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

????聽證會壓根沒提谷歌公司（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，然后免費提供給蘋果的競爭對手。艾米?克勞布查（明尼蘇達州民主黨參議員）和查克?舒默（紐約州民主黨參議員）大部分時間都在討好谷歌董事長埃里克?施密特，實際上是在請求他將谷歌的光纖到戶（fiber-to-the-home）試點擴大到他們所在的州。

????這場聽證會長達三個小時，有些觀眾堅持聽完了會議全程【可在有線衛星公眾事務網絡（C-Span）上觀看】，有一點他們看得很清楚的：目前，谷歌已經發展到對互聯網搜索業務擁有壟斷規模的控制權，它的使命已經發生了改變。對此，點評網站Yelp首席執行官杰里米?斯托普曼概括得最為精辟：

????“我們得搞清楚一點。谷歌目前的業務已經不再是將用戶導向最佳的互聯網信息來源。它現在企圖一步一步成為各個垂直市場的終端站點，包括新聞、購物、旅游，目前則已經拓展到了本地商戶點評。如果這種擴張是在公平競爭環境下展開的，那是一碼事，但現實并非如此。”

????我個人認為，Yelp公司的斯托普曼和Nextag公司的首席執行官杰夫?凱茨所提供的證詞最令人信服，因為這兩人的企業都依托于互聯網，他們對互聯網業務的游戲規則了如指掌。

????如下是斯托普曼向參議員提供的證詞要點：

????“我這個行業經歷的事情很能說明問題。谷歌強迫點評網站免費提供內容，但收益者不是用戶，而是谷歌自己的競爭性產品。然后，谷歌在搜索結果中自己的產品更好的排名。”

????“一年前，谷歌開始未經授權就擅自使用我們的內容。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了只有壟斷寡頭才會給出的最后通牒：如果你們想要在網絡搜索中出現，就必須允許我們使用你們的內容與你們展開競爭。在座的各位應該都清楚，不能在谷歌搜索中出現就等于從互聯網上銷聲匿跡。我們當時別無選擇。”

????據斯托普曼稱，聯邦貿易委員會（FTC）宣布對谷歌展開反壟斷調查，州首席檢察官開始關注這個問題，而且參議院反壟斷委員會發起了這次聽證會之后，谷歌的立場才有所軟化。

????譯者：清遠

????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.