The information commissioner gave Facebo

考试题库2022-08-02  33

问题 The information commissioner gave Facebook a rap over the knuckles earlier this month,putting the company on notice of likely fines-the equivalent of a few minutes'revenue-for breaches of privacy.On Wednesday the European commission gave Google a vigorous correction,fining it¢4.3 billion for abusing its market dominance with the AndrOJd operating system which powers the overwhelming majority of the world's mobile phones.Google is appealing.The billions of euros at stake aside,it is easy to see why.Google gives most of Android away,not only to the consumers who use it,but to the companies that build their phones around it.As the company points out,there are more than 24,000 competing Android phones available today,from 1,300 companies.How can that possibly constitute a harmful monopoly?Besides,Google has real competition in the smartphone world from Apple.At the same time,these are exactly the factors that make the commission's decision so interesLing and significant.For Google's business to work,it must become as easy as possible for advertisers to reach users.That is the purpose of all the software that Google gives away,from the Android operating system,through to YouTube,Google search on phones and the Chrome browser.This might look like a cross-subsidy,but on the other hand it is the heart of the company's business.The software that Google gives away is not designed to make a profit on its own.This free version does not include the bits that make a phone useful for anything but making telephone calls,and this was the weak spot in Google's defence.None of the enticements-the mail,the search,the maps and the browser-are included.These can only be used with a proprietary chunk of software that Google controls;and manufacturers who want to use the Play store and 11 crucial Google apps must agree not to build so much as a single phone that does not include them.It is all or nothing.This licensing trick is the way in which Google has undoubtedly limited competition.The commission's decision to punish it probably comes too late to undo the damage it has done.All digital businesses tend towards a monopoly,and this is in part because in some important ways they benefit consumers more the larger they grow.Yet as customers we pay for this in other ways and as citizens even more so,not least because the companies fattened by monopoly profits grow too large to fail and too powerful to challenge.There is a public interest in preventing any company from acquiring almost unlimited power.Regulation defends democracy.Google gives away certain software toA.respond actively io the commission's decision.B.make itself easily accessible to advertisers.C.draw people into its advertising ecosystem.D.avoid distractions from its core business.

选项 A.respond actively io the commission's decision.
B.make itself easily accessible to advertisers.
C.draw people into its advertising ecosystem.
D.avoid distractions from its core business.

答案 C

解析 第三段②③句指出,使广告商尽可能容易地接触用户对谷歌业务的运作至关重要.这正是谷歌送出软件的目的所在,可见C.正确。[解题技巧]A.曲解第三段首句“正是这些因素(包括谷歌送出软件)使欧委会的决定如此重要”,但由第二段可知“无偿送出软件”是谷歌早巳采取的手段,不是在欧委会决定之后才做出的行为。B.将②句“使广告商尽可能容易地接触到用户”篡改为“使谷歌能轻易接触到广告商”。D.与第三段④句“这(送出软件使广告商更容易接触用户)是谷歌的业务核心”相悖。
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