微软抹黑谷歌再出新花样

    针对微软公司（Microsoft）发起的反谷歌（Google）活动“Scroogled”，多数人都持反对意见，程度之高令人咂舌。科技网站Verge称这一活动为“散布恐慌情绪” 。

    这个活动告诉互联网用户，谷歌通过“解读”他们电子邮件中的数据，对他们进行“Scroogled”，以便更精准地投放广告。实际上，谷歌公司并没有专人去读用户的 电子邮件（至少这并不是明文规定的做法）——读解是由软件完成的。广告会根据用户邮件里的关键词来向进行定向投放。有几项调查发现，多数人对此并不知情，而一旦他们了 解到这一点，就会颇感困扰。不管这种担忧是否有依据，它却正是微软之流要别有用心地（毕竟它是通过广告的方式来做的）大肆利用的一种心理。

    但作为该活动的一个环节，微软还利用了由大型生活类社区Care2运营的旨在推动社会事业的倡议网站。为此，微软在Facebook和Twitter上大发广告，倡议人们在一份 所谓的“告诉谷歌别再通过邮件卖广告”的倡议书上签字。

    结果，Care2现在开始考虑修改服务条款，以避免其他公司仿效微软，为了商业目的利用这个网站。

    微软这份倡议书的一部分是这样写的：“谷歌通过侵犯您的隐私来牟利。他们会逐字逐句解读您的私人Gmail邮箱，以便向您定向投放广告。每封邮件的每个字都不放 过。哪怕是最私密的邮件也不例外。您还不觉得隐私受到了侵犯吗？”随后就开始兜售微软自己的电邮服务：“在Outlook，尊重您的隐私是我们的头等大事。但即使您不用Gmail ，只要您的收件人用，谷歌还是会查阅这些邮件来兜售广告。根本就别想躲得过去——不管您到底用不用Gmail。”

    从技术上来说，这些描述属实，但“他们”及“细读”这类字眼会让人想象出一幅谷歌员工查阅人们电邮的情景。哪怕Gmail用户明知不是这么回事，听起来还是够可 怕的。

    微软并未隐瞒自己是幕后主使的事实，但它也并没有刻意宣扬自己的身份。关于请愿的广告根本就没有提到微软或是Outlook。

    Care2网站负责社论及活动倡议的副总裁乔•贝克称：“这件事真让我们头疼。它绝对是快突破我们的底线了。”最后，这家网站决定，尽管这次请愿明显是广告活动的 一部分，“但至少（微软）曾经有机会让这次请愿成为真正的‘活动倡议’，”贝克表示。

    Care2自称为一家“可信的社会活动网络”，致力于通过推广“积极向上的社会事业”，如“绿色生活方式，保健，人权及其他活动”来“让世界变得更美好”。而微 软这次别有用心、完全称得上是自私自利的广告活动似乎最适合归入“其他活动”这个范畴。Care2的服务条款规定，“除在专门设定的特定区域（如购物区），”用户不允许“上 传，发布，电邮，传播或用其他方式让人获取任何未经许可或未经授权的广告、推广材料。‘垃圾邮件’、‘连环信’、‘传销材料’或任何形式的询价信息。”

    贝克称：“以前我们确实从来没见过这样的广告形式。”就算有些公司有时候会在这个网站上发布明显是为了推广自己的倡议书，但它们往往不会像微软这么露骨地唯 利是图，而且到目前为止，也确实有助于推动一些社会事业，比如曾有一家专事保健推广的公司发布过一则关于防治中风的倡议书。贝克表示，Scroogled出现之后，“我们就开始 考虑是不是要修改服务条款了”。

    去年7月，微软聘用了民主党的政治运作高手马克•佩恩来负责营销战略。很多人认为，他正是这次Scroogled活动的幕后推手。

    微软并未就评论此次事件的要求作出回应。最新情况是：一位微软的发言人称，公司上周四就发送了一封回应邮件，但不知何故，这封邮件始终没人收到过。上周五晚 些时候，该发言人发送了一份由在线服务高级总监斯蒂芬•维尔茨所作的声明：“本次倡议的主题就是电子邮件的隐私保护问题，该倡议发出的几天内就有6,000人表示认可。访问 我们网站的人数已超过50万，上万人已试用了Outlook的服务。可见，这是一个大众十分关注的、严肃的公共政治问题。”微软的目标是，为本次倡议征集到25,000个签名。（财富中文网）

    译者：清远

    The main reaction to Microsoft's "Scroogled" ad campaign against Google has been surprise at the level of negativity."Fearmongering," The Verge calls it.

