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The European Commission’s antitrust investigation of Google is a test of the continent’s ability to reverse the invisible conquest of its sovereignty. Much of the fault lies with the commission’s own unimaginative technology policy, for which an episode of Google-bashing is no substitute.
欧盟委员会(European Commission)对谷歌(Google)的反垄断调查，将检验其是否有能力扭转自身权力受到无形侵犯的情况。大部分过错在于欧盟委员会自身缺乏想象力的科技政策，打压谷歌抵消不了这个问题。
The “extended search” features that are at the centre of the commission’s complaint save us a few clicks and cut out a few middlemen. Search for “weather”, and Google will now show the forecast itself instead of sending us off to another site. Google says it is being helpful. Who could disagree?
让欧盟委员会感到不满的核心问题是谷歌的“延伸搜索”功能，它让我们省去几次点击，减少几个中间人。搜索“天气”时，谷歌现在将直接显示天气预报，而不是引导我们去别的网站。谷歌表示，这么做是有益的。谁能反对呢？
But the search engine is going further. To truly anticipate our needs, the company wants to know our habits, schedules, social circles. So it is planting sensors wherever they might pick up the faintest trace of our aura. First they popped up in our inboxes, which Google continuously scans in order to sell advertising. Next it was our smartphones, glasses and thermostats. Soon it will be our cars. The ultimate step would be to abolish the search box altogether, and try to satisfy our information needs before we have even expressed them. Google’s Eric Schmidt once described this approach as a “serendipity engine”, arguing that this is the future of search.
但这家搜索引擎公司还要走得更远。为了正确预知我们的需求，谷歌公司想掌握我们的习惯、日程和社交圈。所以，谷歌在所有能捕捉到我们一丝一毫气息的地方安置传感器。最开始，谷歌会在我们的收件箱里冒出来，那是谷歌在连续扫描，为的是销售广告。接着是我们的智能手机、眼镜和自动调温器。很快就会轮到我们的汽车。最后一步将是完全取消搜索框，努力满足我们甚至尚未表达出来的信息需求。谷歌的埃里克•施密特(Eric Schmidt)曾把这种特色称为“巧遇引擎”(serendipity engine)，声称这就是搜索的未来。
This is the vision that already informs Google Now, Google’s flagship virtual assistant – available on smartphones and in the Chrome browser – which draws on all the information at Google’s disposal. It provides traffic information, reminds users of upcoming travel reservations, announces trendy restaurants nearby, shows film listings at local cinemas, and much else. Such insights are possible because Google studies our search habits, tracks our emails, and understands our location. The company argues that, far from occupying a dominant position, it is a sitting duck for any start-up that comes up with a better algorithm. But in truth, it is Google’s vast repository of data that sets it apart – and here it has such a big head start that no competitor is likely to catch up.
这一设想已在可下载于智能手机和Chrome浏览器的谷歌旗舰虚拟助手——Google Now——中有所体现。该服务可以让一切信息为谷歌所用。它能提供路况信息，提醒用户即将到来的旅行预订，告诉他们附近的时尚饭店，显示当地电影院的放映单，等等。它之所以具备这种预见能力，是因为谷歌研究我们的搜索习惯，追踪我们的电邮，掌握我们所处位置。谷歌声称自己绝对没有占据支配地位，任何一家研究出更好算法的初创企业都能对其构成致命冲击。但事实上，谷歌掌握的海量数据让它与众不同，它在这方面拥有如此巨大的领先优势，以致没有哪家竞争对手可能追上它。
Still, if there is a problem with Google’s ambitions, the commission has yet to put its finger on it. That is because Europe has come under the spell of American neoliberalism, with its unashamed celebration of monopolies in the name of consumer welfare and market efficiency. It is time to recover the almost-forgotten language of politics, and treat users as citizens first and consumers second.
尽管如此，如果说谷歌的雄心壮志有什么问题的话，欧盟委员会还没有确切地指出来。这是因为，欧洲已被美国的新自由主义所迷惑了——新自由主义打出消费者福祉和市场效率的幌子，厚颜无耻地赞美垄断。现在是时候找出几乎被忘记的政治语言，首先把用户当公民对待、然后再把他们当消费者对待了。
The dangers are real. By coupling advertising with the pre-emptive possibilities of its serendipity engine, Google could turn citizens into automata, who entertain an illusion of free will while living in a world of options, nudges and suggestions generated by autonomous algorithms optimised for profit alone.
危险是真实存在的。谷歌把广告与“巧遇引擎”先知先觉的种种可能结合起来，就可能把公民变成机器人——他们将一方面沉浸在自由意志的幻觉中，另一方面却生活在一个由选项、推送和建议组成的世界里，而这些选项、推送和建议是由仅为盈利目的而优化的自主算法生成的。
It is also shortsighted to allow Google to guard the key to a trove of user data that could do immense good if, once suitably cleaned up and anonymised, it were placed in public hands.
允许谷歌保管用户数据宝库的钥匙也是短视的。一旦这些数据进行适当清理并隐去姓名，然后交到公众手中，就可能会带来巨大好处。
Google is not the ideal information intermediary and it might be making it harder for better ones to emerge. This should prompt greater regulatory scrutiny of its power, but that alone will not suffice. A pressing task for Brussels is to create the conditions in which a strong and genuinely European alternative for information-sharing – and not just another Google but with an EU address – can thrive.
谷歌不是理想的信息中介，它可能让更好的信息中介的出现变得更困难。为此监管机构应加大对谷歌权力的审查力度，但仅靠这一点还不够。欧盟委员会的一项紧迫任务，是创造条件，让一家实力强大、真正欧洲的信息共享机构——而不是仅仅一家注册于欧盟地区、但跟谷歌一样的公司——能够成长壮大。
It can start by ramping up investment in digital infrastructure – in a way that does not channel more money to national telecoms monopolies or homegrown Google-wannabes. Instead, Europe should support (and, if needed, create) digital platforms that are decentralised and advertising-free, that provide privacy and security by design, and that treat data as a way to promote public good.
欧洲最开始可以增加在数字基础设施方面的投资——在此过程中不要把更多资金引导至国家电信垄断企业或本土那些希望成为谷歌的公司。相反，欧洲应当支持（并创建，如有必要的话）一些数字平台，它们具有分散化、无广告的特点，注重隐私保护和安全措施，把数据用于增进公众利益的目的。
This a daunting task. There are few signs that Europe can handle it. So far, it is in China and Russia that alternative visions – spurred by fears of foreign espionage – have emerged, though in a way that pays scant respect to privacy.
这是一项十分艰巨的任务。目前几乎没有迹象显示欧洲能办到这一点。迄今为止，仅在中国和俄罗斯出现了类似谷歌的公司——动因是担心来自外国的间谍活动——尽管其业务模式几乎毫不尊重个人隐私。
Unless it rethinks its reliance on Silicon Valley, Europe risks being left behind – politically, technologically and economically. For the incoming European Commission this is an existential challenge. Punching Google might be fun and it probably has to be done. But that should be the beginning of the story, not the end.
除非欧洲反思一下其对硅谷的依赖，否则可能在政治、技术和经济方面居于落后地位。对于欧盟委员会的新领导班子而言，这是一个事关存亡的挑战。打压谷歌可能很有趣，而且很可能必须这么做。但这应当是故事的开头，而不是结尾。
