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不該放任谷歌成為數據霸主
帕梅拉·瓊斯·哈伯 2013年01月30日
華盛頓
成立數年後，谷歌擬定了一套指導原則，名為《十大信條》(Ten things we know to be true)。其中第四條是“網絡也講民主”。
這是可敬的態度——儘管有點讓人意外，因為這話來自網絡之王。
可以說，谷歌現在正是網絡之王。其搜索引擎服務佔據了美國近80%的網頁搜索量——還驚人地佔據了98%的移動設備搜索量。在這方面，谷歌不僅是一個同名動詞，還可能是美國乃至全球最主要的信息通道。沒有其他搜索引擎能夠接近谷歌。
新聞報道暗示，美國聯邦貿易委員會(Federal Trade Commission)可能把有關是否對谷歌提起反壟斷訴訟的決定推遲到明年。這一決定本來有望在本周宣布（本文寫於2012年12月。在2013年1月 初，美國聯邦貿易委員會宣布，調查確實發現谷歌通過採取某些手段以獲得競爭優勢，只是證據尚不足以顯示谷歌違反了法律，聯邦貿易委員會已和谷歌達成和解協 議，對谷歌的反壟斷調查結束——編注）。
聯邦貿易委員會花了近兩年時間調查谷歌的搜索引擎是否優先介紹該公司自己的服務，而把競爭對手的服務列在較低位置，從而抑制了競爭。即便到了現在，一些分析人士仍認為，該委員會可能放棄對谷歌採取任何法律行動，以換取該公司自願對其使用某些消費者信息的方式做出少量改變。
對互聯網用戶來說，那將是一個嚴重的挫折。它將允許谷歌繼續不受約束地控制數據收集，從而對隱私和消費者選擇造成嚴重後果（歐洲監管者也在對谷歌進行反壟斷調查）。
谷歌對自己在現代信息社會的主導地位很是“謙虛”，斷言只要人們願意使用，與之競爭的搜索引擎如雅虎或微軟的必應都只有“一指之遙”。谷歌指出，互 聯網領域是一個極其複雜的領域，存在着同樣強大的挑戰者。Facebook讓谷歌自己的社交媒體平台看起來像個笑話。在亞馬遜上進行商品搜索的購物者大大 超過谷歌。谷歌說，簡言之，目前存在充分的競爭，消費者不應該擔心谷歌在信息經濟中的強大角色。
但我們需要透過一個不同的稜鏡來看待谷歌的市場角色和行為。谷歌不只是一家“搜索引擎公司”、或“網上服務公司”、或出版商、或廣告平台。就其核心而言，它是一家數據收集公司。
谷歌的“市場”是由消費者產生和提供的關於消費者的數據。消費者就是你。在這個領域，谷歌佔據了霸主地位，幾乎無所不在，讓人恐懼。數據是在線市場的引擎，的確，它已成為一種新的資產類別。
去年3月，谷歌用一條政策取代了規範其產品和服務的60多條隱私準則，並開始整合其收集的個人數據。根據谷歌董事長埃里克·施密特(Eric Schmidt)在2010發表的一份聲明，谷歌在兩天內收集的數據（大約5艾位元組）相當於從人類起源到2003年所產生的數據總和。他後來又宣稱，他 不認為“社會理解這樣一件事，即當一切信息都可獲取、可知、且每時每刻都被各方記錄下來時，將會發生什麼”。
就目前而言，谷歌利用收集的數據去銷售有針對性的廣告，但誰能說該公司的數據使用將只局限於這一目的？選擇退出谷歌的數據收集？當然，你可以那樣 做，但你也得刪掉你的谷歌郵箱，退出谷歌的生態系統。使用谷歌Android操作系統的移動設備每天新增130萬部，其使用人數超過蘋果iPhone—— 谷歌的生態系統在不斷發展壯大。
從我在聯邦貿易委員會任職時起，我就一直擔心谷歌在數據收集方面的霸主地位及其帶來的深層次隱私擔憂。當委員會批准谷歌在2007年收購雙擊公司 (Double Click)時，我表示了異議，因為我擔心，把這兩家公司的海量消費者信息合并起來，將使谷歌在基本上沒有競爭對手制衡的情況下，構建關於網民網上操作習 慣的特徵檔案，侵犯個人隱私。
如今，聯邦貿易委員會有另一個機會來保護消費者、推動創新和確保公平的網絡競爭。該委員會在斟酌其決定時必須理解的是：儘管谷歌在網絡搜索和在線廣 告領域遙遙領先，但其最令人不安的霸主地位是在消費者私人數據市場。若能在該領域重建真正的競爭格局，我確信市場力量將推動企業在不侵犯消費者隱私的情況 下，提供有吸引力的服務和相關的廣告。
我現在已不是聯邦貿易委員會的委員，而是一名律師，代表一些對谷歌在數據收集領域的勢力感到擔憂的公司，包括微軟。沒錯，這裡有些諷刺意味，微軟前些年也曾面對重大反壟斷訴訟，最終被迫糾正反競爭行為。
但話又說回來，霸主就是霸主。正如谷歌的英明創立者所說，在互聯網領域，民主是最好的方式。
成立數年後，谷歌擬定了一套指導原則，名為《十大信條》(Ten things we know to be true)。其中第四條是“網絡也講民主”。
可以說，谷歌現在正是網絡之王。其搜索引擎服務佔據了美國近80%的網頁搜索量——還驚人地佔據了98%的移動設備搜索量。在這方面，谷歌不僅是一個同名動詞，還可能是美國乃至全球最主要的信息通道。沒有其他搜索引擎能夠接近谷歌。
新聞報道暗示，美國聯邦貿易委員會(Federal Trade Commission)可能把有關是否對谷歌提起反壟斷訴訟的決定推遲到明年。這一決定本來有望在本周宣布（本文寫於2012年12月。在2013年1月 初，美國聯邦貿易委員會宣布，調查確實發現谷歌通過採取某些手段以獲得競爭優勢，只是證據尚不足以顯示谷歌違反了法律，聯邦貿易委員會已和谷歌達成和解協 議，對谷歌的反壟斷調查結束——編注）。
聯邦貿易委員會花了近兩年時間調查谷歌的搜索引擎是否優先介紹該公司自己的服務，而把競爭對手的服務列在較低位置，從而抑制了競爭。即便到了現在，一些分析人士仍認為，該委員會可能放棄對谷歌採取任何法律行動，以換取該公司自願對其使用某些消費者信息的方式做出少量改變。
對互聯網用戶來說，那將是一個嚴重的挫折。它將允許谷歌繼續不受約束地控制數據收集，從而對隱私和消費者選擇造成嚴重後果（歐洲監管者也在對谷歌進行反壟斷調查）。
谷歌對自己在現代信息社會的主導地位很是“謙虛”，斷言只要人們願意使用，與之競爭的搜索引擎如雅虎或微軟的必應都只有“一指之遙”。谷歌指出，互 聯網領域是一個極其複雜的領域，存在着同樣強大的挑戰者。Facebook讓谷歌自己的社交媒體平台看起來像個笑話。在亞馬遜上進行商品搜索的購物者大大 超過谷歌。谷歌說，簡言之，目前存在充分的競爭，消費者不應該擔心谷歌在信息經濟中的強大角色。
