That's it, a string of letters and numbers that form a unique ID to help the site remember me.

一連串字母與數字，組成了讓網站可以辨識我的獨特身分號碼。

The sites you visit do this too—that's what all those pop-ups are telling you.

你拜訪的網站都會這樣，這就是那些彈出式視窗在告訴你的。

Cookies actually make our online world possible.

Cookie 其實組成了我們的網路世界。

But they also allow jeans to follow me around the Internet.

但它們也因此讓牛仔褲如影隨形地跟著我。

That's because cookies enable companies to band together to track and remember everything we do online.

這是因為 cookie 讓公司們可以聯合起來，追蹤並記住我們在網路做的每一件事。

And they've become the center of a war for our personal data.

而它們現在變成了一場關於個人資料的戰爭的中心。

I'm Lou Montulli.

我是 Lou Montulli。

And in the summer of 1994, I was the inventor of cookies.

在 1994 年的夏天，我創造了 cookie。

In 1994, Lou was a 23-year-old working at Netscape, where they were building what would become the dominant web browser of the decade.

當年，Lou 23 歲，在 Netscape 上班，他們在那裡嘗試創造出世上最多人使用的瀏覽器。

The broad problem I was trying to solve was to bring memory to the web.

當時最大的問題是，如何讓網站可以有記憶。

Every time you look at a different page, that's to the web server a completely different visit.

每次到一個頁面，網站都會以為你是不同人。

Imagine every time you add something to your cart and click away… it disappears.

想像一下，你加了東西到購物車，結果到另一個頁面，東西就不見了。

Or each time you load a new page on Facebook… you have to log in again.

或每次你開一個 Facebook 的網頁，都要重新登入一次。

Would it be fair to say that the experience of the web before cookies was a little bit like talking to Dory from "Finding Nemo"?

是不是可以很合理地說，沒有 cookie 之前的網路體驗，有點像是跟《海底總動員》裡的多莉講話？

Yeah.

對。

That Dory analogy is pretty apt here.

這個多莉的比喻用得很好。

See, I suffer from short-term memory loss.

聽著，我有失憶症。

Short-term memory loss...

失憶症...

Cookies solved that problem.

Cookie 解決了那個問題。

So if in particular you were looking for a set of blue suede shoes...

如果你在找一雙藍色麂皮皮鞋...

With each new click, the site recognizes the unique ID from the cookie stored on my browser.

每次的點擊，網站都會透過 cookie 存下的 ID 認得那是我。

And retains information like what I put in my cart, but also often my location, what else I click on, how much time I spend there, plus details I deliberately give it, like my email address.

並留下一些資訊：像是我放了什麼在購物車裡、我的位置、我還點了什麼、在網站上待了多久，還有一些我刻意留下的資訊，像是電子郵件帳號。

As I browse through the site, or even leave and come back, the cookies they added to my browser will tell them I'm the same visitor, not a different one.

在我瀏覽網站的時候，或是離開又回來時，cookie 會告訴那個網站說，這是同一個人，而不是陌生人。

Okay, so I should see that here, right? If I reload?

好，如果我重新整理，它會出現在這裡，對吧？

Yes.

沒錯。

Hey, wow!

嘿！哇！

Hey now, that is a lot of cookies there!

這裡有一堆 cookie 。

These are "first-party cookies" and over the last 20 years, they've allowed us to live more and more of our lives online.

這些是「第一方 cookie」，過去 20 年來，它們讓我們的網路生活更加便利。

It was really a great feeling to see people create things that we had never thought of.

這感覺真的很好，看人們以我們沒想過的方式創造事物。

But one of those things was a way to track us wherever we went next—like a news website, or social media.

但他們創造的其中一個東西，就是如影隨形的跟著我們的方法，無論是新聞網站或社群網站。

The same year Lou invented cookies, this appeared: the first digital banner ad.

就在 Lou 發明 cookie 的同一年，史上第一個網路橫幅廣告出現了。

Today, our online world runs on ads.

現在，網路世界充斥著廣告。

The buyers in this system are brands that want to sell products by placing ads in front of people who might purchase them.

廣告主為品牌，他們希望可以投放廣告給那些潛在的顧客。

And then you have platforms and publishers with audiences of people to show ads to, like Vox.

然後有平台、出版商等有一定觀眾，可以投放廣告的地方，就像 Vox。

In between, you have middlemen dedicated to making sure the ads from the brands are delivered to the right people.

這兩者中間還有一個中間人，他們會確保廣告是投放給正確的受眾。

Some companies play multiple roles.

某些公司一人飾演多個角色。

Facebook and Google are the biggest players because they have huge audiences and a huge amount of information they can use to target ads to you.

Facebook 與 Google 是最大的參與者，因為他們有大量的使用者，也有大量的資訊來投放廣告給你。

All these companies are incentivized to gather as much information about your online behavior as possible.

這些公司因此想方設法，來蒐集越多資訊越好。

But Lou designed cookies to be placed and retrieved only by the site you're on, so these companies are also incentivized to collaborate.

但 Lou 創造 cookie 是只為了讓你拜訪的網站保留與取得資訊，所以這些公司們，也學會了合作。

And one way they do that is with "third-party cookies."

