谷歌日子不好过用软实力对付欧盟

2014-10-08 16:54:45来源：可可英语

　　“In Europe, the spectre of what happened to Microsoft is always in people’s mind at Google.They are the study of how not to do things,” said one insider. “Instead, a lot of time is spentbehind closed doors talking to the right people.”

　　“在欧洲，谷歌人始终牢记着微软的遭遇。这教会他们不要做什么，”一位内部人士表示，“很多时间被用在与合适的人闭门交谈。”

　　Jan Philipp Albrecht, a Green MEP from Germany who has campaigned vociferously on digitalprivacy and been a public critic of the company, agreed. “Google learned from thesemistakes,” he said.

　　来自德国的欧洲议会绿党议员扬•菲利普•亚伯雷希(Jan Philipp Albrecht)同意这点，他表示：“谷歌从这些错误中吸取了教训。”他曾经大张旗鼓地发起维护数字隐私的活动，而且一直公开批评谷歌。

　　“The difference between Google and the others is that on a personal level they are very niceand reasonable. It makes them look a reasonable partner.”

　　“谷歌与其他企业的不同之处在于从个人来讲，他们非常友好和通情达理。这让他们看上去是不错的合作伙伴。”

　　According to two people familiar with Google’s operations, the company is able to open doors atthe highest levels of European government, but the “direction of traffic” is not one-way.Politicians are often eager to associate themselves with Google, with lawmakers oftenrequesting meetings with its executives rather than the other way round.

　　据两名了解谷歌业务的人士称，谷歌能够敲开欧洲政府最高层的大门，但这种交流并非是单向的。政治人士往往喜欢与谷歌为伍，议员们经常要求与该公司高管会晤，而不是反过来。

　　“You see this all round Europe and the US, in politics and opinion leadership. They travel toSilicon Valley, meet up with these companies,” said Mr Albrecht. Politicians “want to be part ofsuch a successful movement and gain some of their limelight and coolness”.

　　亚伯雷希表示：“在欧洲和美国，在政界和舆论领袖那里，这种情况比比皆是。他们会访问硅谷，与这些公司的高管会面。”政治人士“希望融入这股成功的潮流，并获得一些关注。”

　　Others said that the company has tried to build bridges with European countries by helping tofund philanthropic projects in line with the aims of government.

　　还有一些人表示，谷歌通过为一些符合政府目标的慈善项目提供资金，试图与欧洲国家打好交道。

　　People familiar with the matter said that Google’s cultural institute in Paris is one example. In2010, Eric Schmidt, executive chairman, announced that the company would create a venuein the French capital dedicated to “digital culture”, with an investment that would run into the“millions of dollars”, according to local media reports.

　　知情人士表示，谷歌在巴黎成立的文化学院就是一个例子。据当地媒体报道，2010年，谷歌执行董事长埃里克•施密特(Eric Schmidt)宣布，该公司将在法国首都巴黎创建一个致力于“数字文化”的中心，投资将高达“数百万美元”。

　　Its creation was partly in response to a declaration by Nicolas Sarkozy, then France’spresident, that the government was considering an internet levy – dubbed the “Google tax” –to charge sites that generate income from content created by domestic media outlets.

　　该文化中心的建立在一定程度上是为了回应时任法国总统尼古拉•萨科齐(Nicolas Sarkozy)的一项声明，声明称，法国政府正考虑征收一项互联网税(被称为“谷歌税”(Google tax))，向那些从国内媒体创造的内容中获得收入的网站征税。

　　Google executives believed the tax plan was unworkable, but they feared it was a dangerousescalation in rhetoric.

　　谷歌高管认为，这一税收计划是不可行的，但他们担心这是法国当局在言论上的危险升级。

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