達沃斯論壇熱議科技巨頭公信力問題
Large technology companies will experience the same collapse in reputation as banks have endured in recent years unless they rapidly change their policy approach, business leaders have cautioned.
大型科技公司恐將重蹈銀行近年來的覆轍，遭遇聲譽危機，除非他們迅速改變經營策略，商業領袖警告稱。Their warning was directed at the influential heads of technology companies, such as those in Silicon Valley, who were told they needed to recognise that self-regulation would not be sufficient to stave off public alarm about issues such as privacy.
他們的警告針對有影響力的科技公司負責人，如硅谷的企業家們。他們指出，這些企業家需要承認，自律措施不足以避免公衆對隱私等問題的恐慌。
“Self-regulation, no matter what you do, is just not going to be good enough [for tech companies],” said Paul Achleitner, chairman of the supervisory board of Deutsche Bank. Addressing the Davos economic forum, he pointed out that a self-regulatory approach had been previously employed by banks — but notably failed to quell the political backlash against their over-reach.
“不管你做什麼，自律（對科技公司來說）都將是不夠完善的，”德意志銀行(Deutsche Bank)監事會主席保羅•阿赫萊特納(Paul Achleitner)說。他在達沃斯經濟論壇的演講中指出，自律方式先前已被銀行所採用——但很明顯這未能平息政治上對銀行過度行爲的強烈反對。
His comments come as opposition grows, particularly in Europe, to the cultural dominance of US tech giants such as Google and Facebook, fuelled by concerns about widespread US internet surveillance and corporate tax avoidance.
他發表此番言論之時，反對美國科技巨頭如谷歌(Google)和Facebook文化主導權的聲音正在增加，尤其是在歐洲。對無所不在的美國互聯網監控以及企業避稅的擔憂助長了這些反對聲音。Google became a target last month for the European Parliament, which backed a motion calling on regulators to consider breaking up the company. The European Commission has also reopened an antitrust probe into the search giant. Uber, the taxi app company, has also faced protests from incumbent groups across Europe.
谷歌上個月成爲歐洲議會(European Parliament)的目標，後者支持一項呼籲監管機構考慮分拆該公司的議案。歐盟委員會(European Commission)也重新啓動了針對這家搜索巨頭的反壟斷調查。出租車應用公司優步(Uber)則面臨來自歐洲各地傳統企業的抗議。“Never assume that because something has been common practice [in the past] it will not be judged harshly in the future,” Mr Achleitner said. He argued that just as bankers had been surprised by the speed at which political attitudes towards them had changed during the 20th century financial revolution, tech leaders could be shocked by a similar shift in the “technology revolution” of the 21st century.
阿赫萊特納說，“永遠不要因爲某些事情（在過去）已經成爲慣例，就以爲它不會在未來受到尖銳的批評。”他認爲，正如在20世紀金融革命中銀行家驚訝於政治態度的快速改變，科技業領袖也會在21世紀的“技術革命”中被類似的轉變所震驚。Fadi Chehadé, president of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the main entity that organises web domains, said that the collapse of trust in technology companies could be “just as big” as it had been for banks. “It’s real [as a threat],” he said, adding that most tech leaders had been far too complacent about the reputational risks.
互聯網名稱與數字地址分配機構(ICANN)總裁法迪·切哈德(Fadi Chehadé)表示，對科技公司信任的崩塌可能與銀行的遭遇“一樣嚴重”。“這是真實的（作爲一種威脅），”他說，大多數科技公司負責人都對聲譽風險過於自滿。The comments are striking because in recent years the level of trust in technology companies has been extraordinarily high, relative to banks.
由於近年來對科技公司的信任程度相對於銀行已經處於相當高的水平，所以這些評論頗爲引人注目。
