情况）

pinpoint: to find and show the exact position of somebody/something or the exact time that something happened 明确指出，确定（位置或时间）

keep/bury/hide one's head in the sand: 采取鸵鸟政策；不正视现实；回避问题