柏林——如今，德國擁有很多名號：清潔技術的領軍者、製造業的引擎，以及歐洲的外交政策中心。然而，人們似乎越來越多地對它有了另一種成見——一個勒德派之國。
說實話，對於大型科技公司而言，如今的德國並不是個好地方。即將就任歐盟負責數字經濟與社會的委員的德國官員京特·H·厄廷格(Günther H. Oettinger)攻擊谷歌(Google)在歐洲的影響過大，還表示希望能「削弱」谷歌的市場支配力。在柏林，副總理兼經濟部長西格瑪爾·加布里爾(Sigmar Gabriel)正在調查，德國是否能把谷歌列為國家基礎設施的重要組成部分，從而將其納入嚴格的國家監管的範疇。
在咖啡館或啤酒屋提到谷歌時，德國人往往會用上負面詞彙。人們經常稱之為「章魚」。即便是像斯普林格(Springer)——德國最大的出版社——首席執行官瑪蒂亞斯·德普夫納(Mathias Döpfner)這種在國際商界地位顯赫的人物，都說他「害怕谷歌」。
谷歌並非這種日耳曼怒火的唯一目標。幾周前，一家德國法院以違反了針對專業司機的聯邦許可法為由，禁止Uber公司在德國境內運營。亞馬遜(Amazon)則因為工作條件和薪酬問題，與德國最強大的工會組織之一Verdi陷入了一場曠日持久的消耗戰。
在外人眼中，這一切似乎只是德國人集體焦慮的又一例證。這種觀點認為，德國是一個神經緊張的數字革命看客，會因為對一切新生事物的恐懼和對所有美國東西的懷疑而瑟瑟發抖，這個私密的社會仍然受到斯塔西(Stasi)歷史的折磨，高估了數據保密的重要性。
不過，這種漫畫形象並沒有說到點子上。德國人並不害怕科技。我們也不討厭美國。正好相反：蘋果(Apple)每有新品發佈，德國媒體就會為之瘋狂，人們則會在蘋果旗艦店門前排起長隊。大多數德國人每天都會使用谷歌服務和Facebook，可以駕輕就熟地搜索詞彙或者回應加為好友的請求。
在政界，「硅谷」是一個神奇的字眼，一個柏林嚮往成為的地方。我們的議員和商界領袖希望自己看起來非常酷、或者想尋找靈感的時候，也會前往硅谷。在為一本關於硅谷的新書進行推介發言時，加布里爾的目光中流露出無限的嚮往。他告訴觀眾，90年代末他第一次去硅谷時，漫步在帕洛阿爾托的街道上，四處尋找惠普(Hewlett-Packard)起家的那間車庫，覺得空氣中瀰漫著創新的魔力。
這是怎麼了？德國怎麼會對科技，對科技公司，既愛又怕呢？要理解這一點，關鍵是要看到在表象之外，它們所代表的企業模式。
這個衝突的真正根源，在於這些正在歐洲市場上掀起風暴的硅谷企業——之前是初創公司，現在是巨頭——與生俱來的經濟文化。要創辦和發展亞馬遜或Uber這樣的公司，需要有一種特定的自由意志主義牛仔心態，把障礙和規則拋諸腦後。
硅谷既不害怕罰款，也不怕政治譴責。它投入了大筆費用，在布魯塞爾和柏林遊說，但是它發現民主政治進程過於緩慢，於是便在同時按自己的規則辦事。Uber直截了當地說，不管法院怎樣裁定，它都會繼續在德國經營業務。亞馬遜向德國出版商施壓，要求它們以較低的價格在其平台上提供書籍——不顧德國要求出版商必須在所有地方以同樣的價格出售圖書的法律規定。
正是這種無政府主義，讓德國人變得這麼神經質。一方面，我們樂意變得更像他們那樣：更無所顧忌、更積極進取。另一方面，無政府主義的力量，也讓德國人（和其他很多歐洲國家的人）不寒而慄。我們當然會這樣，因為這挑戰了我們對國家的根深蒂固的信念。
德國選民和消費者對政府的信任，永遠甚於對任何私人企業的信念，無論這家公司多麼堅定地聲稱自己具有善意。對「國家」的信任是難以衡量的；根據現任政府的表現和人員等因素，民調結果的差異很大。但是，對於重要的國家機構——聯邦議院、法院和警察——德國人的信任度往往遠高於美國人。
主要黨派，無論左右，都不會呼籲縮減政府的規模；唯一主張這麼做的黨派是自由民主黨(Liberal Democrats)，它弱小到無法在聯邦眾議院獲得哪怕一個席位，連要在州級選舉中出線都不容易。世道艱難的時候，美國人對國家的信任往往會下降，而德國人的這種信任卻會增加。當有問題出現，我們就會指望「祖國父親」保護我們。
像硅谷公司帶來的那些「顛覆性」商業模式的挑戰，也屬於這種情況。事實上，像加布里爾這樣的政界人士——他曾說過：「我們必須馴服硅谷資本主義」——之所以跟亞馬遜和Uber過不去，原因就在於，這樣做鐵定可以幫他們贏得選票。即使是那些一般會支持放鬆監管的政界人士，比如厄廷格，也知道指責高科技公司是個聰明點子。
硅谷公司想在德國取得成功，就需要遵從德國和歐洲市場的特殊性。我們熱愛科技，但我們希望科技公司以我們青睞的方式來提供它。在德國，牛仔只應存在於電影里。
安娜·紹爾布賴(Anna Sauerbrey)是德國《每日鏡報》(Der Tagesspiegel)的評論版編輯。
翻譯：陳柳、土土
Why Germans Are Afraid of Google
By Anna Sauerbrey October 14, 2014BERLIN — These days Germany is known for being many things: a leader in clean technology, a manufacturing powerhouse, Europe’s foreign policy center. But increasingly, it seems to have taken on yet another stereotype — as a nation of Luddites.
