Playboy Interview: Google Guys
2004年花花公子对Google两位创始人的采访

This article appears in the September 2004 issue of Playboy and was taken from Google's S-1.
这篇采访最早出现在花花公子2004年9月份的杂志上，这儿是从Google's S-1复制过来的。
A candid conversation with America’s newest billionaires about their oddball company, how they tamed the web and why their motto is “Don’t be evil”
这是一段和美国最新亿万富翁的坦诚的会谈，关于他们古怪的公司，关于他们如何驯服了网络还有为什么他们的公司信条是“不干坏事”。
Just five years ago a googol was an obscure, unimaginable concept: the number one followed by 100 zeros. Now respelled and capitalized, Google is an essential part of online life. From American cities to remote Chinese villages, more than 65 million people use the Internet search engine each day. It helps them find everything from the arcane to the essential, and Google has become a verb, as in, “I Googled your name on the Internet and, uh, no thanks, I’m not interested in going out Friday night.”
五年前googol 还是一个难懂的无法想象的概念：数字1后面跟着100个0。现在这个单词拼写改了一下，再进行注资，Google成了网上生活不可或缺的一部分。无论是在 美国的大城市还是在遥远的中国的小村庄，每天有6500万人使用这一网络搜索引擎。他可以帮助用户找到任何东西，神秘的，与生活息息相关的全都不在话 下，Google也变成了一个动词，比如“我昨天Google了一下你的名字，嗯，多谢了，我不打算周五晚上和你一起出去了。”
In addition to being the gold standard of Internet search engines, Google is setting a new example for business. It’s difficult to imagine Enron or WorldCom with a creed similar to Google’s: “Don’t be evil,” a motto the company claims to take seriously.
除了设立了网络搜索的黄金标准外，Google也在商业界树立一个新的榜样。很难想像安然(财富500强公司之一，总部所在地美国,主要经营能源)公司和世界电信(财富500强公司之一，总部所在地美国,主要经营电讯)来一条类似“不干坏事”的信条，而Google对自己的信条还非常的认真。
This maxim was perhaps most apparent in May when the company announced it was going public. Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page explained their lofty ambitions. “Searching and organizing all the world’s information is an unusually important task that should be carried out by a company that is trustworthy and interested in the public good,” they wrote in an unprecedented letter to Wall Street. With the release of the letter, Newsweek reported, “The century’s most anticipated IPO was on, and the document, revealing the search giant’s financial details, business strategy and risk factors, instantly eclipsed Bob Woodward’s Iraq book as the most talked about tome in the nation.”
五月份Google宣布即将上市的时候这一信条更是引人瞩目。Google的创始人Sergey Brin和Larry Page阐述了他们崇高的目标,"把全世界的信息搜索组织起来是一项非常重要的工作，这项工作应该由一家让人信得过的以公共利益为重的公司来做，"他们在 给华尔街的一封信中这样写道。这封信公开之后，新闻周报报告说本世纪最受期待的新股发售进入人们的关注中，披露这家搜索巨人财务信息，商业战略和风险因素 的文件立马超过鲍勃 伍德沃德关于伊拉克的书成为国内讨论最多的文章。
Page, 31, is the son of Carl Page, a pioneer in computer science and artificial intelligence at the University of Michigan. Larry was surrounded by computers when he was growing up and once built a programmable ink-jet printer out of Legos. Reticent but wide-eyed and reflective, he is Google’s clean-cut geek in chief, the brilliant engineer and mathematician who oversees the writing of the complex algorithms and computer programs behind the search engine. His partner, Brin, 30, is a native of Moscow, where his father was a math professor. As Jews, the Brins where discriminated against and taunted when they walked down the street. “I was worried that my children would face the same discrimination if we stayed there,” his father told Reuters. “Sometimes the love for one’s country is not mutual.” The family emigrated to the U.S. when Brin was six. A part-time trapeze artist. Brin is the company’s earnest and impassioned visionary—a quieter, nerdier Steve Jobs. Early on, when Google CEO Eric Schmidt was asked how the company determines what exactly is and is not evil, he answered, “Evil is whatever Sergey says is evil.”
