如何抑制科技的阴暗面？

We thought technology products would always be a force for good. We were lured by their convenience and ease-of-use; by the idea of free access to everything and everyone. We did not see the dark side — until it was too late. By then we were already addicted, with horrific consequences for public health, democracy and the economy.

我们曾认为科技产品永远是向善的力量。我们被它们的便利性和易用性所吸引;被其自由连通一切事物和每个人的理念所吸引。我们没看到它们的阴暗面——直到为时晚矣。那时我们已经无法自拔，这在公共健康、民主和经济方面造成了可怕后果。

Smartphones are incredibly valuable, but the apps delivered on them are the technological equivalent of sugar: easy to consume to excess. Internet platforms apply the techniques of propaganda or gambling to trigger emotional responses over which users have little or no control. Technology companies are running an uncontrolled psychological experiment on billions of people. In a perfect world, the makers of smartphones and apps would recognise the harm they have caused and take remedial action. With only a few small exceptions, they have not done so.

智能手机有巨大价值，但手机上安装的应用就像是科技中的甜食：容易让人贪嘴。互联网平台把宣传或赌博的技巧用于触发情绪反应——而用户对这些反应几乎无法自控。科技公司正在对数十亿人进行一场不受管控的心理实验。在理想的世界中，智能手机制造商和应用开发者将认识到它们造成的危害并采取补救措施。在现实中，只有极个别的制造商和开发者这样做了。

In the pursuit of profit, internet platforms are mounting an assault on the minds of children. Governments, educators and parents must step up to address this crisis. Advertising-supported platforms should be regulated in the same way as alcohol and tobacco, with age restrictions and warning labels.

为了逐利，互联网平台正在对儿童的思想发起一场攻击。各国政府、教育工作者和家长必须加紧应对这场危机。靠广告支撑的平台应该像酒精和香烟一样接受监管，设置年龄限制和警告标签。

YouTube Kids has become a wasteland of age-inappropriate videos, stimulating children in ways that make the real world seem boring. While Google has removed huge amounts of age-inappropriate content from YouTube Kids, it has not taken adequate precautions to prevent the posting of such content. YouTube has also become the place for recruiting and training extremists.

YouTube儿童频道(YouTube Kids)充斥着各种少儿不宜的视频，在这些视频的刺激下，现实世界就显得平淡乏味了。尽管谷歌(Google)从YouTube儿童频道中删除了大量少儿不宜的内容，但它并没有采取足够的预防措施来阻止此类内容的发布。YouTube也成了招募和训练极端分子的地方。

Facebook recently introduced Messenger Kids, a texting service whose primary function seems to be to train children for a life lived within its product eco-system. For adolescents, Instagram has become a weapon for psychological bullying.

Facebook最近推出了儿童版短讯服务Messenger Kids，其主要功能似乎是培养儿童适应在其产品生态系统中生活。对青少年来说，Instagram已经成了精神霸凌的武器。

Advertisers themselves are starting to recognise the problem and some are taking action. This week Unilever announced it would withdraw ads from platforms that “create division in society, and promote anger or hate”. Platforms such as Google and Facebook must take steps to “protect our children” the company said.

广告商自己已经开始认识到这个问题，一些广告商正在采取行动。不久前，联合利华(Unilever)宣布将停止在那些“造成社会分裂，扩散愤怒或仇恨”的平台上投放广告。该公司表示，谷歌和Facebook等平台必须采取措施“保护我们的孩子”。

Western democracies need a co-ordinated response to the manipulation of their populations by hostile powers. Facebook alone is used by more than 2bn people.

西方民主国家需要协调行动，共同应对敌对势力操纵其民众的行为。仅Facebook的用户就超过了20亿。

In a world of limitless access to information, disinformation is spreading rapidly. Google’s search results can be gamed with conspiracy theories and nonsense. Facebook exploits its users’ fear and anger to such a degree that many are vulnerable to manipulation by those who exploit its algorithms and architecture to undermine democracy and harm the powerless.

