2023年考研經濟學人中英文對照屏蔽廣告的沖擊

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　　Francev Google

　　法國V谷歌

　　XavierNiel is playing rough with the internet giant

　　澤維爾-尼爾與互聯網巨頭激烈對抗

　　Jan12th 2023 | PARIS| from the print edition

　　IN2011 Google spent over 100m on grand19th-century digs in Paris which look a little like the Elyse Palace, the official home of the president. That may have been amistake. The firms deep coffers have now attracted theattention of Xavier Niel, an entrepreneur who delights in making pots of moneyat the expense of the establishment.2011年谷歌斥資一億歐元在巴黎購買一幢19世紀的豪華寓所。該寓所看上去類似愛麗舍宮法國總統的官邸。這一舉動也許是個錯誤。谷歌的雄厚財力引起了承包商澤維爾-尼爾的注意，他很樂于以谷歌為踏腳石賺取巨資。

　　OnJanuary 3rd Mr Niels company, Free, which is Frances second-biggest internet-service provider , upgraded thesoftware on the modems it supplies to customers. Online ads were blocked bydefault. The move, which was aimed chiefly at Google, caused a massive rumpus.

　　1月3日，尼爾的公司法國第二大網絡服務供應商FREE，升級了供顧客使用的調節器的軟件。系統默認攔截廣告。這一主要針對谷歌的舉措引發巨大爭議。

　　TheAmerican firm had reportedly been in negotiations with Free over whether to paythe ISP directly for the connection to its subscribers. On the internet, theconvention is that ISPs such as Free cover the cost of their networks bycharging their subscribers rather than providers of content. Google isaccustomed to grumbles by ISPs that it does not contribute directly to the costof their networks. It is also used to governments, such as Chinas, blocking its services for political reasons. But never has itfaced an attack of this type from a private company.

　　據稱美國公司與FREE公司就是否為訂閱鏈接而直接向ISP付費問題進行磋商。網絡上，按慣例，類似于FREE的ISP公司向訂閱者繳費用以支付網絡成本，而非向內容供應商索取費用。谷歌對ISP公司稱其不對網絡成本直接負責的抱怨習以為常。也習慣于中國政府等政府出于政治原因封鎖其服務的行為。

　　Freewas showing its clout by threatening to damage Googlesadvertising-driven business model in France. Mr Nielscalculation was that few of his 5m-odd customers would leave just because thedefault settings deprived them of Googles ads. Defaultsettings are quite easy to change, after all. Free is also suspected ofdeliberately choking off its subscribers connection toYouTube, Googles video-streaming service, during peakhours. YouTube takes up lots of bandwidth on the internet, especially as morepeople choose to watch Gangnam Style and Dumb Ways to Die in high definition. The telecoms regulator is investigating.

　　FREE公司威脅損壞谷歌在法國的廣告驅動商業模式，以展現其影響力。尼爾估計公司的500完用戶很少會因為默認攔截谷歌的廣告而流失掉。畢竟，默認設置輕易就可以改變。FREE公司也涉嫌高峰時段故意攔截YouTube，谷歌視頻流服務鏈接。YouTube占用大量寬帶，尤其當更過的人觀看高清版江南Style，蠢蠢的死法的時候。電信監管機構正在介入調查。

　　MrNiel responded to the accusations last year by pointing out that many YouTubevideos can in any case be watched on Dailymotion, a video-sharing website thathappens to be French and partly owned by the government.

　　去年，尼爾回應眾多指控指出在很多情況下，許多 YouTube視頻都可以視頻分享網站每日影像上觀看。每日影像恰巧是法語播放，并由法國政府部分控股。

　　Advertisersand newspaper websites immediately cried foul and got the government to lean onFree to remove the ad block, which it did on January 8th. Supporters of networkneutrality, the idea that the internets tubes shouldtreat all packets of data in exactly the same way regardless of origin,denounced Free for trampling on web freedom.

　　廣告商和報紙網站立即叫屈，要求政府依靠FREE公司撤銷1月8號的攔截。認為持有網絡線路無論出處對所有數據包一視同仁這一網絡中立觀點的支持者譴責FREE公司踐踏網絡自由。

　　Despitethe governments involvement in ending the block, MrNiel may have its tacit support for his move against Google. France is alreadyinvestigating whether the company pays much less tax than it should . Frees strike at Google may even give the hungry finance ministry ideasabout how to force it to pay more taxes, says CdricManara, a professor of internet law at EDHEC, a French business school.

　　盡管政府介入解除攔截，尼爾針對谷歌的措施將得到背地的支持。法國已經開始調查該公司是否偷稅漏稅。法國商學院EDHEC的網絡法律專家 CdricManara表示，FREE針對谷歌的行為甚至會啟發困乏的財務部，迫使公司繳納更多的稅款。

　　Frenchnewspapers, too, are trying to force Google to pay them for referencing theircontent. This week Fleur Pellerin, Frances digitalminister, said, backing Free, that there are real questions over how web firmscontribute to the financing of networks. There will be a government debate onthe subject on January 15th.

　　法國報刊也試圖迫使谷歌為引用其報刊內容而付費。本周支持FREE公司的法國數據部長Fleur Pellerin表示，網絡公司怎樣為網絡融資出力確實存在爭議。1月15日政府將就此展開討論。

　　Manypeople expect the fight to continue well after that. The stakes are high.Should Google cave in to Free in France by paying high fees to reach itssubscribers, it would face calls to do the same elsewhere. Google can arguethat the only reason why ISPs like Free have a business model at all is thatpeople want the content that it and other companies provide.

　　許多人認為此后爭斗將持續進行。利益巨大。如果谷歌屈服于法國FREE公司，支付高額費用以溝通用戶，他將可能面臨其他地方的各種付費要求。谷歌爭辯到類似FREE的ISP公司擁有其商業模式的唯一原因在于大眾需要谷歌和其他公司提供的內容。

　　MrNiel will be loth to raise more revenue by charging subscribers more whencheapness is his selling point. Frees launch of acheap mobile-phone service last year had a spectacular impact on the Frenchmarket, notes Franois Godard of Enders Analysis, a research firm. The averageprice of all French mobile-phone calls fell by nearly a fifth as millions ofpeople flocked to his new product. For this he is heartily disliked by rivalFrench telecoms bosses. But if he can win against Google, they will be toastinghim with champagne.