Page今年31岁，父亲Carl Page是密西根大学计算机科学和人工智能的先驱。Larry从小就生活在计算机中间，还曾自己用Legos做了一台喷墨式打印机。寡言少语，但是非常的聪明又擅于思考，这位个性鲜明的Google怪才在公司是一流的工程师和数学家，主要负责监督复杂的算法的编写和搜索引擎背后的计算机。他的搭档Brin今年30岁，出生于莫斯科，他的父亲曾经是哪儿的一名数学教授。作为犹太人Brin一家走在街上都会受人歧视，被人嘲笑。“我在担心如果我们一直呆下去我的孩子也会受到同样的歧视，”他的父亲曾对路德社这样讲，“有时候对祖国的的爱并不是相互的。”在Brin六岁的时候他们全家移民到了美国。业余是空中飞人表演者，Brin也是公司最真诚最狂热的幻想家-安静呆子版的斯蒂夫乔布斯。早些时候，有人问Google的CEO Eric Schmidt他们的公司怎么决定什么是坏的什么不是坏的的时候，他回答道，“Sergey 说一件事是坏事它就是坏事。”
Page and Brin met as graduate students at Stanford University. After years of analyzing the mathematics, the computer science and the psychological intricacies involved in searching for useful information on the ever-growing World Wide Web, they came up with the Google search engine in 1998. It was far superior to existing engines, and many companies, including Yahoo and MSN, licensed it. (Yahoo recently severed its ties with Google, introducing its own search engine. Bill Gates, who once admitted that “Google kicked our butts” on search-engine technology, has announced that Microsoft will launch its own search engine next year.) With its simple design and unobtrusive ads, Google has quickly become one of the most frequented websites on the Internet, and the company is one of the fastest growing in history. The financial press has estimated that after the initial public offering, Google will be valued at $30 billion, and Brin and Page, each of whom owns about 15 percent, will be worth more than $4 billion apiece.

Page和Brin是在斯坦福 大学念研究生的时候认识的。在经过多年对数学，计算机科学和在不断增长的互联网上搜索有用的信息时涉及到的错综复杂的心理学分析后，他们于1998年推出 了Google搜索引擎。它把当时已有的搜索引擎远远地抛在了背后，很多公司，包括雅虎和MSN都注册使用他们的引擎。（雅虎最近缩紧了和Google的 关系，并推出了自己的搜索引擎。比尔盖茨，曾经说Google在搜索技术上把我们都打败了，宣布微软会在明年发布自己的搜索引擎。）凭着简单的设计和不那 么引人注目的广告放置方式Google很快成为网络上访问量最大的网站之一，并且是历史上发展最快的公司之一。财务报告估算说在首次公开发行股票后 Google价值在300亿美金的样子，Brin和Page，各自拥有15%的股票，身价都超过了40亿美金。

The two are unlikely billionaires. They seem uninterested in the accoutrements of wealth. Both drive Priuses, Toyota’s hybrid gas-and-electric car. It is impossible to imagine them in Brioni suits. Brin often wears a T-shirt and shorts. Page usually dresses in nondescript short-sleeve collared shirts. Both rent modest apartments. Their only indulgences so far fall into the realm of technology, such as Brin’s Segway Human Transporter, which he occasionally rides around the Googleplex, the company’s Silicon Valley headquarters. (Page often scoots around on Rollerblades or rides a bike.) Page bought a digital communicator that employs voice-recognition technology to place phone calls. Both men are notorious workaholics, though The Wall Street Journal, which uncharacteristically did some sleuthing into their personal lives, reported that they have girlfriends. “Mr. Page has been dating an employee at Google, according to people close to the company,” the Journal reported. “Mr. Brin has started going out with the sister of a Google employee.”
这两个人一点都没有亿万富翁的样子。他们好像对财富的积累没有什么兴趣。两个人都丰田的混合动力的Priuses车。很难想象他们穿上Brioni西装会是什么样子（Brioni是在排他性、社会地位和自我提高性三项指标上排名最高的品牌，同时它也被认为是能为品牌定价带来最大价值空间的品牌）。Brin常常穿T恤衫和短裤。Page穿的最多的也是普普通通的短袖衬衫。两个人租的房子也不张扬。他们唯一沉迷的东西都是些高科技产品，比如Brin的Segway行人代步工具，他有时会骑着绕着Googleplex- 他们公司在硅谷的总部-兜圈子。（Page常常踏着溜冰鞋或等着自行车绕来绕去。）Page买了一台采用语音识别技术的电子通讯机打电话。两个人都是名声 在外的工作狂，然而华尔街日报一反常态，窥探了一下下他们的个人生活，报道说他们都是有女朋友的。“据熟悉公司内部情况的人讲，Page在和Google的一名员工约会，”日报还提到Brin也开始和Google一名员工的妹妹交了朋友。
Contributing Editor David Sheff met with the Google founders at the Googleplex. It is unlike most other offices, with free Odwalla juice, random toys, a pool table, a courtyard lined with scooters and bikes, and an on-site masseuse. In the company’s airy cafeteria, the former chef to the Grateful Dead prepares lunch. Sheff arrived at Google just before the company entered the quiet period prior to its IPO, but he found Brin and Page less interested in the billions of dollars on the horizon than in the day-to-day challenge of running a hugely successful company that provides a valuable service, does good in the world and is fun to work for.