在信息获取不受限制的世界，虚假信息正在迅速传播。谷歌的搜索结果可能被阴谋论和无稽之谈污染。Facebook对用户的恐惧和愤怒的利用达到那样一种地步，以至于利用Facebook的算法和架构来破坏民主制度和伤害弱势者的人们很容易操纵许多Facebook用户。

The crisis we face today is the result of bad incentives created by advertising business models, poor judgment by the executives in charge and ineffective regulation.

我们如今面临的危机是由如下几点造成的：广告商业模式造成的不当激励、主管高管糟糕的判断力以及监管不力。

About one-third of the world’s population owns a smartphone, and many owners check their phones a frightening number of times a day, often from the moment they wake until the moment they go to bed.

全世界约三分之一的人都拥有智能手机，很多人每天查看手机的次数令人瞠目结舌——他们醒来第一件事和睡觉前最后一件事往往就是查看手机。

Not all users of internet platforms are addicted, but the 1.3bn people who use Facebook every day are psychologically attached to it to a degree. Even if they could break the attachment, those users are at the mercy of big corporations whose data archives rival those of the best intelligence services, and whose terms of service confer no meaningful rights to the owners of that data.

并非所有互联网平台的用户都会上瘾，但每天使用Facebook的13亿人对Facebook的心理依赖达到了一定程度。即使他们能够破除这种依赖，他们在那些大公司面前也毫无反抗之力——这些大公司掌握的存档数据堪比最出色的情报机构，而且其服务条款并未赋予这些数据的所有者任何有实际意义的权利。

Big Tech companies insist they should be allowed to regulate themselves. Unfortunately, their record on this point is dreadful. For example, the response of Facebook, Google, and Twitter to evidence of interference on elections has been to deny, delay, and dissemble. Their proposed “fixes” have been inadequate.

大型科技公司坚持称，他们应该获准自我管理。遗憾的是，他们在这方面的过往记录不佳。例如，Facebook、谷歌和Twitter对于干涉大选的证据的反应是否认、拖延、以及掩饰。他们提出的“解决方案”不足以解决问题。

Facebook and Google have grown so large and powerful that new approaches to regulation may be required. The EU’s Global Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is an important step in the right direction, particularly with respect to privacy and data rights. Unfortunately, the EU’s enforcement mechanisms will need an upgrade if they are to deliver on the promise of GDPR.

Facebook和谷歌已经变得太过庞大和强大，可能需要采取新的监管方式。欧盟出台的《一般数据保护条例》(GDPR)是向正确方向迈出的重要一步，特别是在隐私和数据权利方面。遗憾的是，如果欧盟想兑现GDPR的承诺，他们需要升级自己的执法机制。

Restoring privacy and data rights in the EU would be a huge step forward, but there needs to be many more steps. We need to repair democracies in western Europe and North America. We need to protect children from technology that stunts their emotional development. We need to protect adults from interruptions by endless notifications and apps that compete with their sleep. We need to protect economies from the monopolistic behaviour of internet platforms, which has already produced lower rates of innovation and start-up formation.

在欧盟区域内恢复隐私和数据权利将是向前迈出的一大步，但还需要采取更多措施。我们需要修复西欧和北美的民主制度。我们需要保护儿童远离那些阻碍他们情感发育的科技。我们需要保护成年人免受没完没了的通知和剥夺睡眠时间的应用打扰。我们需要让经济不受互联网平台垄断行为的影响。这些平台已经造成了更低的创新率和创业率。

Unlike a year ago, the threat from the internet platform companies is a topic of conversation across the developed world. The next step is to convert talk into action.

与一年前不同，如今来自互联网平台公司的威胁已经成为整个发达世界热议的话题。下一步是把讨论转化为行动。

The writer is a venture capitalist and was an early investor in Facebook and Google

本文作者是一名风险投资家，曾是Facebook和谷歌的早期投资人