TE||High fines, meagre results
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High fines, meagre results
高罚款，低收效
英文部分选自经济学人Leaders版块
High fines, meagre results
高罚款，低收效
Google’s Android fine is not enough to change its behaviour
谷歌的安卓罚款不足以改变其行为
The European Commission is right to tackle the tech titans, but its remedies are wanting
欧盟委员会对科技巨头的处理是正确的，但补救措施是欠缺的
HOW high can they go? On July 18th the European Commission hit Google with a record fine of €4.3bn ($5bn) for entrenching its dominance in internet search by illegally tying together this service and other mobile apps with Android, the firm’s mobile operating system. A year ago the commission levied a fine of €2.4bn on Google for using its clout in search to steer users away from rival offerings and towards its own comparison-shopping service. At this rate of inflation, the next fine—there is one other case against Google pending in Brussels, with more expected—could reach the maximum allowed: 10% of the firm’s global revenues, or about €9bn.
罚金能有多高？7月18号，欧盟委员会（以下简称“委员会”）对谷歌处以高达43亿欧元（50亿美元）的创纪录罚金，以惩罚谷歌将chrome和其它移动应用APP与Android操作系统非法地捆绑在一起，以此来巩固其在互联网搜索方面的统治地位。一年前，委员会对谷歌处以24亿欧元罚金，原因是谷歌利用其在搜索领域的影响力，引导用户远离竞争对手的产品，转向自己的比较购物服务。按照这样的通货速率，下一次的罚款——另外一起针对谷歌的案子正在布鲁塞尔进行受理中——将会更多，有可能达到允许的最大的金额：公司全球收益的10%，大约90亿欧元。
The size of the fines hides an inconvenient truth, however. The commission deserves credit for scrutinising the behaviour of dominant online firms—its activism stands in pointed contrast to supine American authorities. However, none of its antitrust actions in recent years has done much to strengthen competition. Depressingly, this outcome may suit everyone. High fines win the commission glowing headlines (and boost the chances of Margrethe Vestager, the competition chief, becoming the commission’s next president). Google, for its part, protests loudly but treats the penalty as a cost of doing business. This week’s fine amounts to only 5% of Google’s current net cash balance. Nothing really changes.
然而巨额罚金掩盖了一个难以忽视的真相。委员会因审查互联网巨头而获得赞誉，它的行动主义与美国当局的立场形成鲜明的对比。但是，近年来的反垄断行动并没有对加强竞争起到多大作用。令人沮丧的是，这个结果竟然可能让所有人都感到满意。高罚款让委员会在新闻头条大放光彩，增加了竞争事务专员Margrethe Vestager成为下一届委员会主席的可能性。就谷歌本身而言，虽然大声抗议却也视罚款为做生意的成本，这周的罚金只占了谷歌现金储备的5%。对它没多大影响。
Not that paranoid about Android
不必担心安卓系统
If that sounds cynical, look at the Android case more closely. Google requires smartphone-makers and mobile operators to sign strict agreements if they want to use any of its apps. For instance, if device-makers want to install Google’s app store—which in most markets they must in order to make their gadgets attractive to users—they also have to install all of Google’s apps, including the one for its search service. They must give these apps top billing on users’ screens, too. And if they use Google’s apps and its version of Android on any of their models, they have to do so on all of them .
假如这件事听起来很愤世嫉俗，那我们深度了解一下安卓事件。谷歌要求智能手机生产商和移动运营商在使用其任何一款应用时签署严格条约。比如，假如设备生产商想要安装谷歌应用商店，他们必须提升自己产品的用户吸引力，必须安装谷歌旗下的所有应用，包括搜索引擎应用，同时也必须将应用摆放在屏幕的显眼位置。并且，产商无论在哪款设备使用了谷歌应用和产商定制的安卓系统，任何一款设备都需要这样做。
Unsurprisingly, Google argues that these restrictions are for the good of consumers. They ensure, for instance, that people always have a familiar set of apps on their home screen and that Android does not splinter into incompatible versions. Yet what Google calls “fragmentation” is actually competition, as China’s vibrant mobile market shows. Because Google Play is not available there, device-makers that use Android are not compelled to install the firm’s apps but can pick and choose. The web of rules elsewhere is designed above all to protect Google’s search service and its moneymaking advertising business. The commission is right to find Google guilty.
谷歌认为这样的限制是为了消费者着想，这种观点并不令人意外。谷歌此举是为确保用户在主屏上总是放置一系列自己熟悉的应用并且防止安卓系统碎片化，产生不兼容的系统版本。但据中国生机勃勃的手机市场显示，谷歌所称的碎片化就是竞争。因为在中国，谷歌应用商店不可用，使用Android的设备生产商不必强制安装谷歌应用，自行挑选。在其他地区，这些规定用来保护谷歌搜索引擎及其获利丰厚的广告产业。委员会有正当理由认为谷歌有过失。
Yet its remedies fall short. The commission wants Google itself to come up with remedies, which in effect means dropping all the restrictions it imposes on device-makers. But that alone is unlikely to be enough to restore competition quickly because of the dominance of Google’s version of Android, which powers 80% of smartphones in Europe. A similar approach in the market for comparison-shopping services has been ineffectual. Rivals still appear in only 6% of the slots available on the European version of Google’s search engine. Tougher remedies would include compelling Google to allow competing app stores to distribute its apps, which would make it easier for other firms to launch competing app stores. Another option would be to give consumers a choice, when they first boot up their phone, over which apps they want to use as defaults (much as the commission once required for browsers on PCs).