特约编辑David Sheff在Googleplex见到了两位创始人。不像别的地方看到的办公室，这儿有免费的Odwalla果汁，随手放置的玩具，一张台球桌，一个摆满了小型摩托车和自行车的院子，还有现场进行的按摩。在气氛轻松的餐厅里，曾经给感恩死乐队做菜的厨师在准备午餐。Sheff就在公司首次发行股票前那段平静的日子进入Google的，他发现Brin和Page对即将拿到十亿美金的兴趣不是那么大，他们对把这个已经获得巨大成功的公司运作的更好所带来的挑战更感兴趣，他们希望公司能提供有价值的服务，对世界有好处，并且在里面工作很有劲。

“When I arrived, Brin was indeed having fun, playing a sweaty game of volleyball in an open-air plaza,” reports Sheff. “Dragged in shoeless from the court, he contemplated questions with great seriousness while occasionally stabbing at a salad. Throughout our conversation, he and Page, who wore shoes, rarely sat down. Instead they stood up, leaned on their chair backs, climbed on their chairs and wandered about the windowed conference room. It’s apparently impossible to sit still when you’re engaged in changing the world.”
“我到的时候Brin正在汗流浃背地在一个露天场地上玩排球。”Sheff 说。“光着脚就被从排球场上拖了进来，他一边认真周密的思考着问题偶尔还来一口沙拉。在我们的整个谈话期间，他和Page，Page是穿着鞋子的，很少坐 下来。相反他们站着，或者是趴在椅背上或者是爬到椅子上或者在满是窗子的会议室走动。很显然在你忙着改变世界的时候很难安静的坐着。”
PLAYBOY: Google has emerged as one of the most watched companies in the world. Since deciding to go public, have you worried that Google could become less fun because of quarterly reports and the scrutiny of thousands of investors?
PLAYBOY：Google已经成为世界上最受关注的公司了。在决定上市以后，你们有没有担心过因为季度报告和投资者的审查Google变得不再那么好玩？
PAGE: I worry, but I’ve worried all along. I worried as we got bigger and there were new pressures on the company. It wasn’t so long ago that we were all on one floor. Then we moved to a new, larger office building and were on two floors. We added salespeople. Each change was huge and happened over a very short period of time. I learned you have to pay a lot of attention to any company that’s changing rapidly. When we had about 50 people, we initiated weekly TGIF meetings on Friday afternoons so everyone would know what had happened during the week. But those meetings have broken down because we now have too many people, about 1,000, including many who work in different time zones. We try to have a summation of the week’s work via e-mail, but it’s not the same. When you grow, you continually have to invent new processes. We’ve done a pretty good job keeping up, but it’s an ongoing challenge.
PAGE：我担心的，我也是一直在担心。我担心公司做的越来越大压力也随之增加。不久前我们还是在一层楼里。然后我们搬到了一个新的更大的办公楼 里，我们占了两层。我们开始有了销售人员。每次改变动作都非常大，并且总是在很短的时间内。我也认识到你必须关注任何一家改变迅速的公司。我们只有50个 人的时候，每个星期五的下午会有一个TGIF（thank God it's Friday 感谢上帝今天已是星期五）的例会这样每个人都可以了解到本周发生了些什么事。现在这种会议就开不起来了，因为我们现在人太多了，加在一起有1000多，不 少人在不同的时区工作。我们尝宰磐ü始岩恢芮榭龈爬ㄒ幌碌模呛鸵郧安灰谎耍诜⒄沟墓讨心惚匦胝业叫碌牟僮鞣绞健Ｎ颐窃谡夥矫孀龅暮懿伙保?但是这种挑战永无止境。
PLAYBOY: It’s one thing to have volleyball games, refrigerators full of free juice and massages when you’re a start-up, but can you maintain such a laid-back culture as a public company?
PLAYBOY：起步的时候你们可以有网球赛，装满免费果汁饮料的冰箱和免费的按摩，但是成为上市公司以后你们还能保持现在这种松散的公司文化吗？
PAGE: We think a lot about how to maintain our culture and the fun elements. I don’t know if other companies care as much about those things as we do. We spent a lot of time getting our offices right. We think it’s important to have a high density of people. People are packed together everywhere. We all share offices. We like this set of buildings because it’s more like a densely packed university campus than a typical suburban office park.
PAGE：归于如何维持我们的公司文化和其中好玩的部分我们考虑了很多。我想别的公司不会像我们花这么大心思在这些东西上面。为了找到合适的办公室我们花了很长时间。我们认为办公室人员分布的高密度非常的重要。所以我们这儿员工到处都会安排在一起。我们的办公室都是公用的。我们喜欢这座建筑的布局因为它太像一个人口密集的大学校园而不是一个坐落在郊区的办公园。
PLAYBOY: We read that you originally wanted a building without telephones.
PLAYBOY：我曾经了解到最初你们想要一栋没有电话的大楼。
BRIN: That was Larry. He was making the argument that you call most people on their cell phones because you’re not sure if they’re at their desk. Why bother having land lines? We decided to have them, though, because the quality is better. It’s nice to have them.
