Notice anything?

有發現他們的共通點嗎？

They're all tech companies.

全都是科技公司

And their dominance is attracting attention from watchdog groups that say their market

五巨頭擁有市場優勢地位，引來許多競爭者的監督

power is harming competition and the economy.

撻伐他們危害公平競爭與經濟體系

Is it time to breakup big tech?

這些科技巨擘該受到抵制嗎？

To answer that, you have to understand how tech has exploded.

在回答問題之前，你必須先認識這個科技爆炸的時代

For our purposes let's imagine the top 5 tech giants as Pacman, or "Pac-companies."

為了方便理解，想像一下這五大科技公司為吃豆子的小精靈

Except in this game, there are no ghosts around to avoid—no Blinky, no Clyde,

但差別在於，五巨頭不需要躲避敵人，沒有紅色鬼魂或橘色鬼魂 (註：《小精靈》遊戲中有四種顏色的鬼魂)

Those ghosts are U.S. regulators.

這些鬼魂象徵美國的法規

For the past decade, the U.S. has been mostly hands off with big tech companies, letting them become even bigger

在過去數十年，美國政府默許這些科技大廠藉由併吞其他競爭對手

by swallowing smaller rivals or entering new markets.

來擴張勢力、支配更大部分的市場

Bloomberg data show that in the last 10 years the big 5 have made close to 500 acquisitions

彭博的數據顯示，在過去10年間，五巨頭已併吞將近 500 家企業

worth about $140 billion.

價值約 1400 億美元

Because consumers like the companies' products, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google

消費者愛用他們的產品，因此亞馬遜、蘋果、臉書和谷歌

have developed huge market shares.

市場佔有率非常高

For example, Amazon receives about 93% of all e-book sales.

舉例來說，在電子書市場上，亞馬遜的銷售量就佔了 93 %

Google pulls in about 78% of internet search ad spending in the U.S.

在美國，透過谷歌引導的搜尋引擎廣告量就佔了 78 %

Similarly, Apple and Facebook dominate in high-end smartphones and social media traffic.

蘋果公司和臉書也是，幾乎獨佔了高端的智慧型手機市場和社群網站流量

But being a monopoly isn't illegal in the U.S... Or most other countries.

但其實壟斷在美國並不犯法，在其他國家也是一樣

Regulators stopped equating big with bad a long time ago.

在很早之前，壟斷就已不被視為是一件壞事

Monopoly cases brought by the U.S. have also dwindled.

在美國，因為市場壟斷而引起的法律訴訟越來越少見

In fact, the last high-profile case was filed in 1998, when the justice department successfully

最近一次知名的美國微軟案追溯到西元 1998 年，司法部指控微軟公司

challenged Microsoft's dominance of computer operating systems.

涉嫌違反電腦作業系統市場競爭的法律規定 (註：即反托拉斯法，或臺灣稱作公平交易法)

And that 20-year dry spell in monopoly cases has led some watchdogs to say that enforcement

但接下來 20 年對壟斷訴訟案的消極處理，引起許多人不滿

in the U.S. has become too timid.

批評美國政府太過懦弱

They say big tech is hurting innovation, jobs and wages,

他們撻伐這些大公司阻礙創新、影響工作機會和薪資

and some even blame the behemoths for a decline in successful startups.

甚至有人把新創公司成功率降低怪在這些大公司頭上

In Europe, America's big tech companies have faced more resistance with governments

反觀在歐洲國家的政府極力對抗這些

more aggressively pursuing them.

來自美國的大科技企業

For example, the E.U. has fined Google for abusing its market dominance and Germany is

例如，歐盟曾經因為谷歌壟斷網路搜尋市場，而重罰谷歌公司 (註：罰款 28 億歐元，約將近 35 億美元)

investigating Facebook for its privacy practices.

德國則是對臉書的隱私政策進行調查

Of course, the big tech players don't think they need to be broken up.

當然，這些科技龍頭並不希望受到抵制

They argue their dominance isn't guaranteed because new competitors can easily

他們認為目前的壟斷並不是絕對，因為新的競爭者能夠隨時

jump in.

加入戰場

As Google likes to point out, competition is just “one click away.”

就像谷歌執行長曾說的：只要點一下滑鼠，戰爭將「一觸即發」(註：click 為「點滑鼠」的動詞)