BEC商务英语阅读材料：欧洲六国对谷歌采取联合行动

Europe's largest data-protection authorities have launched a joint action against Google to force it to remedy alleged breaches of EU privacy rules by the search giant.

The move by data-protection authorities from Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands is the first co-ordinated and formal procedure by EU states against a single company on privacy, underscoring European frustration with Google.

European watchdogs can currently impose only fines below €1m but new EU-wide rules could soon empower them to inflict on companies penalties up to 2 per cent of their global annual turnover.

In Google's case that would add up to about $760m, based on its 2011 revenues. The new rules could be approved by the end of this year by EU lawmakers and member states.

The move comes five months after a probe led byCNIL, the French watchdog representing EU regulators, concluded that Google had failed to give users adequate information about how their personal data were being used across its multiple platforms.

Google responded that its privacy policy respected European law. "We have engaged fully with the data-protection authorities involved throughout this process, and we'll continue to do so going forward," it said in a statement.

The Mountain View-based group has faced intense criticism for its privacy policy since it first moved to merge customer data held across its various services such as Gmail and YouTube, which alone holds the data of more than 1bn users.

The US group said its new privacy terms, which combine 60 former policies into one for all its customers, would allow it to provide a better service. Google Now, which provides intuitive updates based on calendar entries, location patterns and e-mails, is one example of a service making use of the new approach.

The case is being closely watched by several US tech companies and in particular Microsoft, which is currently being investigated by European regulators on issues relating to its online services.

学习指南：

1.Word of the day

watchdog: A person or group whose job is to protect people's rights, especially in relation to large companies 监督人/组织

小编注：watchdog解释为监督人，从字面意思来看很容易联想到看门狗，确实相当形象。监督部门就如看门口一样，忠心耿耿地为雇主看家护院，提防坏人得逞。

2.Phrase of the day

joint action: joint action指的是联合行动，joint有“共同，共有”的意思，比如：

ex:Have you and your husband got a joint account?

例句：你跟你先生有没有联合账户?

小编注：“合资公司”叫joint venture，“联合部队”叫joint force。和joint有关的还有一个习语：out of joint，直译为：脱臼。或引申为脱节，混乱，不协调等。比如：The time is out of joint. 时代脱了节;时代动荡不安。

3.Sentence of the day

The new rules could be approved by the end of this year by EU lawmakers and member states.

新规有望在今年年底之前获得欧盟立法机构和各成员国的批准。

小编注：lawmaker解释为立法者，这并不难理解。英文中类似这样的构词形式有很多，比如违法者叫lawbreaker， 捣蛋鬼叫troublemaker。

4.Cultural point of the day

欧盟与谷歌 最新的消息是谷歌已经向欧盟提交了和解方案，正式作出妥协。众所周知，谷歌会收集一些用户的信息，比如你搜索了些什么，你对什么类型的网页有兴趣，甚至你所处的位置，这些信息是非常有用的，因为谷歌可以根据你的喜好为你提供搜索建议，对谷歌本身而言，也可以更精准的投放广告获得盈利。但类似的信息收集系统在欧盟眼里显然并不受欢迎，欧盟坚持认为谷歌的行为触犯了欧洲的隐私法律。这已经不是谷歌第一次在欧盟踩到钉子了，之前因为垄断和街景等问题已多次被欧盟起诉。你认为欧盟为什么要针对谷歌呢?对于谷歌和欧盟的矛盾，你有什么看法呢?

5.Translation of the day

The Mountain View-based group has faced intense criticism for its privacy policy since it first moved to merge customer data held across its various services such as Gmail and YouTube, which alone holds the data of more than 1bn users.

总部位于加利福尼亚的谷歌，自开始合并多项服务(如电子邮件Gmail和视频网站YouTube)的客户数据以来，其隐私政策就一直受到强烈批评。仅YouTube就拥有逾10亿用户的数据。

小编注：这句话重点在于对which指代内容的把握。虽然which前面出现了Gmail和YouTube两样事物，但通过后面的alone我们知道这里的which指代的只是YouTube而已。

Europe's largest data-protection authorities have launched a joint action against Google to force it to remedy alleged breaches of EU privacy rules by the search giant.

欧洲几个大国的数据保护主管部门发起针对谷歌(Google)的联合行动，要求该搜索巨擘就所谓违反欧盟隐私规则的行为采取补救措施。

The move by data-protection authorities from Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands is the first co-ordinated and formal procedure by EU states against a single company on privacy, underscoring European frustration with Google.

由英国、德国、法国、意大利、西班牙以及荷兰数据保护主管部门发起的这一行动，是欧盟国家首次在隐私问题上对一家公司协同启动正式程序。这件事突显出欧洲方面对谷歌的不满。

European watchdogs can currently impose only fines below €1m but new EU-wide rules could soon empower them to inflict on companies penalties up to 2 per cent of their global annual turnover.

欧洲监管机构目前只能开出不到100万欧元的罚单。不过，覆盖整个欧盟的新规则，可能很快就会使它们有权对企业作出相当于其2%全球年营业额的处罚。

In Google's case that would add up to about $760m, based on its 2011 revenues. The new rules could be approved by the end of this year by EU lawmakers and member states.

就谷歌而言，这意味着按该公司2011年的营收计算，它可能将面对高达7.60亿美元的罚单。新规有望在今年年底之前获得欧盟立法机构和各成员国的批准。

The move comes five months after a probe led byCNIL, the French watchdog representing EU regulators, concluded that Google had failed to give users adequate information about how their personal data were being used across its multiple platforms.

5个月前，由法国监管机构“国家信息与自由委员会”(CNIL)代表欧盟监管机构牵头展开的一项调查得出结论称，谷歌未能向用户提供充分信息、以让他们了解自己的个人数据在谷歌的多个平台之间如何被使用。

Google responded that its privacy policy respected European law. "We have engaged fully with the data-protection authorities involved throughout this process, and we'll continue to do so going forward," it said in a statement.

谷歌的回应是，其隐私政策是尊重欧洲法律的。“我们在整个过程中全面配合相关数据保护主管部门的工作，并将继续这么做，”该公司在一份声明中表示。

The Mountain View-based group has faced intense criticism for its privacy policy since it first moved to merge customer data held across its various services such as Gmail and YouTube, which alone holds the data of more than 1bn users.

总部位于加利福尼亚的谷歌，自开始合并多项服务(如电子邮件Gmail和视频网站YouTube)的客户数据以来，其隐私政策就一直受到强烈批评。仅YouTube就拥有逾10亿用户的数据。

The US group said its new privacy terms, which combine 60 former policies into one for all its customers, would allow it to provide a better service. Google Now, which provides intuitive updates based on calendar entries, location patterns and e-mails, is one example of a service making use of the new approach.

这家美国集团称，其新版隐私条款将以前的60项政策整合为一项面向所有客户的政策，使其能够提供更好的服务。基于日历条目、位置规律和电子邮件内容提供智能信息提示的Google Now，就是使用这种策的服务之一。

The case is being closely watched by several US tech companies and in particular Microsoft, which is currently being investigated by European regulators on issues relating to its online services.

谷歌一案受到数家美国科技公司的密切关注，尤其是微软(Microsoft)。微软正受到欧洲监管机构的调查，因为它以类似于谷歌的方式修改了隐私政策。