经济学人:科技公司的收购与兼并(2)

 To ensure that the platforms do not favour their own products, oversight¹ groups could be set up to deliberate on complaints from rivals— 要确保平台不偏袒自己的产品，可以设立监督小组来审议对手的投诉，

a bit like the independent “technical committee” created by the antitrust case against Microsoft in 2001. Immunity² to content liability must go, too. 这有点像2001年针对微软反垄断案成立的独立“技术委员会”。对内容免责的豁免也必须取消。

Second, trustbusters need to think afresh about how tech markets work.  其次，反垄断机构需要重新思考科技市场的运作方式。

A central insight, one increasingly discussed among economists³ and regulators, is that personal data are the currency in which customers actually buy services. 经济学家和监管机构讨论的越来越多的一个重要见解是，消费者实际上是用个人数据作为货币来购买服务的。

Through that prism, the tech titans receive valuable information—on their users’ behaviour, friends and purchasing habits—in return for their products.  从这个角度看，科技巨头通过产品获得了关于用户行为、人际关系和购买习惯的宝贵信息。

Just as America drew up sophisticated rules about intellectual property in the 19th century,  美国在19世纪制定了有关知识产权的复杂规则，同样，

so it needs a new set of laws to govern the ownership and exchange of data, with the aim of giving solid rights to individuals. 现在它需要一套新的法律来管理数据的所有权和交换，好让个人能切实掌握自己的权利。

In essence this means giving people more control over their information.  这实质上是让人们更好地控制自己的信息。

If a user so desires, key data should be made available in real time to other firms—as banks in Europe are now required to do with customers’ account information.  如果用户有需要，关键数据就应实时提供给其他公司，现在欧洲的银行在处理客户账户信息方面就被要求做到这一点。

Regulators could oblige platform firms to make anonymised bulk data available to competitors, in return for a fee, a bit like the compulsory⁴ licensing⁵ of a patent. 监管机构可以要求平台公司向竞争对手提供匿名的批量数据，换取一定的费用，有点像专利的强制许可。

Such data-sharing requirements could be calibrated⁶ to firms’ size: the bigger platforms are, the more they have to share.  这种数据共享要求可以根据企业的规模作调整：企业越大，要共享的数据就越多。

These mechanisms⁷ would turn data from something titans hoard⁸, to suppress competition, into something users share, to foster innovation. 这些做法能把巨头为了抑制竞争而囤积的数据变成可供用户分享、促进创新的数据。

None of this will be simple, but it would tame the titans without wrecking⁹ the gains they have brought.  这些事做起来都不容易，但能让科技巨头收敛，同时又不破坏它们带来的好处。

Users would find it easier to switch between services.  用户转换服务也会更容易。

Upstart competitors would have access to some of the data that larger firms hold and thus be better equipped to grow to maturity¹⁰ without being gobbled up.  崛起的竞争对手可以获得大公司持有的部分数据，从而更有可能成长壮大而不是被吞并。

And shareholders¹¹ could no longer assume monopoly profits for decades to come. 股东们则再也不能指望未来几十年都获得垄断利润了。

 

1 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

2 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。

3 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 compulsory   

n.强制的，必修的；规定的，义务的

参考例句：

• Is English a compulsory subject?英语是必修课吗？
• Compulsory schooling ends at sixteen.义务教育至16岁为止。

5 licensing   

v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A large part of state regulation consists of occupational licensing. 大部分州的管理涉及行业的特许批准。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• That licensing procedures for projects would move faster. 这样的工程批准程序一定会加快。 来自辞典例句

6 calibrated   

v.校准( calibrate的过去式和过去分词 )；使标准化；使合标准；测量（枪的）口径

参考例句：

• Power pesticide dusters can be calibrated and used to apply pertilizer. 动力杀虫剂可以调整用来施肥。 来自辞典例句
• The flexible diaphragm is connected to a plat cantilever-calibrated spring. 柔韧的膜片一扁平的悬臂校正弹簧相连。 来自辞典例句

7 mechanisms   

n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 )；机械装置；[生物学] 机制；机械作用

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms. 这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He explained how the two mechanisms worked. 他解释这两台机械装置是如何工作的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 hoard   

n./v.窖藏，贮存，囤积

参考例句：

• They have a hoard of food in the basement.地下室里有他们贮藏的食物。
• How many curios do you hoard in your study?你在你书房里聚藏了多少古玩？

9 wrecking   

破坏

参考例句：

• He teed off on his son for wrecking the car. 他严厉训斥他儿子毁坏了汽车。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Instead of wrecking the valley, the waters are put to use making electricity. 现在河水不但不在流域内肆疟，反而被人们用来生产电力。 来自辞典例句

10 maturity   

n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期

参考例句：

• These plants ought to reach maturity after five years.这些植物五年后就该长成了。
• This is the period at which the body attains maturity.这是身体发育成熟的时期。

11 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任