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Congress showed the breadth of its investigation into the big tech companies on Friday,
周五，国会展示了调查大型科技企业的调查广度，
making a public demand for scores of documents, including the personal emails and other communications from dozens of top executives.
公开要求诸企业出示数十份文件，包括数十名高管的私人电子邮件和其他通信资料。
Republicans and Democrats alike on the House Judiciary Committee, which is investigating the market power and behavior of the companies,
众议院司法委员会正在调查诸企业市场影响力及其商业行为，该委员会的共和党人和民主党人不约而同地
sent letters directly to Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Tim Cook of Apple, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Larry Page of Google.
都给亚马逊的杰夫·贝佐斯、苹果的蒂姆·库克、Facebook的马克·扎克伯格和谷歌的拉里·佩奇写了信。
The requests called for all communications to and from eight executives at Amazon, 14 at Apple, 15 at Facebook and 14 at Google.
他们要求提供8名亚马逊高管、14名苹果高管、15名Facebook高管和14名谷歌高管往来的所有通信。
With the request, which was posted on the committee’s website,
委员会在其网站上公布了这一要求，
the lawmakers sent a not-so-subtle message that executives would be held responsible for the replies,
议员们还不那么隐晦地暗示道，高管们要对他们的回复负责，
and that the investigation would continue to play out publicly.
调查也将继续公开进行。
That has the potential of damaging the brands’ reputations.
委员会的这一举措或将损害到这些品牌的声誉。
The companies, once held up as beacons of American ingenuity and business acumen,
因为散布虚假信息、不尊重用户隐私以及想方设法避税，
have been under siege about spreading disinformation, failing to respect users’ privacy and maneuvering to minimize their taxes.
曾经被奉为美国创造力和商业智慧的灯塔的这些企业已经饱受指责。
In addition, President Trump and other Republicans accuse some of the companies of censoring conservative voices.
此外，特朗普总统等共和党人还指责一些企业审查保守派的声音。
Similar inquiries are underway at the Justice Department, at the Federal Trade Commission and by attorneys general of dozens of states.
司法部、联邦贸易委员会以及数十个州的总检察长也在开展类似的调查。
The investigations are just beginning in earnest.
调查才刚刚开始严肃起来。
How far they will go, what they will uncover and whether any allegations will stand up in court are all uncertain.
调查力度多大，揭露哪些问题，是否将指控，无论何种指控，放到法庭上解决，这些问题目前都还不确定。
But the investigations show the growing angst about the power of the tech companies, which for decades faced little regulation.
但调查暴露了人们对这些科技公司的实力的担忧已经越来越严重。数十年来，这些公司受到的监管几乎为零。
Now Silicon Valley’s influence on everything from how we vote to how we shop is readily apparent —
如今，显而易见的是，硅谷对我们的影响已经扩展到了包括投票方式和购物方式在内的方方面面——
and yet the technology driving it remains largely mysterious.
但在背后驱动它的技术在很大程度上依然是个谜。
“There is this great and growing dependence on technology that we don’t really understand,”
“我们对技术的依赖性越来越大，但我们并不真正了解这些技术，”
said A. Douglas Melamed, a former antitrust official in Justice Department. “And that frightens people.”
司法部前反垄断官员道格拉斯梅拉米德说到。“想想都让人觉得害怕。”
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