但我們需要透過一個不同的稜鏡來看待谷歌的市場角色和行為。谷歌不只是一家“搜索引擎公司”、或“網上服務公司”、或出版商、或廣告平台。就其核心而言，它是一家數據收集公司。
谷歌的“市場”是由消費者產生和提供的關於消費者的數據。消費者就是你。在這個領域，谷歌佔據了霸主地位，幾乎無所不在，讓人恐懼。數據是在線市場的引擎，的確，它已成為一種新的資產類別。
去年3月，谷歌用一條政策取代了規範其產品和服務的60多條隱私準則，並開始整合其收集的個人數據。根據谷歌董事長埃里克·施密特(Eric Schmidt)在2010發表的一份聲明，谷歌在兩天內收集的數據（大約5艾位元組）相當於從人類起源到2003年所產生的數據總和。他後來又宣稱，他 不認為“社會理解這樣一件事，即當一切信息都可獲取、可知、且每時每刻都被各方記錄下來時，將會發生什麼”。
就目前而言，谷歌利用收集的數據去銷售有針對性的廣告，但誰能說該公司的數據使用將只局限於這一目的？選擇退出谷歌的數據收集？當然，你可以那樣 做，但你也得刪掉你的谷歌郵箱，退出谷歌的生態系統。使用谷歌Android操作系統的移動設備每天新增130萬部，其使用人數超過蘋果iPhone—— 谷歌的生態系統在不斷發展壯大。
從我在聯邦貿易委員會任職時起，我就一直擔心谷歌在數據收集方面的霸主地位及其帶來的深層次隱私擔憂。當委員會批准谷歌在2007年收購雙擊公司 (Double Click)時，我表示了異議，因為我擔心，把這兩家公司的海量消費者信息合并起來，將使谷歌在基本上沒有競爭對手制衡的情況下，構建關於網民網上操作習 慣的特徵檔案，侵犯個人隱私。
如今，聯邦貿易委員會有另一個機會來保護消費者、推動創新和確保公平的網絡競爭。該委員會在斟酌其決定時必須理解的是：儘管谷歌在網絡搜索和在線廣 告領域遙遙領先，但其最令人不安的霸主地位是在消費者私人數據市場。若能在該領域重建真正的競爭格局，我確信市場力量將推動企業在不侵犯消費者隱私的情況 下，提供有吸引力的服務和相關的廣告。
我現在已不是聯邦貿易委員會的委員，而是一名律師，代表一些對谷歌在數據收集領域的勢力感到擔憂的公司，包括微軟。沒錯，這裡有些諷刺意味，微軟前些年也曾面對重大反壟斷訴訟，最終被迫糾正反競爭行為。
但話又說回來，霸主就是霸主。正如谷歌的英明創立者所說，在互聯網領域，民主是最好的方式。
帕梅拉 ·瓊斯·哈伯(Pamela Jones Harbour)在2003年到2010年期間是美國聯邦貿易委員會的一名委員，現在她是富布萊特·賈沃斯基律師事務所(Fulbright & Jaworski)的一名律師，代表着包括微軟在內的科技公司。
本文最初發表於2012年12月18日。
翻譯：陶夢縈
Op-Ed Contributor
The Emperor of All Identities
January 30, 2013
Washington
A FEW years after it was founded, Google adopted a list of guiding principles it titled, “Ten things we know to be true.” No. 4 was “Democracy on the Web works.”
That’s a worthy sentiment — though a bit surprising coming from the Web’s emperor.
For that, arguably, is what Google has become. Its search engine accounts for nearly 80 percent of all Web searches in the United States — and a remarkable 98 percent of searches from mobile devices. In that role, Google is not just an eponymous verb but perhaps the most central conduit of information in the nation — and, indeed, on the planet. No other search engine comes close.
News accounts suggest that the Federal Trade Commission will delay any decision on whether to file an antitrust lawsuit against Google until perhaps next year. That decision had been expected to come this week.
The F.T.C. has spent nearly two years investigating whether Google’s search engine favors the company’s own commercial endeavors over rival offerings, thereby stifling competition. And even now, some analysts believe that the commission might forgo any legal action against the company in exchange for Google’s willingness to make some modest changes in the way it uses certain consumer information.
This would be a severe setback for Internet users. It will allow Google to continue to amass unbridled control over data gathering, with grave consequences for privacy and for consumer choice. (European regulators are conducting their own antitrust inquiry into Google.)
