这是发生在今年年初的事,许多曾经从网络下载一个叫做david.exe的程序的网络使用者发现他们收到了暴增的电话费帐单。原因是:这个程序竟然偷偷切断了这些人电脑与ISP(网络服务提供商)之间的连线,自行转接到一条来自东欧的电话线,再连上Internet,每分钟的费用高达3美元。美国《时代》周刊最近也以电脑网络入侵个人隐私做封面专题,并指出:世纪末人类正面临隐私权消失的危机。电脑网络也许不会像欧威尔小说《一九八四》中的老大哥,一夜之间占领你的身份;但它可能假扮友善的小兄弟,一步步、一点点地侵入你我的私人领域中。科技记者约书亚·奎特纳本身是时代华纳集团信息网站Pathfinder的新闻主编,可是连他也曾有无故被人恶作剧的经验。他家的电话号码被人转接到外地的一台电话答录机,所有打来找他的人都信以为真地留了话,包括他母亲在内。 This was what happened earlier this year, and many web users who downloaded a program called david.exe from the web found that they had received a surge in telephone bills. The reason: The program actually secretly cut off the connection between these people’s computers and the ISP (Internet Service Provider), and switched to a phone line from Eastern Europe to connect with the Internet at a cost of up to US $ 3 per minute. Recently, the U.S. “Time” magazine invaded personal privacy as a cover feature in recent days and pointed out: At the end of the century, mankind is facing a crisis of disappearing privacy. The computer network may not occupy your identity overnight, as the eldest brother of Orwell’s novel “1984”; but it may disguise as a friendly little brother, a little bit further into your personal area in. Joshua Quitner, a science journalist, is the chief editor of Pathfinder, a Time Warner group information portal, but even he has had some experience of being mischievous. The phone number in his home was redirected to an answering machine in the field, and all those who came to see him believed that he really was staying, including his mother.