作为人类，我们不应当局限于追求电子商务带来的肤浅的快乐。
为什么科技公司滥用我们的数据？我们自己作的
译者：徐唱
校对&词汇：李林治
策划：周树人
Here’s Why Tech Companies Abuse Our Data: Because We Let Them
为什么科技公司滥用我们的数据？我们自己作的。
本文选自
The Guardian
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We live in an e-commerce utopia. I can call out orders and my demands are satisfied through an automated, seamless transaction. I just have to ask Alexa, or Siri, or one of the other digital assistants developed by Silicon Valley firms, who await the commands and manage the affairs of their human bosses.
我们生活在电子商务的乌托邦中。自动化的无缝交易可以满足我的需求，而我要做的仅仅是询问Alexa、Siri，或者任何一个由硅谷公司发明的电子助理——它们随时待命，为人类处理事务。
We’re building a world of frictionless consumerism. To see the problems with it requires you to stop and think, which itself runs against the grain of this technology. Utopia is in the eye of the
beholder
. One person’s utopia is another’s dystopia. Take the obese humans in Pixar’s Wall-E: never having to move from their mobile chairs with screens they use to get their food delivered to them. The point is not that Alexa will make us obese. Rather, it’s that intelligent technology can manage much more than isolated purchase orders of books, or the devices and systems in our homes. It can manage our lives, who we are and are capable of being, for better or worse.
我们正在创建一个没有阻力的消费主义世界。要想洞察这个世界存在的问题，你需要停下并进行思考。但这两个动作本身就违背了无缝交易科技的初衷。乌托邦存在于
旁观者
的眼中。一个人的乌托邦是另一个人的地狱。试想皮克斯《瓦力》中的肥胖人群：他们不需要为了食物而从带屏幕的椅子中站起来。我不是想说Alexa会让我们变胖。我是想说，智能技术能做的，远不止单纯的订阅书籍或采购家中的设备。它或多或少可以控制我们的生活、决定我们是谁，以及我们能做什么。
Silicon Valley’s pursuit of frictionless transactions in our modern digital networked environment is relentless. It has given rise to surveillance capitalism – the
extraction
and monetisation of our data – and the creeping use of such data to “scientifically” manage most facets of our lives, in order to efficiently deliver cheap bliss and convenience.
硅谷不知疲倦地在现代电子互联环境中追求无阻力的交易。而这已经导致“监控资本主义”——也就是对我们数据的
榨取
及商业化。同时，为了有效实现低价的狂欢和便利，硅谷通过令人不安的数据使用，来“科学地”管理我们生活的大多方面。
We need to introduce digital speed bumps to prompt consumers to slow down and think about their transactions.
我们需要采用电子减速带来促使消费者减缓消费并思考这种交易模式。
Yet there is much more to being human than the pursuit of such shallow forms of happiness. Flourishing human beings need some friction in their decision-making. Friction is resistance; it slows things down. And in our hyper-rich, fast-paced, attention-
deprived
world, we need opportunities to stop and think, to deliberate and even second-guess ourselves and others. This is how we develop the capacity for self-reflection; how we experiment, learn and develop our own beliefs, tastes and preferences; how we exercise self-determination. This is our free will in action.
作为人类，我们不应当局限于追求这种肤浅的快乐。愈加自强的人类在做决策时需要一些摩擦：摩擦即是阻力，它能够使事物减速。当我们处于超富裕、快节奏、
缺乏
注意力的世界中，我们需要停下并思考的机会，需要仔细考虑甚至劝告自己和他人的机会。这是我们提升自我反思能力的方法，也是我们试验、学习、发展我们思维、品味及喜好的方法，同样也是我们实现自主意识的方法。这是我们自由意识的体现。
deprive
/dɪ'praɪv/ to take something away from somebody 剥夺
We don’t want too much friction, either: it is, after all, costly. Paralysis by analysis is a frightening prospect. It’s easier to abandon such
deliberations
and accept defaults, often set by others. The insights from behavioural economics tell us we choose not to choose. This convenient “choice” is only made easier in our modern data-rich economy.
当然，我们也不希望有太多的阻力，毕竟它是有代价的。丧失分析能力是一个恐怖的前景。放弃
思考
、接受（别人的）预设总是更简单的。正如行为经济学告诉我们的那样：我们选择不做选择。而在现代大数据经济体系中，做这种便利的“选择”只会变得更简单。
deliberation
/dɪ.lɪbə'reɪʃ(ə)n/ the process of carefully considering or discussing sth. 细想
Consider, for example, Facebook users’ relationship with Facebook. The relationship begins when users click through to Facebook’s sign-up page, which forms a binding legal contract and authorises Facebook’s extensive data collection and sharing practices. The transaction costs are minimal. Trust is essential. Yet it is and has been
unwarranted
. As the recent Cambridge Analytica debacle highlights, Facebook has enabled third parties – and there are many – to use Facebook users’ data to develop sophisticated psychological profiling and personalisation algorithms, to influence their beliefs and votes. In the end, the debacle is merely a symptom of a diseased digital networked environment optimised for frictionless data flows, advertising and e-commerce.