Google has been modest about its dominance in the modern information society, asserting that competing search engines, like Yahoo or Microsoft’s Bing, are just “one click away” if people wish to use them. The Internet is an extraordinarily complex domain with equally powerful challengers, the company points out. Facebook makes Google’s own social media platform look like a joke. Far more shoppers begin their online product searches through Amazon than Google. In short, there’s enough competition out there, Google says, that consumers ought not to fear the company’s mighty role in the information economy.
But we need to look at Google’s market role — and behavior — through a different prism. Google is not just a “search engine company,” or an “online services company,” or a publisher, or an advertising platform. At its core, it’s a data collection company.
Its “market” is data by, from and about consumers — you, that is. And in that realm, its role is so dominant as to be overwhelming, and scary. Data is the engine of online markets and has become, indeed, a new asset class.
In March, when Google replaced the more than 60 privacy guidelines that governed its products and services with a single policy, it also moved to consolidate the personal data it collects. The company creates as much data in two days — roughly 5 exabytes — as the world produced from the dawn of humanity until 2003, according to a 2010 statement by Eric Schmidt, the company’s chairman, who later declared that he didn’t “believe society understands what happens when everything is available, knowable, and recorded by everyone all the time.”
For now, Google uses the data to sell targeted ads, but who says the company’s use of the data will be restricted to that purpose? Opt out of Google’s data collection? Sure, you can do that — but you’ll also have to delete your Gmail account and leave Google’s ecosystem. With Google’s Android operating system — which is activated in 1.3 million new mobile devices every day, and is used by more people than use Apple’s iPhone — that ecosystem is growing.
I’ve been concerned about Google’s dominant role in data collection — and the profound privacy concerns it raises — since my time at the F.T.C. When the commission approved Google’s 2007 acquisition of DoubleClick, I dissented — because I was concerned that combining the two companies’ vast troves of consumer information would allow Google, which was largely unchecked by competition, to develop invasive profiles of individuals’ Internet habits.