BRIN：那是Larry的主意。他的理由是当你不确定你要找的人是不是在办公桌前的时候一般你都会打手机。为什么还要安装电话呢？不过我们还是装了，因为通话质量要好一些。有电话也非常的不错。
PLAYBOY: Do you subscribe to any particular management theories, or do you make them up as you go?
PLAYBOY：你们是采取现有的管理理论还是随着公司的发展自己摸索出来一套理论？
PAGE: We try to use elements from different companies, but a lot is seat-of-your-pants stuff.
PAGE：我们尝试过别的公司的一些理念，但是很多都是自己创造的。
PLAYBOY: How will you avoid the mistakes of many other dot-coms? After their IPOs, employees became more focused on the stock price than on their jobs. Many of those companies are gone.
PLAYBOY：你们怎么来避免一些别的网络公司的错误。在股票首次公开发行后他们的员工更关注的是股票的价格而不是自己的工作。很多这种公司都倒了。
PAGE: Those companies are not good analogues for Google.
PAGE：这些公司和Google没有比较的。
PLAYBOY: But like you, they were Internet-focused technology companies. What’s the difference?
PLAYBOY：但是也是像你们一样啊，他们也是专注互联网的科技公司。其中的区别在哪里？
PAGE: A lot of those companies were around for less than a year or two before they went public. We’ve been around for five. We’re at a pretty significant scale, too. We have more than 150,000 advertisers and a lot of salespeople. Millions of people use Google. It’s a completely different thing.
PAGE：不少这种公司才开了不到一年或两年就上市了。我们已经运营了五年。我们的规模也比较大。现在我们有150,000广告客户和很多的销售人员。数以百万计的人在使用Google。这两者根本无法相提并论。
PLAYBOY: And you’re profitable.
PLAYBOY：还有你们是赚钱的。
PAGE: That’s a difference, yes. The dot-com period was difficult for us. We were dismayed in that climate.
PAGE：是的，这也是一个区别。网络公司阶段对我们来说非常的困难。我们在那种环境下很郁闷。
PLAYBOY: What dismayed you?
PLAYBOY：什么使你们感到郁闷呢？
PAGE: We knew a lot of things people were doing weren’t sustainable, and that made it hard for us to operate. We couldn’t get good people for reasonable prices. We couldn’t get office space. It was a hypercompetitive time. We had the opportunity to invest in 100 or more companies and didn’t invest in any of them. I guess we lost a lot of money in the short term—but not in the long term.
PAGE： 我们知道有些人做的不少事是不长远的，这样一来对我们的操作就造成了困难。在合理的价格上我们找不到好的客户。我们找不到办公场所。对我们来说那是一个竞 争过度激烈的阶段。我们曾经有机会投资100多个公司但是最终我们一个都有真正去做。我想我们在短时间内是赔了一些钱，但是从长久来看我们不会赔钱。
PLAYBOY: Companies tried to buy you, too. Did you ever consider selling Google?
PLAYBOY：有些公司也想收购你们。你们有没有考虑过把Google给卖掉。

PAGE: No. We think we’re an important company, and we’re dedicated to doing this over the long term. We like being independent.
PAGE：从没考虑过。我们认为我们是一家非常重要的公司，我们想长期做下去。我们希望是独立的做下去。
PLAYBOY: Is your company motto really “Don’t be evil”?
PLAYBOY：你们公司的信条真的是“不干坏事吗”
BRIN: Yes, it’s real.
BRIN：是的，这是真的。
PLAYBOY: Is it a written code?
PLAYBOY：这是成文的信条吗？
BRIN: Yes. We have other rules, too.
BRIN：是啊，我们也有一些其它的准则啊。
PAGE: We allow dogs, for example.
PAGE：比如我们允许带狗。
BRIN: As for “Don’t be evil,” we have tried to define precisely what it means to be a force for good—always do the right, ethical thing. Ultimately, “Don’t be evil” seems the easiest way to summarize it.
BRIN：关于“不干坏事”我们曾经试做过详细的解释。它的意思其实是做好事-只做道德意义上的好事。最后我们认为“不干坏事”能最简单的表达这个意思。
PAGE: Apparently people like it better than “Be good.”
PAGE：和“做好事”比起来，人们更喜欢现在的信条。
BRIN: It’s not enough not to be evil. We also actively try to be good.
BRIN：不干坏事还不够。我们也一直努力做好事。
PLAYBOY: Who ultimately decides what is evil? Eric Schmidt, your CEO, once said, “Evil is whatever Sergey decides is evil.”
PLAYBOY：谁最终决定一件事是坏事呢？你们的CEO Eric Schmidt曾经说过“Sergey 说一件事是坏事它就是坏事。”
PAGE: That was not one of his best quotes, though it’s memorable.
PAGE：这还不是他最经典的语录，这条也很令人难忘。
PLAYBOY: How does it work?