试想脸书与其用户的关系。这种关系从用户点入注册页面开始。通过简单的操作，两者之间建立起了一个具有法律效益的紧密合约，且给予了脸书收集并分享大量数据的权利。这种交易的成本是微乎其微的。它最核心的要素是信任。然而，这种关系一直以来都是
毫无根据的
。正如最近剑桥分析公司的溃败所表现出来的那样：为了发展更复杂的心理档案及个人算法，同时也为了左右用户的信念和投票，脸书允许大量第三方公司使用其用户的信息。这场丑闻仅仅是病态电子互联环境的一个症状，是致力于创造无阻碍的数据流、推广和电子商务的互联环境的病症。
unwarranted
/ʌn'wɒrəntɪd/ not reasonable or necessary; not appropriate 无正当理由的
Some digital tech cheerleaders like to describe data as “the new oil”, the raw material that will drive economic growth. But data is oil-like in more than one way: it eliminates friction and has the potential to re-engineer the environments within which we live – our workplaces, schools, hospitals and homes – so we risk becoming increasingly predictable and programmable.
一些电子科技的支持者形容数据是促进经济增长的“新型石油”。数据和石油除了都是未加工材料这一个共同点以外，还有其他的相似处：它能够消除阻力，拥有重组我们生存环境（包括工作场所、学校、医院和家）的潜能。因此，我们正冒着变得愈加可测、愈加程式化的风险。
Consider a simple example. Modern electronic contracting often depends on a seamlessly designed human-computer interface that creates a binding contract through the simple act of clicking or tapping a virtual button. Some economists celebrate this mechanism for minimising transaction costs and eliminating friction in the formation of a contract.
举一个简单的例子。现代的电子合同常常依赖于无缝的人机交互：它通过简单的点击或触碰虚拟按键来形成合约。一些经济学家称赞这个机制使交易成本最小化，并消除了合约形成时的阻力。
This view is dangerously myopic. It focuses on efficiency gains and ignores subtle but powerful impacts on human autonomy. It makes it rational for a user to blindly accept terms of use. To read the terms would be a waste of time, an irrational and futile exercise. Even if you’re a
glutton
for punishment, how would you choose which e-contract is worth the time and effort? After all, you enter into so many of them, and they’re spreading like wildfire, from apps and smart TVs to all the devices in your workplace, car and home that are destined – according to e-commerce gurus – to be integrated into the Internet of Things. So people just default to clicking “I agree”. This is not only a predictable response, it is arguably a programmed one.
这是一个极其危险且短浅的观点。它关注效率收益，却忽视了电子合同对人类自主力造成的微妙但强大的影响。这个观点使人们觉得盲目接受使用条款是合理的。而阅读使用条款则会变成一个浪费时间的、无理的、没用的行为。就算你是个
受虐狂
，你如何判断哪个电子合同是值得浪费你的时间和精力的？毕竟，你会接触到那么多的电子合同。它们正像野火一般在我们生活中蔓延：从手机软件和智能电视，到你工作场合、汽车以及住宅中的所有设备。这些设备在电子商务的引领下，都将被整合进物联网（Internet of Things）*。因此，人们将会默认点击“我同意”。这不仅仅是一个可以被预测的反应，它也可以被认为是一个被程式化的反应。
译者注：物联网是互联网、传统电信网等信息承载体，让所有能行使独立功能的普通物体实现互联互通的网络。
glutton
/'ɡlʌt(ə)n/ a person who enjoys doing difficult or unpleasant tasks 喜欢艰苦工作的人
Frictionless e-contracting makes a mockery of contracting, which is premised on parties genuinely exercising their autonomy when deciding to enter into a binding legal relationship. At best, it generates the illusion of consent through automatic and even programmed behaviour. Repeat interactions with this and other similar mechanisms risk habituation to mindless clicking.
无阻力的电子合同是对传统合同的一种嘲讽。因为后者的前提是，协议双方在决定进入有法律效应的紧密关系前，真诚地履行他们的自主权。而电子合同最多只能通过自动的、甚至是程式化的行为，创建一种双方许可的假象。与电子合同，以及其他类似机制反复交互，会有风险将人类思维习惯变成无意识的鼠标点击。
One response to this social dilemma is to deliberately engineer friction into modern consumer choices – to design transaction costs into technology. How should we do this? Too much would probably cause the digital economy to grind to a halt. It needs to be more a case of introducing some digital speed bumps that prompt consumers to slow down and think about the transaction they’re about to undertake in a way that preserves their autonomy. Ways of doing this include courts refusing to enforce automatic contracts and requiring evidence of actual deliberation by consumers about the most important
substan
t
ive
terms of a contract. Software could require a user to scroll over the most important terms and conditions before clicking the “I agree”, or it could even require consumers to answer substantive questions about the contract.
应对这个社会性困境的一个办法就是有意在现代消费中增加阻力——也就是在科技中加入消费成本。那具体该怎么做呢？太多的阻力可能会直接导致电子经济的崩溃。我们需要的是增加一些电子减速带：让消费者慢下来，思考他们即将进行的交易，以此达到保留消费者自主性的目的。一种方式就是拒绝使用自动化合同，并要求消费者提供对合同
重要
条款思考的证据。软件可以要求用户在点击“同意”按钮之前滚动浏览最重要的条目款项。或者，它甚至可以要求消费者回答关于合同的具体问题。
substantive
/'sʌbstəntɪv/ dealing with real, important or serious matters 本质上的
Technology enthusiasts celebrate the idea of frictionless commerce in the home with no trace of second thoughts. Consumers like instant gratification and convenience. And, of course, it’s super-exciting for the marketing folks just waiting to nudge people to make purchases.
科技狂热爱好者们不假思索地推崇在家就可以进行的无阻碍交易。消费者偏爱及时的满足和便利。同时，对于市场营销的人来说，等着推动人们消费当然是一件无比激动人心的事情。
