经济学人下载:技术行业在危机中的机会(2)

If that happens, the odds are that regulators will do little or nothing to stop a round of consolidation. In America antitrust investigations against Alphabet, Google’s parent, and Facebook have essentially 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 abrupt 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 zealously 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 outrage over censorship and bias.
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 emboldened 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, helping 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。