    The campaign tells Internet users that they're being "scroogled" by Google's practice of "reading" data contained in emails to target ads at them. Of course, nobody at Google actually reads anybody's email (at least, not as a matter of policy) -- it's all done with software. Ads are directed at users based on keywords found in their email. Several surveys have found that most people don't know that, and when they hear it, they find it disturbing. Whether that fear is well-founded or not, it's what Microsoft, somewhat disingenuously (it is advertising after all), is exploiting.

    But as part of the campaign, Microsoft (MSFT) is also exploiting the cause-oriented petition site run by Care2. Microsoft has plastered both Facebook (FB) and Twitter with ads directing people to sign a petition there titled "Tell Google to stop going through your email to sell ads."

    As a result, Care2 is now considering changing the terms of its service to prevent companies from using the site for commercial purposes.

    The petition reads in part: "Google earns money by violating your privacy. They go through every word of your personal Gmail so they can target you with ads. Every word of every email. Even the most private ones. Do you feel violated yet?" And it goes on to tout Microsoft's own email service: "At Outlook, we prioritize your privacy. But even if you don't use Gmail, Google will still go through emails you send to someone who does in order to sell ads. There is absolutely no way to opt out -- whether you're a Gmail user or not."

    All technically true, although words and phrases like "they" and "go through" conjure images of Google (GOOG) employees reading people's email. Even if Gmail users know that's not the case, it still sounds scary.

    Microsoft isn't hiding the fact that it's behind the petition, but it's also not playing up its identity. The ads pointing to the petition don't mention Microsoft or Outlook at all.

    "We really scratched our heads over this one," said Joe Baker, Care2's vice president of editorial and advocacy. "It was pretty close to the line." In the end, the site decided that even though the petition is clearly part of an ad campaign, there was "at least a case [Microsoft] could make" that the petition was "advocacy," Baker said.

    Care2 calls itself a "trusted social action network" that is dedicated to helping "make the world a better place" by promoting "good causes" such as "green living, health, human rights, and more." Microsoft's rather nasty and entirely self-serving ad campaign seems to fit best in the "and more" category. According to Care2's terms of service, users are not allowed to "upload, post, email, transmit, or otherwise make available any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, 'junk mail,' 'spam,' 'chain letters,' 'pyramid schemes,' or any other form of solicitation, except in those areas (such as shopping rooms) that are designated for such purposes."

    "We've really never seen anything like this before," Baker said. While companies sometimes launch petitions on the site that clearly help them promote themselves, those petitions usually are less obviously mercenary than Microsoft's and have until now always actually promoted some social cause, as when a health-oriented firm posted a petition having to do with stroke prevention. In the wake of the Scroogled petition, "we're thinking about whether we should change our terms," Baker said.

    Microsoft in July hired Mark Penn, a top Democratic political operative, to help with marketing strategy. He is widely believed to be behind the Scroogled campaign.

    Microsoft has not responded to a request for comment. Update: A Microsoft spokesman says the company emailed a response to a request for comment on Thursday, but for some unknown reason, that email was never received. Late Friday, the spokesman forwarded this statement from Stefan Weitz, senior director of online services: "Privacy of email services is a fair subject for a petition, and 6,000 people have said so in just a few days. Over 500,000 people have visited our website and tens of thousands have tried Outlook.com. It is a serious public policy issue a lot of people care about." The company's goal is to reach 25,000 signatures.