美国国家公共电台 NPR Microsoft President: Democracy Is At Stake. Regulate Big Tech

Microsoft President: Democracy Is At Stake. Regulate Big Tech

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Regulate us, please. That is the unexpected message from one of the country's leading tech executives. In his new book, the president of Microsoft argues that governments need to put some guardrails around engineers and the tech titans they serve. NPR's Aarti Shahani spoke¹ with him at Microsoft headquarters. And we should note Microsoft is an NPR sponsor.

AARTI SHAHANI, BYLINE²: Microsoft is not in the crosshairs right now. But when it was, back in the 1990s, Brad Smith was the man repeating that well-worn refrain about how regulation kills innovation.

BRAD SMITH: And I go back. And I look at the things that we said. I look at the things I said 20 years ago. There were many things that we got wrong.

SHAHANI: Smith has co-authored "Tools And Weapons." Just like a knife, digital technology can be a tool or a weapon. According to Smith, the threat that Microsoft posed decades back was economic. Today the tech giants whose tools have been used to interfere³ in fair and free elections are posing a much bigger threat.

SMITH: We need to work together. We need to work with governments to protect, frankly⁴, something that is far more important than technology - democracy. It was here before us. It needs to be here and healthy after us.

SHAHANI: Smith has proposals that are not popular in Silicon⁵ Valley. For one, he argues it's time to reform the U.S. law that says Internet platforms are not liable for just about any of the content running through their pipes - could be hate speech or death threats, ads for counterfeit⁶ goods or illegal guns. That law has enabled Microsoft's competitors, Facebook, Google's YouTube and Amazon, to grow at breakneck speed.

SMITH: Almost no technology has gone so entirely⁷ unregulated for so long as digital technology.

SHAHANI: Skeptics say that Smith's rhetoric⁸ masks an agenda to keep Microsoft on top. A tough law making Internet platforms accountable for content poses a greater threat to the competition than to Microsoft. Also, calling for regulation doesn't mean the strongest regulation. Earlier this year in its home state of Washington, Microsoft pushed back on a facial recognition bill that protected civil rights in favor of a less restrictive bill. And other tech chiefs, like Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, have said there's a need for some regulation. But Smith goes further, deeper than his peers, by arguing that governments need to probe the fundamentals of the data economy. He poses prescient questions. Where does our data go? Who gets to call the shots on how our data gets used - the few companies, Microsoft included, that have collected it?

SMITH: I worry that if all of the data on which the world relies is in the hands of a small number of tech companies, you're going to see a massive transfer of economic wealth.

SHAHANI: This week, nearly every state attorney general in the U.S. joined an antitrust probe into Google. Last week, nine AGs joined one against Facebook. It'll be years before a court ruling, if any, lands. Smith encourages his fellow tech leaders to look for places where they can compromise. He's the one who pushed Gates and Microsoft to enter a settlement, which was hard emotionally.

SMITH: There were days when people would say, why are you such a wimp⁹? And the answer, in my view, was because it was the wrong fight to fight; that it often takes more courage to compromise than it does to keep fighting.

SHAHANI: Geopolitical, business and marriage advice from Brad Smith.

(LAUGHTER)

SMITH: Well, at least two out of the three.

SHAHANI: Maybe he's got another book in him.

Aarti Shahani, NPR News, Redmond.

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

4 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

5 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

6 counterfeit   

vt.伪造，仿造；adj.伪造的，假冒的

参考例句：

• It is a crime to counterfeit money.伪造货币是犯罪行为。
• The painting looked old but was a recent counterfeit.这幅画看上去年代久远，实际是最近的一幅赝品。

7 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

8 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

9 wimp   

n.无用的人

参考例句：

• The more she called her husband a wimp,the more timid he became.她越叫她先生懦夫，他就越胆小怯懦。
• I hate those who get on their high horses in front of wimps.我最恨那些在弱者面前盛气凌人的人。