2020年经济学人 技术行业在危机中的机会(2)

If that happens, the odds¹ are that regulators will do little or nothing to stop a round of consolidation². In America antitrust investigations³ against Alphabet, Google’s parent, and Facebook have essentially⁴ been put on hold, as officials deal with other priorities and refrain from destabilising firms during a crisis. A new federal privacy law seems further away than ever. Even tech sceptics in the European Union want to rethink their approach to regulating artificial intelligence (AI). In an abrupt⁵ twist, “surveillance capitalism”, as critics call big tech’s business practices, is no longer seen as exploitative, but essential to tackle the virus. And no one is complaining about Facebook and Google zealously⁶ taking down misinformation about covid-19, and increasingly relying on ai to do so. Yet, before the pandemic, such activity would have triggered howls of outrage⁷ over censorship and bias⁸.

如果出现这种情况，监管机构很可能不会采取什么措施来阻止一轮整合。在美国，针对谷歌的母公司Alphabet和Facebook的反垄断调查基本上已被搁置，因为官员们要处理其他优先事项，并避免在危机期间破坏公司的稳定。一项新的联邦隐私法似乎比以往任何时候都要遥远。就连欧盟的科技怀疑论者也想重新思考他们监管人工智能的方法。突然间，批评人士所称的大型科技企业的商业行为——“监控资本主义”——不再被视为剥削性的，而是对付病毒的必要手段。没有人抱怨Facebook和谷歌热心地删除关于covid-19的错误信息，并越来越依赖人工智能来做到这一点。然而，在疫情之前，这样的行为会引发人们对审查制度和偏见的愤怒。

In fact, more than ever it is clear that big tech firms act as vital utilities. Therein lies the trap, because almost everywhere other utilities, such as water or electricity, are heavily regulated and have their prices and profits capped. Once this crisis passes, startled citizens and newly emboldened⁹ governments could make a push for the state to have similar control over big tech.

事实上，比以往任何时候都更明显的是，大型科技公司扮演着至关重要的公用事业角色。这其中存在着一个陷阱，因为几乎所有地方的其他公共事业设备，比如水或电，都受到严格的监管，其价格和利润都有上限。一旦这场危机过去，受到惊吓的民众和新近变得大胆的政府可能会推动政府对大型科技企业拥有类似的控制权。

The companies seem to sense this danger. Their best defence is to propose a new deal to the citizens of the world. That means clear and verifiable rules on how they publish and moderate content, helping¹⁰ users own, control and profit from their own data; as well as fair treatment of competitors that use their platforms. This approach may even be more profitable in the long run. Today the most valuable firm in America is Microsoft, which has been revived by building a reputation for being trustworthy. It is an example that the other big tech platforms—or digital utilities, as they are about to become known—should follow.

这些公司似乎意识到了这种危险。其最佳防卫就是向世界公民提出一个新协议。这意味着要对用户发布和调节内容的方式制定明确和可验证的规则，帮助用户拥有、控制并从自己的数据中获利；并公平对待使用其平台的竞争对手。从长远来看，这种方法甚至可能更有利可图。如今在美国最有价值的公司是微软，微软通过打造可信赖声誉而重振活力。这是其他大型技术平台——或者说即将为人所知的数字公用事业——应该效仿的一个例子。

1 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

2 consolidation   

n.合并,巩固

参考例句：

• The denser population necessitates closer consolidation both for internal and external action. 住得日益稠密的居民，对内和对外都不得不更紧密地团结起来。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• The state ensures the consolidation and growth of the state economy. 国家保障国营经济的巩固和发展。 来自汉英非文学 - 中国宪法

3 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

4 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

5 abrupt   

adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的

参考例句：

• The river takes an abrupt bend to the west.这河突然向西转弯。
• His abrupt reply hurt our feelings.他粗鲁的回答伤了我们的感情。

6 zealously   

adv.热心地；热情地；积极地；狂热地

参考例句：

• Of course the more unpleasant a duty was, the more zealously Miss Glover performed it. 格洛弗小姐越是对她的职责不满意，她越是去积极执行它。 来自辞典例句
• A lawyer should represent a client zealously within the bounds of the law. 律师应在法律范围内热忱为当事人代理。 来自口语例句

7 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

8 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

9 emboldened   

v.鼓励，使有胆量( embolden的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Emboldened by the wine, he went over to introduce himself to her. 他借酒壮胆，走上前去向她作自我介绍。
• His success emboldened him to expand his business. 他有了成就因而激发他进一步扩展业务。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。