PLAYBOY：你们是怎么做到的呢？
BRIN: We deal with all varieties of information. Somebody’s always upset no matter what we do. We have to make a decision; otherwise there’s a never-ending debate. Some issues are crystal clear. When they’re less clear and opinions differ, sometimes we have to break a tie. For example, we don’t accept ads for hard liquor, but we accept ads for wine. It’s just a personal preference. We don’t allow gun ads, and the gun lobby got upset about that. We don’t try to put our sense of ethics into the search results, but we do when it comes to advertising.
BRIN：我们需要处理各种各样的信息。不管我们做什么总会有人不开心。但是我们必须有一个结论；要不就会陷入无穷无尽的争论中。有时问题很明显。当问题不是那么的明显，观点出现的分歧的时候我们必须打破僵局。比如我们不接受烈性酒的广告，但是葡萄酒完全没有问题。这只是个人偏好问题。我们也不允许枪支广告，然后枪支集团就不怎么开心。我们一般避免把自己的道德观强加在搜索结果里面，但是在做广告的时候我们会的。
PLAYBOY: Who decides that wine is all right but hard liquor isn’t?
PLAYBOY：谁来定做葡萄酒广告可以而烈性酒就不行呢？
BRIN: We collect input. I think we do a good job of deciding. As I said, we believe that “Don’t be evil” is only half of it. There’s a “Be good” rule also.
BRIN：我们会收集反馈信息。我认么我们在做决策方面还是不错的。就像我说的我们认为不干坏事只是表达了意思的一半。还有一条做好事的规则。
PLAYBOY: How are you good?
PLAYBOY：你们怎么做好事的呢？
BRIN: We have Google grants that give advertising to nonprofit organizations. A couple hundred nonprofits—ranging from the environment to health to education to preventing various kinds of abuse by governments—receive free advertising on Google.
BRIN：Google答应替非营利性组织免费做广告。有几百种非营利性内容-从环境到教育到仿制政府部门滥用职权-可以在Google上免费做广告。
PAGE: We’re also working to set up a Google foundation that will have even broader initiatives. The “Be good” concept also comes up when we design our products. We want them to have positive social effects. For example, we just released Gmail, a free e-mail service. We said, “We will not hold your e-mail hostage.” We will make it possible for you to get your e-mail out of Gmail if you ever want to.
PAGE：我们还打算设立范围更广的Google基金会。我们在设计产品的时候也会把做好事的理念在里面。比如我们刚刚上线的Gmail，一款免费的电子邮件服务。我们说我们不会劫持你的电子邮件。只要你乐意你完全可以把邮件从Gmail中倒出来。
BRIN: You won’t have to stay with us just to keep your address.
BRIN：你不一定非要用我们的服务才能使用你的邮件地址。
PAGE: Which is something we view as a social good.
PAGE：在我们看来这就是对社会做出了贡献。
BRIN: Another social good is simply providing a free and powerful communication service to everyone in the world. A schoolchild in Cambodia can have a Gmail account.
BRIN：贡献社会就是向全世界提供免费的强大的通讯工具。一个柬埔寨的小学生也可以申请Gmail帐号。
PLAYBOY: But Yahoo and MSN’s Hotmail already offer free e-mail accounts.
PLAYBOY：但是雅虎和微软已经提供免费的电子邮件了啊。
BRIN: This one has one gigabyte of storage—200 times more.
BRIN：这个有1GB的存储空间啊-200倍还多。
PLAYBOY: But there’s a catch. You have stated that you will scan e-mail in order to target advertisements based on its content. As a San Jose Mercury News columnist wrote, “If Google ogles your e-mail, could Ashcroft be far behind?”
PLAYBOY：但是他们可以赶上来啊。你们说你们会扫描邮件然后根据邮件的内容派送广告。圣何塞时报的专栏作家写道，“如果Google在关注你的电子邮件，那Ashcroft （如今的Ashcroft主义也是利用人们对恐怖主义的恐惧，利用民意的支持，破坏美国的自由。）还远吗”
BRIN: When people first read about this feature, it sounded alarming, but it isn’t. The ads correlate to the message you’re reading at the time. We’re not keeping your mail and mining it or anything like that. And no information whatsoever goes out.
BRIN：人们第一次看到这一功能的时候觉得很可怕，其实不然。你看邮件的时候关广告才会冒出来。我们不会保留你的邮件，不会杆任何类似偷偷的窃取你邮件的内容的事。没有任何信息会泄露出来。
PLAYBOY: Regardless, it’s analogous to someone looking over our shoulder as we write private messages.
PLAYBOY：但是，这和你写私人信息的时候别人从你后面看没有什么区别。
PAGE: You should trust whoever is handling your e-mail.
PAGE：你应该对收发你邮件的人放心。
BRIN: We need to be protective of the mail and of people’s privacy. If you have people’s e-mail, you have to treat that very seriously. We do. Everyone who handles e-mail has that responsibility.