Now, the F.T.C. has another chance to protect consumers, promote innovation and ensure fair competition online. In making its decision, it must understand that while Google may be the runaway leader in Web search and online advertising, its most troubling dominance is in the marketplace of private consumer data. If real competition in this area can be restored, I am confident that market forces will provide the incentives necessary for companies to offer attractive services and relevant, engaging ads without violating consumer privacy.
I am no longer an F.T.C. commissioner, but a lawyer representing companies — including Microsoft — that are concerned about Google’s power as a data collector. Yes, there’s some irony in that — it wasn’t long ago that Microsoft faced its own major antitrust lawsuit and had to change its anticompetitive practices.
But then, an emperor is an emperor. And when it comes to the Web, as Google’s wise founders said, democracy works best.
A FEW years after it was founded, Google adopted a list of guiding principles it titled, “Ten things we know to be true.” No. 4 was “Democracy on the Web works.”
For that, arguably, is what Google has become. Its search engine accounts for nearly 80 percent of all Web searches in the United States — and a remarkable 98 percent of searches from mobile devices. In that role, Google is not just an eponymous verb but perhaps the most central conduit of information in the nation — and, indeed, on the planet. No other search engine comes close.
News accounts suggest that the Federal Trade Commission will delay any decision on whether to file an antitrust lawsuit against Google until perhaps next year. That decision had been expected to come this week.
The F.T.C. has spent nearly two years investigating whether Google’s search engine favors the company’s own commercial endeavors over rival offerings, thereby stifling competition. And even now, some analysts believe that the commission might forgo any legal action against the company in exchange for Google’s willingness to make some modest changes in the way it uses certain consumer information.
This would be a severe setback for Internet users. It will allow Google to continue to amass unbridled control over data gathering, with grave consequences for privacy and for consumer choice. (European regulators are conducting their own antitrust inquiry into Google.)
Google has been modest about its dominance in the modern information society, asserting that competing search engines, like Yahoo or Microsoft’s Bing, are just “one click away” if people wish to use them. The Internet is an extraordinarily complex domain with equally powerful challengers, the company points out. Facebook makes Google’s own social media platform look like a joke. Far more shoppers begin their online product searches through Amazon than Google. In short, there’s enough competition out there, Google says, that consumers ought not to fear the company’s mighty role in the information economy.
But we need to look at Google’s market role — and behavior — through a different prism. Google is not just a “search engine company,” or an “online services company,” or a publisher, or an advertising platform. At its core, it’s a data collection company.
Its “market” is data by, from and about consumers — you, that is. And in that realm, its role is so dominant as to be overwhelming, and scary. Data is the engine of online markets and has become, indeed, a new asset class.
In March, when Google replaced the more than 60 privacy guidelines that governed its products and services with a single policy, it also moved to consolidate the personal data it collects. The company creates as much data in two days — roughly 5 exabytes — as the world produced from the dawn of humanity until 2003, according to a 2010 statement by Eric Schmidt, the company’s chairman, who later declared that he didn’t “believe society understands what happens when everything is available, knowable, and recorded by everyone all the time.”
For now, Google uses the data to sell targeted ads, but who says the company’s use of the data will be restricted to that purpose? Opt out of Google’s data collection? Sure, you can do that — but you’ll also have to delete your Gmail account and leave Google’s ecosystem. With Google’s Android operating system — which is activated in 1.3 million new mobile devices every day, and is used by more people than use Apple’s iPhone — that ecosystem is growing.
I’ve been concerned about Google’s dominant role in data collection — and the profound privacy concerns it raises — since my time at the F.T.C. When the commission approved Google’s 2007 acquisition of DoubleClick, I dissented — because I was concerned that combining the two companies’ vast troves of consumer information would allow Google, which was largely unchecked by competition, to develop invasive profiles of individuals’ Internet habits.
Now, the F.T.C. has another chance to protect consumers, promote innovation and ensure fair competition online. In making its decision, it must understand that while Google may be the runaway leader in Web search and online advertising, its most troubling dominance is in the marketplace of private consumer data. If real competition in this area can be restored, I am confident that market forces will provide the incentives necessary for companies to offer attractive services and relevant, engaging ads without violating consumer privacy.
I am no longer an F.T.C. commissioner, but a lawyer representing companies — including Microsoft — that are concerned about Google’s power as a data collector. Yes, there’s some irony in that — it wasn’t long ago that Microsoft faced its own major antitrust lawsuit and had to change its anticompetitive practices.
But then, an emperor is an emperor. And when it comes to the Web, as Google’s wise founders said, democracy works best.
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