And truth be told, Germany is not a great place to be a big tech company these days. Günther H. Oettinger, a German official and the European Union’s incoming commissioner for digital economy and society, has assailed Google for having too big a presence in Europe, and speaks of “cuts” in the company’s market power. In Berlin, Sigmar Gabriel, the vice chancellor and economics minister, is investigating whether Germany can classify Google as a vital part of the country’s infrastructure, and thus make it subject to heavy state regulation.Google is often spoken of in dark terms around cafes and biergartens. People regularly call it the Octopus. Even a figure as dominant in the global economy as Mathias Döpfner, the chief executive of Springer, Germany’s largest publishing house, said he was “afraid of Google.”
Google isn’t the only target of Teutonic ire. A few weeks ago, a German court prohibited Uber from operating in the country, reasoning that the company was violating federal licensing laws for professional drivers. And Amazon is entangled in a long and wearying battle over working conditions and pay with Verdi, one of Germany’s most powerful unions.
To outsiders, this all seems like just another instance of collective German angst. In this view, Germany is the neurotic bystander of the digital revolution, shaken to the bone by its fear of everything new and its distrust of everything American, a secretive society still traumatized by its Stasi history, overestimating the importance of data privacy.
But this caricature misses the point. Germans don’t fear technology. Nor do we dislike America. On the contrary: Whenever Apple debuts a new product, our media goes bananas and people line up in front of Apple’s flagship stores. Most Germans use Google and Facebook on a daily basis, without ever getting sweaty hands when typing in a search term or answering a friendship request.
In politics, Silicon Valley is a magic phrase. It’s what Berlin wants to be. It’s where our representatives and business leaders go when they want to look really cool or snoop around for ideas. Speaking at a rollout for a new book on Silicon Valley, Mr. Gabriel’s eyes turned dreamy when he told the audience how he strolled the streets of Palo Alto on his first visit there in the late ’90s, looking around for the Hewlett-Packard garage, feeling the magic of innovation in the air.
What gives? How can Germany be both afraid of and in love with technology, and the companies that make it? The key is to look beyond those things, to the corporate model they represent.
The true origin of the conflict lies in the economic culture innate to those former Silicon Valley start-ups — now giants — that are taking the European markets by storm. To create and grow an enterprise like Amazon or Uber takes a certain libertarian cowboy mind-set that ignores obstacles and rules.
Silicon Valley fears neither fines nor political reprimand. It invests millions in lobbying in Brussels and Berlin, but since it finds the democratic political process too slow, it keeps following its own rules in the meantime. Uber simply declared that it would keep operating in Germany, no matter what the courts ruled. Amazon is pushing German publishers to offer their books on its platform at a lower price — ignoring that, in Germany, publishers are legally required to offer their books at the same price everywhere.
It is this anarchical spirit that makes Germans so neurotic. On one hand, we’d love to be more like that: more daring, more aggressive. On the other hand, the force of anarchy makes Germans (and many other Europeans) shudder, and rightfully so. It’s a challenge to our deeply ingrained faith in the state.
The German voter-consumer will always trust the state more than he will any private company, no matter how ardently it insists on being a good guy. Trust in “the state” is hard to measure; polls vary greatly depending on the current government’s performance and personnel, among other factors. However, Germans regularly report much higher levels of trust in the leading state institutions — the federal legislature, the courts and the police — than Americans do.
No major party, right or left, calls for shrinking the size of the state; the only party to do so, the Liberal Democrats, is too small to have a seat in the Bundestag, and is fighting for its life in state-level elections. Unlike in America, where trust in the state tends to dip during hard times, in Germany it rises. When problems appear, we look to “Vater Staat” — the Father State — to protect us.
That includes challenges by “disruptive” business models, like those coming out of Silicon Valley. Indeed, the reason politicians like Mr. Gabriel — who has said “we must tame Silicon Valley capitalism”— go after Amazon and Uber is that it is a surefire way to get votes. Even politicians who are normally pro-deregulation, like Mr. Oettinger, know it’s smart to come down hard on tech companies.
If it wants to succeed here, Silicon Valley needs to comply with the particularities of the German and European market. We love technology, but we want it delivered on our terms. In Germany, cowboys should remain in the movies.
Anna Sauerbrey is an editor on the opinion page of the daily newspaper Der Tagesspiegel.
http://cn.nytimes.com/opinion/20141014/c14sauerbrey/en-us/
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