而其中一個方法就是「第三方 cookie」。

Take another look at this list of cookies that shoe store gave me.

來看看那個鞋店給我的 cookie 有哪些。

This one, "fbp?"

這個，「fbp」。

That's for Facebook, which also owns Instagram.

這就是 Facebook，也是擁有 Instagram 的公司。

And this one?

這個呢？

That's for Google, which places ads on tons of websites, including Vox.

這則是 Google，投放了廣告在無數網站，包含 Vox，的公司。

Now this site can go to Facebook and Google and say: "show my ads to people you know visited my site in the last month."

這網站可以到 Facebook 與 Google 說，「把廣告投放給那些上個月有拜訪過我網站的人」。

And there I am.

也就是我。

What Lou didn't anticipate in 1994 was that websites would eventually be full of elements hosted by third parties.

Lou 在 1994 年時並沒有想到的是，網站們最終會充斥著第三方的元素。

And those elements can save their own cookies onto my browser.

且那些人，都可以在我的瀏覽器留下他們自己的 cookie。

Those cookies are created by the domain of the third party, who can then access the data from the site you're on but also from every site you visit that uses those same third party elements.

這些 cookie 是第三方的人所創造的，讓他們不但能從你正在瀏覽的網站上取得資料，只要是使用同一個第三方元素的網站，他們都能取得資料。

This is tracking.

這叫追蹤。

And it transformed our online world from one in which hundreds of companies knew a small amount about your online behavior, to one in which just a few companies can know it all.

這改變了網路世界，從只有少數公司能得知你的少量資訊，變成一些公司能知道你的一切。

Right now, this map of your activity is mostly used to serve you personalized ads.

目前，你的資訊大多用於投放個人化廣告給你。

But once it's collected, there's no getting it back.

但一但資料給出去，就拿不回來了。

In the last few years, some browsers have started to block third-party cookies by default.

過去幾年來，一些瀏覽器開始預設封鎖第三方 cookie。

Google's browser, Chrome, gives you the option if you look for it.

Google 的瀏覽器 Chrome，如果你去找，也可以把它關掉。

This makes it more difficult for the middlemen to know that the person who shopped for apartments on one site and bought medicine on another and looked for romance on another are all the same person.

這讓中間人更難去知道，買了棟房子的這個人、買藥的這人與尋求愛情的這人，其實都是同一人。

But companies incentivized by billions in ad dollars will always find a loophole.

但這些公司為了賺到廣告商的錢，總會找到漏洞。

They know you don't want to block first-party cookies, because then many sites wouldn't work.

他們知道，你不會想要封鎖第一方 cookie，因為如此許多網站就用不了了。

So companies like Google and Facebook can give sites a piece of code that looks like a first-party cookie, but that sends all the data to the third party anyway.

所以這些公司，像是 Google 與 Facebook，可以給這些網站一些代碼，看起來像第一方 cookie，但一樣把所有資料都傳給第三方。

Facebook calls their solution "Facebook Pixel."

Facebook 稱這個解決方法叫「Facebook 像素」。

Facebook Pixel.

Facebook 像素。

You can now use both first- and third-party cookies with your Facebook Pixel.

您現在可以在 Facebook Pixel 同時運用第一方及第三方 cookie。

This will allow you to reach more customers and be more accurate in measurement and reporting.

這使得您可以觸及到更多顧客，並在計算時更加精確。

And what this reads to me as is, "Don't worry, people can't turn this off.“

這段敘述在我看來就是：「別擔心，人們關不掉。」

Well, it makes it more difficult to turn off via third-party cookies, yes.

沒錯，它的確變得比較難關掉。

How do you feel about the way in which companies like Facebook have used the technology that you built?

看到像 Facebook 這樣的公司，用你的創造的技術做了這些事，你感覺如何？

I would say that the advertising-only business model has caused products to become less good than they could be.

我會說，這些僅靠廣告賺取收入的企業，會讓它們產品變得比原本能達成的較差一些。

As long as these companies have a common goal of showing you ads for things you're likely to buy, they'll be motivated to share information with each other… about you.

只要這些公司都有共同目標，也就是投放廣告給你，那他們就會繼續與彼此分享資訊，關於你的資訊。

And some of their new methods may be even sneakier than cookies.

而且他們的新方法，比 cookie 還要狡詐。

I've been saying this for a long time.

我已經說很久了。

There are billions if not trillions of dollars at stake and if we want to make substantial change to the methods in which tracking and advertising is done it's going to have to be done at a legislative level because otherwise we're just fighting a technological tit-for-tat war that will never end.

這是關於數百億兆的生意，如果我們真的想要對追蹤與投放廣告的方法做出重大的改變，只能從立法做起，不然就只會是一場永無止盡，科技專家一來一往的戰爭。

Especially because the companies best positioned to win that war are the tech giants that already have the most information about us, and have the most resources to find ways to get more.

尤其，在這場戰爭裡處於最佳位置的，是那些科技巨擘，他們已經擁有我們的大多資訊，且還有無數的資源來獲得更多。