BRIN：我们需要保护邮件和人们的隐私。特别是你手里有他们的邮件，你必须非常的认真，我们就是。每个负责收发邮件的人都有这个义务。
PLAYBOY: The Electronic Privacy Information Center equates such monitoring with a telephone operator listening to your conversations and pitching ads while you talk.
PLAYBOY：电子隐私信息研究中心把这种监控行为和电话接线员一边听你谈话一边在你说的时候插入广告相等同。
BRIN: That’s what Hotmail and Yahoo do, don’t forget. They have big ads that interfere with your ability to use your mail. Our ads are more discreet and off to the side. Yes, the ads are related to what you are looking at, but that can make them more useful.
BRIN: 不要忘了这也是Hotmail和雅虎在做的啊。他们大幅的广告甚至影响到你的邮件的使用。我们的广告更不那么张扬，只在侧边显示。显示的广告是和你正在看的内容相关，正是因为这样广告才更有用。
PAGE: During Gmail tests, people bought lots of things using the ads.
PAGE：在Gmail的测试阶段人们就通过广告买了不少东西。
BRIN: Today I got a message from a friend saying I should prepare a toast for another friend’s birthday party. Off to the side were two websites I could go to that help prepare speeches. I like to make up my own speeches, but it’s a useful link if I want to take advantage of it.
BRIN：今天我收到朋友的一条消息，说我应该为另一个朋友的生日聚会准备一篇祝酒词。侧边栏里就显示出两个网站，可以帮助你准备演讲。我喜欢自己写演讲稿，但是如果你想利用这就是非常有用的链接。
PLAYBOY: Even that sounds ominous. We may not want anyone—or any machine—knowing we’re giving a speech at a friend’s birthday party.
PLAYBOY：那听起来还是有点不妙。我们可能不希望任何人或任何机器知道我们要在一个朋友的生日聚会上演讲。
BRIN: Any web mail service will scan your e-mail. It scans it in order to show it to you; it scans it for spam. All I can say is that we are very up-front about it. That’s an important principle of ours.
BRIN：任何基于网络的电子邮件服务都会扫描你的邮件的。扫描了才能显示给你看；扫描了才知道是不是垃圾邮件。我要说的是我们更坦诚一些。这也是我们的一条非常重要的原则。
PLAYBOY: But do you agree that it raises a privacy issue? If you scan for keywords that will trigger ads, you could easily scan for political content.
PLAYBOY：但是如果说这涉及到了隐私问题你会同意吗？如果你可以扫描可以投放广告的关键词，你完全可以扫描政治内容的。
BRIN: All we’re doing is showing ads. It’s automated. No one is looking, so I don’t think it’s a privacy issue. To me, if it’s a choice between big, intrusive ads and our smaller ones, it’s a pretty obvious choice. I’ve used Gmail for a while, and I like having the ads.
BRIN：我们做的只是显示广告。这是自动的。没有人会看到，我想这不是一个隐私问题。对我来说，只是一个在巨大的霸道的广告和我们的不那么张扬的广告之间的选择，而选择的结果也很明显。我自己使用Gmail有一阵子了，我希望看到这些广告。
PLAYBOY: Do the ads pay for the extra storage space?
PLAYBOY：是这些广告为多出来的存储空间买单吗？
BRIN: Yes. Targeted advertising is an important component. We could have had glaring videos appear before you look at every message. That could generate revenue too. Our ads aren’t distracting; they’re helpful.
BRIN：是的，针对目标的广告是重要的组成部分。我们也可以在显示你的每条邮件之前先给你播放一段花花绿绿的视频。这也能带来收入。我们的广告不会让你分心，而会对你有所帮助。
PAGE: I find it works well. And it’s an example of the way we try to do good. It’s a high-quality product. I like using it. Even if it seems a little spooky at first, it’s useful, and it’s a good way to support a valuable service.
PAGE：我认为它很好啊。这也是我们做好事的一种方式的。这款产品品质很好。我很喜欢。刚开始可能感觉怪怪的，但是这是支持一款有价值的产品的好的途径。
PLAYBOY: Did the outcry about the privacy issue surprise you?
PLAYBOY：对隐私问题的一些公开反对你们有没有感到意外？
BRIN: Yes. The Gmail thing has been a bit of a lesson.
BRIN：是的，在Gmail问题上我们学到了一课。
PAGE: We learned a few things. There was a lot of debate about whether we were going to delete people’s mail if they wanted it to be deleted. Obviously, you want us to have backups of your mail to protect it, but that raises privacy issues. We created a policy statement about privacy, and the attorneys probably got a little ahead of themselves. The lawyers wrote something that was not very specific. It said something like, “If you request that we delete your e-mail, it may remain on a backup system for a while.” It led people to say, “Google wants to keep my deleted mail.” That’s not our intent at all. Since then we have added some language explaining it. We intend to try to delete it.
