2014年9月4/6日雅思閱讀終極預測

2014年9月4/6日雅思閱讀終極預測

Selling Digital Music without Copy-protection Makes Sense
 
　　1.It was uncharacteristically low-key for the industry's greatest showman. But the essay published this week by Steve Jobs, the boss of Apple, on his firm’s website under the unassuming title"Thoughts on Music" has nonetheless provoked a vigorous debate about the future of digital music, which Apple dominates with its iPod music-player and iTunes music-store. At issue is"digital rights management"(DRM)—the technology guarding downloaded music against theft. Since there is no common standard for DRM, it also has the side-effect that songs purchased for one type of music-player may not work on another. Apple's DRM system, called FairPlay, is the most widespread. So it came as a surprise when Mr. Jobs called for DRM for digital music to be abolished.
 
　　2.This is a change of tack for Apple. It has come under fire from European regulators who claim that its refusal to license FairPlay to other firms has"locked in" customers. Since music from the iTunes store cannot be played on non-iPod music-players(at least not without a lot of fiddling), any iTunes buyer will be deterred from switching to a device made by a rival firm, such as Sony or Microsoft. When French lawmakers drafted a bill last year compelling Apple to open up FairPlay to rivals, the company warned of"state-sponsored piracy". Only DRM, it implied, could keep the pirates at bay.
 
　　3.This week Mr. Jobs gave another explanation for his former defence of DRM: the record companies made him do it. They would make their music available to the iTunes store only if Apple agreed to protect it using DRM. They can still withdraw their catalogues if the DRM system is compromised. Apple cannot license FairPlay to others, says Mr Jobs, because it would depend on them to produce security fixes promptly. All DRM does is restrict consumer choice and provide a barrier to entry, says Mr Jobs; without it there would be far more stores and players, and far more innovation. So, he suggests, why not do away with DRM and sell music unprotected?"This is clearly the best alternative for consumers," he declares,"and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat."
 
　　4.Why the sudden change of heart? Mr Jobs seems chiefly concerned with getting Europe's regulators off his back. Rather than complaining to Apple about its use of DRM, he suggests,"those unhappy with the current situation should redirect their energies towards persuading the music companies to sell their music DRM-free." Two and a half of the four big record companies, he helpfully points out, are European-owned. Mr Jobs also hopes to paint himself as a consumer champion. Apple resents accusations that it has become the Microsoft of digital music.
 
　　5.Apple can afford to embrace open competition in music players and online stores. Consumers would gravitate to the best player and the best store, and at the moment that still means Apple's. Mr Jobs is evidently unfazed by rivals to the iPod. Since only3% of the music in a typical iTunes library is protected, most of it can already be used on other players today, he notes.(And even the protected tracks can be burned onto a CD and then re-ripped.) So Apple's dominance evidently depends far more on branding and ease of use than DRM-related"lock in".
 
　　6.The music giants are trying DRM-free downloads. Lots of smaller labels already sell music that way. Having seen which way the wind is blowing, Mr Jobs now wants to be seen not as DRM's defender, but as a consumer champion who helped in its downfall. Wouldn't it lead to a surge in piracy? No, because most music is still sold unprotected on CDs, people wishing to steal music already can do so. Indeed, scrapping DRM would probably increase online-music sales by reducing confusion and incompatibility. With the leading online store, Apple would benefit most. Mr Jobs's argument, in short, is transparently self-serving. It also happens to be right.

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　　Hackers target the home front
 
　　1. One of the UK's leading banks has been forced to admit that organised hacking gangs have been targeting its executives. For the past year, Royal Bank of Scotland has been fighting systematic attempts to break into its computer systems from hackers who have sent personalised emails containing keyloggers to its senior management. This has included executives up to board level and is now the subject of a separate investigation by the Serious and Organised Crime Agency.
 
　　2. The hackers are homing in on the trend for people to work from home. The hackers make the assumption that the computers being used outside the work environment are more vulnerable than those protected by a corporate IT department.
 
　　Growing threat
 
　　1. For companies it is a growing threat as home working increases: a recent survey from the Equal Opportunities Commission found that more than60% of the UK's population wants the option of flexible working.
 
　　2. And the hackers are employing increasingly sophisticated techniques. Each email they send is meticulously built to make it attractive to its target, who the criminals have carefully researched by trawling the internet for information. Once the email is composed, the malware is just as carefully designed: it is often modified to avoid detection by security software.

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3. The keylogger contained in the email installs itself automatically and then collects details of logins and passwords from the unsuspecting user. This means that hackers can, using the usernames and passwords stolen by the keyloggers, connect to VPNs, or Virtual Private Networks, which many companies use to create an encrypted pathway into their networks.

4. According to Mark Sunner, chief technology officer of Messagelabs, the number of malicious emails targeted at individuals has been increasing. Two years ago they were being seen once every two months, but now they are seeing one or two a day. This has been accompanied by an increase in quality in the creation of Trojans and spyware.

　　5."The hackers are now aiming to take over computers, particularly those of home users. Some of the malicious software that we are routinely seeing for that purpose will have its own antivirus system built into it so that they can kill off the programs of their competitors."
 
　　6. Once inside a bank's network, the hackers can communicate directly with computers holding account information and manipulate funds.
 
　　7. Has this actually happened? In some cases sources claim that the login details of VPNs have been obtained and used though there has been no confirmation that any losses have occurred as a result. The attacks are not believed to have focused on RBS but to have been across the whole of the banking industry.
 
　　8. Royal Bank of Scotland said that the bank had suffered no losses as a result of the attacks and added:"RBS has extremely robust processes in place in order to protect our systems from fraud. Trojan email attacks are an industry-wide issue and are not isolated to a particular area or a particular bank."
 
　　9. It is not just banks that have been targets. Last year attempts were made to steal information from the Houses of Parliament using malicious email. Messagelabs, the company responsible for monitoring much of the email traffic of the government and big business for suspect software, said at the beginning of the year that criminals have been evolving more sophisticated techniques to attack corporate networks.　　

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Increased vigilance
 
　　1. Tony Neate, the head of Get Safe Online, a government-funded organisation set up to raise awareness among UK businesses of computer criminals, says:"There is now an attempt to target individuals within UK businesses- including the banking sector. What is happening is that crime is doing what it always does, which is look for the weakest link. Home working is where they perceive a weakness.
 
　　2."This points to a need for increased vigilance and security by those working from home and by those responsible for letting them work from home. For home working to be effective, security needs to be as effective as if working in an office."

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