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，将检验其否有能力挽回自身权力受到无形侵害的情况。大部分罪过在于欧盟委员会自身缺少想象力的科技政策，抨击谷歌抵销没法这个问题。

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?让欧盟委员会深感反感的核心问题是谷歌的“伸延搜寻”功能，它让我们省却几次页面，增加几个中间人。搜寻“天气”时，谷歌现在将必要表明天气预报，而不是引领我们去别的网站。

谷歌回应，这么做到是有益的。谁能赞成呢？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回头得很远。为了准确预见我们的市场需求，谷歌公司想要掌控我们的习惯、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移往传感器。最开始，谷歌不会在我们的收件箱里冒出来，那是谷歌在倒数扫瞄，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。迅速就不会轮到我们的汽车。最后一步将是几乎中止搜索框，希望符合我们甚至仍未表达出来的信息市场需求。谷歌的埃里克施密特(Eric Schmidt)曾把这种特色称作“巧遇引擎”(serendipity engine)，声称这就是搜寻的未来。

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iTunes于智能手机和Chrome浏览器的谷歌旗舰虚拟世界助手——Google Now——中有所反映。该服务可以让一切信息为谷歌所用。

它能获取路况信息，警告用户将要来临的旅行预约，告诉他他们附近的时尚饭店，表明当地电影院的首映单，等等。它之所以不具备这种意识到能力，是因为谷歌研究我们的搜寻习惯，跟踪我们的电邮，掌控我们所处方位。谷歌声称自己意味著没占有支配地位，任何一家研究出有更佳算法的初创企业都能对其包含可怕冲击。

但事实上，谷歌掌控的海量数据让它与众不同，它在这方面享有如此极大的领先优势，以致没哪家竞争对手有可能追赶它。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，欧盟委员会还没清楚地认为来。这是因为，欧洲已被美国的新自由主义所欺骗了——新的自由主义投出消费者福祉和市场效率的幌子，厚颜无耻地赞美独占。

现在是时候找到完全被记得的政治语言，首先把用户当公民对待、然后再行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.危险性是现实不存在的。谷歌把广告与“巧遇引擎”先知先觉的种种有可能融合一起，就有可能把公民变为机器人——他们将一方面沉浸于在权利意志的幻觉中，另一方面却生活在一个由选项、启动时和建议构成的世界里，而这些选项、启动时和建议是由仅为盈利目的而优化的自律算法分解的。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.容许谷歌交给用户数据宝库的钥匙也是短视的。

一旦这些数据展开必要清扫并略去姓名，然后交给公众手中，就可能会带给极大益处。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，它有可能让更佳的信息中介的经常出现显得更加艰难。为此监管机构不应增大对谷歌权力的审查力度，但只能靠这一点还过于。欧盟委员会的一项严峻任务，是创造条件，让一家实力强劲、确实欧洲的信息分享机构——而不是意味着一家登记于欧盟地区、但跟谷歌一样的公司——需要茁壮发展壮大。

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.欧洲最开始可以减少在数字基础设施方面的投资——在此过程中不要把更好资金引领至国家电信独占企业或本土那些期望沦为谷歌的公司。忽略，欧洲应该反对（并创立，如有适当的话）一些数字平台，它们具备分散化、无广告的特点，侧重隐私维护和安全措施，把数据用作促进公众利益的目的。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。目前完全没迹象表明欧洲能做到这一点。

迄今为止，仅有在中国和俄罗斯经常出现了类似于谷歌的公司——动因是担忧来自外国的间谍活动——尽管其业务模式完全从不认同个人隐私。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.除非欧洲反省一下其对硅谷的倚赖，否则有可能在政治、技术和经济方面居住于领先地位。对于欧盟委员会的新领导班子而言，这是一个事关安危的挑战。抨击谷歌有可能很有意思，而且很有可能必需这么做到。

但这应该是故事的结尾，而不是结尾。

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