PAGE：我们了解了一些东西。在关于人们删除邮件的时候我们会不会删除问题上有一些争论。很明显你要求我们做备份以更好的保护你的邮件，但是这又涉及到了隐私问题。我们起草了一份关于隐私问题的声明，律师有点高估了自己的能力。然后他们写的不是非常明确，“如果你要求删除自己的邮件，这些邮件在系统上备份还会继续存在一段时间。”人们就说，“Google想保留我打算删除的邮件。”我们根本不是这个意思。从那以后我们又添加了一些说明的文字。我们也想删除这些邮件。
PLAYBOY: That’s not reassuring.
PLAYBOY：这让人们还不是很放心。
PAGE: But you wouldn’t want us to lose your mail, either. There’s a trade-off. So yes, we learned some things. We could have done a better job on the messaging. In its earliest testing stages Gmail was available only to a small number of people. People started talking about it before they could try it. I didn’t expect them to be so interested. We released the privacy policy, and they were very interested in that. It was all they had access to, so it sparked a lot of controversy. The more people tried Gmail, however, the more they understood it.
PAGE：但是你也不希望我们丢掉你的邮件啊，这就是代价。我们还是学到了一些东西。我们在邮件方面做的更好了。在测试的初期Gmail只对一小部分人开放。人们在真正使用之前就开始谈论。我没有想到他们的兴趣会这么大。我们发布了隐私的条款他们也是非常的感兴趣。这也是他们能看到的，所以才会激起那么多的对立观点。人们用的越多对Gmail的了解也更多。
BRIN: Journalists who tried it wrote positive reviews.
BRIN：试用过的记者写了一些肯定的测评。
PLAYBOY: With the addition of e-mail, Froogle—your new shopping site—and Google news, plus your search engine, will Google become a portal similar to Yahoo, AOL or MSN? Many Internet companies were founded as portals. It was assumed that the more services you provided, the longer people would stay on your website and the more revenue you could generate from advertising and pay services.
PLAYBOY：在引入了电子邮件，Froogle-你们新的购物网站-和Google新闻，再加上你们的搜索引擎，Google会不会变成一个像Yahoo，AOL或者MSN那样的门户网站呢？据说你们提供的服务越多人们在你们的网站上待的时间就越长，你们通过广告和付费服务得到的收入也越多。
PAGE: We built a business on the opposite message. We want you to come to Google and quickly find what you want. Then we’re happy to send you to the other sites. In fact, that’s the point. The portal strategy tries to own all of the information.
PAGE：我们的商业运行基于一个完全相反的理念。我们希望你到Google来很快就能找到自己想要的东西。我们很乐意把你引导到别的网站上去。事实上这才是最重要的。而门户网站的战略是把所有的信息都据为己有。
PLAYBOY: Portals attempt to create what they call sticky content to keep a user as long as possible.
PLAYBOY：门户网站试图创建一些他们所说的粘性内容来尽可能长地留住用户。
PAGE: That’s the problem. Most portals show their own content above content elsewhere on the web. We feel that’s a conflict of interest, analogous to taking money for search results. Their search engine doesn’t necessarily provide the best results; it provides the portal’s results. Google conscientiously tries to stay away from that. We want to get you out of Google and to the right place as fast as possible. It’s a very different model.
PAGE：这就是问题了。大部分门户网站会把自己的内容放在别人的内容的上面。我们认为这是利益起了作用，就好像收钱显示搜索结果一样。他们的搜索引擎不一定提供最好的搜索结果；它一定会提供门户网站自己的结果。Google非常小心地避开这种做法。我们希望把你从Google送走，尽快的送到对的地方。这完全是一种不同的模式。
PLAYBOY: Until you launched news, Gmail, Froogle and similar services.
PLAYBOY：直到你们发布了新闻，Gmail，Froogle和类似的服务。
PAGE: These are just other technologies to help you use the web. They’re an alternative, hopefully a good one. But we continue to point users to the best websites and try to do whatever is in their best interest. With news, we’re not buying information and then pointing users to information we own. We collect many news sources, list them and point the user to other websites. Gmail is just a good mail program with lots of storage.
PAGE：这只是一些可以帮助你利用网络的一些别的技术。他们是一个替补，最好是好的替补。但是我们还会继续把用户送到最合适的网站上并尽可能的为他们着想。那新闻来说我们不是把信息买下来，然后把用户带到我们所有的信息那里。我们搜集无数的新闻资源，列出来然后把用户带到别的网站上。Gmail只是一个有巨大存储空间的优秀的网络邮件工具。
BRIN: Ironically, toward the end of the 1990s most of the portals started as search engines. Yahoo was the exception, but Excite, Infoseek, HotBot and Lycos began as search engines. They diversified and didn’t take searching as seriously as they should have. Searching was viewed as just another service, one of 100 different services. With 100 services, they assumed they would be 100 times as successful. But they learned that not all services are created equal. Finding information is much more important to most people than horoscopes, stock quotes or a whole range of other things—which all have merit, but searching is substantially more important. They lost sight of that. It’s why we started Google in the first place. We decided that searching is an important problem that requires serious concentration. That continues to be our focus.
