????正如大家事前所擔(dān)憂的那樣，上周三參議院以“谷歌的勢力：服務(wù)用戶還是威脅競爭？”為題的聽證會(huì)最終流于形式。

????聽證會(huì)壓根沒提谷歌公司（Google）對蘋果公司（Apple）的所作所為，它抄襲蘋果的觸摸屏操作系統(tǒng)，然后免費(fèi)提供給蘋果的競爭對手。艾米?克勞布查（明尼蘇達(dá)州民主黨參議員）和查克?舒默（紐約州民主黨參議員）大部分時(shí)間都在討好谷歌董事長埃里克?施密特，實(shí)際上是在請求他將谷歌的光纖到戶（fiber-to-the-home）試點(diǎn)擴(kuò)大到他們所在的州。

????這場聽證會(huì)長達(dá)三個(gè)小時(shí)，有些觀眾堅(jiān)持聽完了會(huì)議全程【可在有線衛(wèi)星公眾事務(wù)網(wǎng)絡(luò)（C-Span）上觀看】，有一點(diǎn)他們看得很清楚的：目前，谷歌已經(jīng)發(fā)展到對互聯(lián)網(wǎng)搜索業(yè)務(wù)擁有壟斷規(guī)模的控制權(quán)，它的使命已經(jīng)發(fā)生了改變。對此，點(diǎn)評網(wǎng)站Yelp首席執(zhí)行官杰里米?斯托普曼概括得最為精辟：

????“我們得搞清楚一點(diǎn)。谷歌目前的業(yè)務(wù)已經(jīng)不再是將用戶導(dǎo)向最佳的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)信息來源。它現(xiàn)在企圖一步一步成為各個(gè)垂直市場的終端站點(diǎn)，包括新聞、購物、旅游，目前則已經(jīng)拓展到了本地商戶點(diǎn)評。如果這種擴(kuò)張是在公平競爭環(huán)境下展開的，那是一碼事，但現(xiàn)實(shí)并非如此?！?/p>

????我個(gè)人認(rèn)為，Yelp公司的斯托普曼和Nextag公司的首席執(zhí)行官杰夫?凱茨所提供的證詞最令人信服，因?yàn)檫@兩人的企業(yè)都依托于互聯(lián)網(wǎng)，他們對互聯(lián)網(wǎng)業(yè)務(wù)的游戲規(guī)則了如指掌。

????如下是斯托普曼向參議員提供的證詞要點(diǎn)：

????“我這個(gè)行業(yè)經(jīng)歷的事情很能說明問題。谷歌強(qiáng)迫點(diǎn)評網(wǎng)站免費(fèi)提供內(nèi)容，但收益者不是用戶，而是谷歌自己的競爭性產(chǎn)品。然后，谷歌在搜索結(jié)果中自己的產(chǎn)品更好的排名。”

????“一年前，谷歌開始未經(jīng)授權(quán)就擅自使用我們的內(nèi)容。我們在公開和私下場合都表示過抗議，但谷歌卻對我們下達(dá)了只有壟斷寡頭才會(huì)給出的最后通牒：如果你們想要在網(wǎng)絡(luò)搜索中出現(xiàn)，就必須允許我們使用你們的內(nèi)容與你們展開競爭。在座的各位應(yīng)該都清楚，不能在谷歌搜索中出現(xiàn)就等于從互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上銷聲匿跡。我們當(dāng)時(shí)別無選擇?！?/p>

????據(jù)斯托普曼稱，聯(lián)邦貿(mào)易委員會(huì)（FTC）宣布對谷歌展開反壟斷調(diào)查，州首席檢察官開始關(guān)注這個(gè)問題，而且參議院反壟斷委員會(huì)發(fā)起了這次聽證會(huì)之后，谷歌的立場才有所軟化。

????譯者：清遠(yuǎn)

????As feared, the Senate hearings Wednesday on "The Power of Google: Serving Customers or Threatening Competition?" barely scratched the surface.

????What Google (GOOG) did to Apple (AAPL) -- copying Apple's touchscreen operating system and offering it to Apple's competitors for free -- never came up. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) used much of their time to suck up to Google chairman Eric Schmidt, practically begging him to bring Google's fiber-to-the-home experiment to their states.

????But for viewers who stuck around for the full three-hour hearing (available on C-Span here), one message was clear: As Google has grown to achieve monopoly-scale control of Internet search, its mission has changed. Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman put it most succinctly:

????"Let's be clear. Google is no longer in the business of sending users to the best sources of information on the Web. It now hopes to become a destination site itself for one vertical market after another, including news, shopping, travel, and now, local business reviews. It would be one thing if these efforts were conducted on a level playing field, but the reality is they're not."

????For me, the testimony of Yelp's Stoppelman and Nextag CEO Jeff Katz was the most compelling, because it came from Web-based entrepreneurs who know all too well how the game is played.

????Here's the crux of the story Stoppelman told the senators:

????"The experience in my industry is telling. Google forces review websites to provide their content for free to benefit Google's own competing product, not consumers. Google then gives its own product preferential treatment in Google search results.

????"Google first began taking our content without permission a year ago. Despite public and private protests, Google gave the ultimatum that only a monopolist can give: In order to appear in Web search, you must allow us to use your content to compete against you. As everyone in this room knows, not being in Google is equivalent to not existing on the Internet. We had no choice."

????Google softened its stance, according to Stoppelman, only after the FTC announced an antitrust investigation, the states' attorneys general took notice, and the Senate antitrust committee proposed this hearing.