然而，它的补救措施并不奏效。委员会希望谷歌自己拿出补救措施，这实际上意味着取消它对设备制造商施加的所有限制。但单凭这一点不太可能迅速恢复竞争，因为谷歌版本的安卓(Android)占据了欧洲智能手机市场80%的份额。在比较购物服务市场上，类似的做法一直没有效果。在谷歌搜索引擎的欧洲版中，竞争对手只占了6%的份额。更严厉的补救措施包括强制谷歌允许竞争对手的应用商店发布其应用，这将使其他公司更容易推出相互竞争的应用商店。另一种选择是给消费者一个选择，例如，当他们第一次启动手机时，手机默认的应用程序就是他们想使用的应用程序(就像欧盟委员会之前在个人电脑上的浏览器所要求的那样)。
If it really wants to merit the accolades it gets for tackling the tech titans, the commission needs not only to be more forceful but also to act more swiftly. The comparison-shopping case was seven years old by the time it was decided; most of Google’s rivals had already succumbed. Gearing up for a set-piece antitrust battle is a mistake in such a fast-moving industry. The commission should instead go for quicker wins, for example by rapidly knocking down any new limitations on rivals’ services and apps.
如果它真的想要获得应对科技巨头的赞誉，欧盟委员会不仅需要更加有力，而且还需要更迅速地行动。比较购物案在判决时已经有7年的历史了;谷歌的大多数竞争对手已经屈服。在这个瞬息万变的行业，为一场事先精心安排的反垄断大战做好准备是一个错误。相反，欧盟委员会应该追求更快的胜利，比如迅速取消对竞争对手服务和应用的任何新限制。
Europe is a less friendly environment than America for the tech giants. But it has not so far achieved much more in terms of promoting competition than the regulators across the Atlantic. That is a disappointment as big as any fine.
对科技巨头来说，欧洲的环境不如美国友好。但迄今为止，它在促进竞争方面的成就，还没有超过大西洋彼岸的监管机构。这是最令人失望的。
翻译组：
Yao，男， 英专本科生，北大苗子
Wesley，男，自由职业，经济学人铁粉
Doris，女，法律学习者，经济学人爱好者
校核组：
Neil, 男，外贸民工，经济学人铁粉
Rena，女，国际学校老师，经济学人爱好者
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观点|评论|思考
本次观点由Samantha独家奉献
Samantha，女，滑冰狂人，邓伦未婚妻
在北京回龙观买两万套小复式；狂入三万多辆顶配迈巴赫S600；或者去大溪地包船住五星深度游20万次……等等这些的价格都大约在128.13亿欧元——这是从 2013年至今，包括谷歌、苹果、微软、高通、英特尔在内，欧盟依据反垄断法向全球多家科技巨头企业罚款的总计。
欧盟在科技届的地位一贯令许多大公司闻风丧胆，“科技圈警察”当之无愧。这次谷歌栽跟头主要是因为“全家桶“。依照协议，制造商要是想获得Google Play商店许可，就必须预装包括谷歌搜索、Chrome浏览器、谷歌地图和Gmail在内的全套软件。此外，欧盟还说谷歌为了不让人们使用非官方版本的安卓系统，上下打点了手机制造商和网络运营商，实现在手机上对谷歌搜索应用的预装。这就是垄断了。
谷歌CEO在回应声明中提出反驳，并且打算上诉。反驳意见大致两点，一是本来就免费的你还想咋地？二是不喜欢预装的你删了重下啊！2007年开始，安卓系统研发上市以来一直是免费的，尽管很多人诟病它不太安全而且增加缓存，但确实比较方便。CEO在声明里甚至加了一个GIF动图，以展示删除谷歌预装软件，并通过Google Play商店安装一个竞品是多么容易。
好多钱，好多人，好多正的反的话，我也不知道谁对谁错。不过据报道，谷歌正在悄然开发的手机和平板电脑操作系统Fuchsia，可能会在5年内取代Android和Chrome OS。Fuchsia团队的工程师认为，可以先让Fuchsia系统在3年内登陆Google Home智能音箱等智能家居设备，随后再进军笔记本，最后才是手机。
写多了，其实我是想说，对于咱们大陆同胞而言，这一切都要建立在科学上网的基础上才能看的更清楚。关于科学上网，咱们小编恰好是行家，这不巧了么这不是？！赶紧戳他私聊问问清楚吧，毕竟伟大领袖曾教导我们，没有调查研究就没有发言权，您觉得呢？
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