2022年12月22日 VOA慢速英语：Fortnite Game Maker 因隐私和支付滥用行为支付 5.2 亿美元

 

The creator of video game Fortnite has agreed to pay a total of $520 million in government fines and repayments. A government agency that oversees trade accused Fortnite of illegally collecting children's private information and carrying out misleading sales methods.
视频游戏 Fortnite 的创建者已同意支付总计 5.2 亿美元的政府罚款和还款。一家监管贸易的政府机构指控《堡垒之夜》非法收集儿童的私人信息，并采取误导性的销售方式。
 
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced this week that it had reached an agreement with Epic Games to settle two cases against the company. The FTC is a federal agency that seeks to protect the public from deceptive business methods and unfair competition.
美国联邦贸易委员会 (FTC) 本周宣布，它已与 Epic Games 达成协议，就针对该公司的两起案件达成和解。FTC 是一个联邦机构，旨在保护公众免受欺骗性商业方法和不公平竞争的侵害。
 
The settlement requires Epic Games to pay a $275 million fine for collecting personal information on Fortnite players under the age of 13 without getting their permission or informing their parents.
和解协议要求 Epic Games 支付 2.75 亿美元的罚款，因为它在未获得 13 岁以下玩家许可或未通知其父母的情况下收集他们的个人信息。
 
Another part of the agreement seeks $245 million to be paid to Fortnite users who the FTC says were tricked into making unwanted purchases while playing the game.
该协议的另一部分要求向 Fortnite 用户支付 2.45 亿美元，联邦贸易委员会表示，这些用户在玩游戏时被诱骗进行了不必要的购买。
 
Epic Games released Fornite in 2017 and it has grown to become one of the most popular online video games. The FTC said in a news release that the game has more than 400 million players worldwide.
Epic Games 于 2017 年发布了 Fornite，它已发展成为最受欢迎的在线视频游戏之一。美国联邦贸易委员会在一份新闻稿中表示，该游戏在全球拥有超过 4 亿玩家。
 
Fornite is free to download and play. But players can pay for some additional elements, such as costumes and dance moves.
Fornite 可免费下载和播放。但玩家可以为一些额外的元素付费，例如服装和舞蹈动作。
 
The FTC accused Epic Games of using so-called "dark pattern" methods "to trick players into making unwanted purchases." Dark patterns are online tricks designed to get users to do something they might not have meant to do.
FTC 指责 Epic Games 使用所谓的“暗模式”方法“诱骗玩家进行不需要的购买”。黑暗模式是一种在线技巧，旨在让用户做一些他们可能不想做的事情。
 
The FTC said Epic's use of such methods included misleading button designs that led players to unknowingly make purchases.
FTC 表示，Epic 使用此类方法包括误导性按钮设计，导致玩家在不知不觉中进行购买。
 
For example, players could be charged while trying to wake the game from a sleeping state or while the game was still loading. Users could also be charged just by pressing buttons while trying to look at an object they might want to buy.
例如，玩家可能会在尝试将游戏从休眠状态唤醒时或游戏仍在加载时充电。用户也可以通过在尝试查看他们可能想要购买的物品时按下按钮来收费。
 
Such methods led to "hundreds of millions of dollars in unauthorized charges" for users, the FTC said.
FTC 表示，此类方法导致用户遭受“数亿美元的未经授权的收费”。

The privacy accusations involved the collection of personal information from children under age 13 who played Fortnite. The FTC said the data collection violated the agency's Children's Online Privacy Protections Rule, or COPPA. That rule sets requirements on operators of websites or online services directed at children under 13 years of age.
隐私指控涉及收集 13 岁以下玩过《堡垒之夜》的儿童的个人信息。FTC 表示，数据收集违反了该机构的儿童在线隐私保护规则 (COPPA)。该规则对针对 13 岁以下儿童的网站或在线服务的运营商提出了要求。
 
The FTC said its investigation found that Epic knew many children were playing Fortnite and that it collected personal information from them without getting parental permission. In addition, the agency said Epic required "unreasonable" methods for parents requesting that their children's personal information be removed.
美国联邦贸易委员会表示，其调查发现 Epic 知道很多孩子在玩《堡垒之夜》，并且在没有获得父母许可的情况下收集了他们的个人信息。此外，该机构表示，Epic要求父母以“不合理”的方式要求删除孩子的个人信息。
 
Epic also violated another FTC rule by turning on real-time voice and text communications for children and teenagers by default, the agency said. This violation could result in children and teens being connected online with strangers to play Fortnite together.
该机构表示， Epic 还默认为儿童和青少年开启实时语音和文本通信，这违反了另一项 FTC 规定。这种违规行为可能会导致儿童和青少年与陌生人在线联系，一起玩《堡垒之夜》。
 
This action "harmed" children and teens, the FTC said. In some cases, children and teens were subjected to bullying and threatening behavior while playing Fortnite, the agency added.
FTC 表示，这一行为“伤害”了儿童和青少年。该机构补充说，在某些情况下，儿童和青少年在玩《堡垒之夜》时会受到欺凌和威胁行为。
 
The FTC said Epic employees had expressed concerns as early as 2017 about Fortnite's default settings.
FTC 表示，Epic 员工早在 2017 年就对《堡垒之夜》的默认设置表示担忧。
 
Epic said in a statement it had agreed to accept the FTC settlement because it wants "to be at the forefront of (user) protection and provide the best experience for our players." The company said, "No developer creates a game with the intention of ending up here."
Epic在一份声明中表示，它已同意接受 FTC 和解，因为它希望“站在（用户）保护的最前沿，并为我们的玩家提供最佳体验。” 该公司表示，“没有开发者创造一款游戏是为了结束这里。”
 
Epic said it had already taken steps to improve the design of its payment system "to provide the largest amount of clarity" to players making purchase decisions. "Games should go above and beyond to make sure players even more clearly understand when they are making a purchase" with real or digital money to prevent accidental purchases, the company said.
Epic 表示，它已经采取措施改进其支付系统的设计，以“为做出购买决定的玩家提供最大程度的清晰度”。该公司表示，“游戏应该超越并确保玩家更清楚地了解他们何时使用真实或数字货币进行购买”，以防止意外购买。
 
To protect children, Epic said it had increased the number of parental controls in the game. It also said it created a new kind of account for players under 13 that disables some parts of the game, including communications and in-game purchases.
为了保护儿童，Epic 表示已经增加了游戏中家长控制的数量。它还表示，它为 13 岁以下的玩家创建了一种新的帐户，可以禁用游戏的某些部分，包括通信和游戏内购买。