BRIN：具有讽刺意味的是，在上个世纪90年代末的时候基本上所有的门户网站都开始做搜索引擎了。Yahoo是个例外，但是Excite， Infoseek， HotBot和Lycos都开始转型成为了搜索引擎。他们中间差异也很大但是他们并没有以应有的认真的态度对待搜索这件事。搜索被看成一种服务，上百种不同的服务中的一种。有了一百种服务他们就异想天开的认为他们会一百倍的成功。但是他们也了解到了不是所有的服务都是平等的。查找信息对大多数人来说都比星座，股票行情或者是其他一大堆东西重要的多，这些东西也各有各的用处，但是搜索是真正的重要。他们没有意识到这一点。这就是为什么我们会创立Google第一大理由。我们认为搜索是一件重要的事，需要用心去做。这一直都是我们关注的焦点。
PLAYBOY: What does Google do that early search engines didn’t?
PLAYBOY：Google做了些什么早期搜索引擎不能做的事？
BRIN: Before Google, I don’t think people put much effort into the ordering of results. You might get a couple thousand results for a query. We saw that a thousand results weren’t necessarily as useful as 10 good ones. We developed a system that determines the best and most useful websites. We also understood that the problem of finding useful information was expanding as the web expanded. In 1993 and 1994, when Mosaic, the predecessor of Netscape, was launched, a “What’s New” page listed new websites for the month and then, when more began appearing, for the week. At the time, search engineers had to deal with a relative handful of sites, first thousands and then tens of thousands. By the time we deployed our initial commercial version of Google in late 1998, we had 25 million or 30 million pages in our index. Today we have billions—more than 4 billion, in fact. That volume requires a different approach to search technology.
BRIN：在Google之前我认为人们没有在结果的排序上下什么功夫。你的一个查询可能会得到几千条结果。在我们看来一千条结果还不如十条好的更有用。我们开发了一个系统，它可以分析出最好最有帮助的网站。我们意识到随着网络的扩张查询到有用的信息的问题也会越来越突出。在1993年和1994年网景浏览器的前身Mosaic发布的时候，一个“最新上线”的页面会把当月新上线的网站列出来，后来随着上线网站的数量增加，开始列出本周最新上线的网站。那时搜索工程师面对的是数量相对有限的网站，最开始只有上千个，然后是上万。1998年我们开始推出商业版Google的时候就检索了2500到3000万个网页。今天我们检索中的网页有数十亿-事实上至少有40亿。这么大的数字需要一种不同的搜索技术。
PLAYBOY: How do you refine the results when there are so many websites?
PLAYBOY：有这么多的网站你们是怎么优化这些结果的呢？
BRIN: We had to solve several problems. One was relevance: How do we determine if a web page relates to what you ask? Next, although many results may be relevant, which are the most relevant and the most useful? That’s something we continue to work hard on. Another important consideration is that the kinds of questions people ask have changed. They have become far more challenging and complex. People’s expectations have grown. They ask for unusual things that have a variety of associated linguistic challenges. We have to deal with all of those situations.
BRIN：我们需要解决几个问题。一个是相关性：我们怎么判断一个网页和你查询的内容是否相关呢？其次，尽管有不少结果都相关，但是那些才是最相关，最有用的呢？这些也是我们会继续努力探索的问题。还有一个考虑是人们问的问题已经改变了。他们越来越复杂也越来越有挑战性。人们的期望值也提高了。他们会问一些不常见的包含一些语言学上的难题。我们必须应对这些情况。
PLAYBOY: Specifically, how do you deal with them?
PLAYBOY：具体说来，你们怎么应对的呢？
BRIN: It’s so complex—there’s not one way but many ways. We worked hard to understand the link structure of the web. It’s analogous to the way people provide references to one another. If I’m looking for a doctor in the area, I might go around and ask my friends to recommend good doctors. They in turn may point me to other people who know more than they do—”This guy knows the whole field of Bay Area doctors.” I would then go to that person and ask him. The same thinking applies to websites. They refer to one an other with links, a system that simulates referrals. The web is far more expansive and broad, however, so there must be refinements to the system. We have to look at who is doing the referring. It presents a new challenge: How do you decide the importance of the links on a site? We do it with mathematical formulas that go deeper and weigh many factors.
BRIN：这个问题太复杂了-应对的方法不止一种而是有好多种。我们努力理解网络的链接结构。这和人们相互提供参考的方式差不多。如果我在这个地区找位医生，我可能会到处问我的朋友来推荐。他们会让我去找那些更熟悉情况的人-“这个家伙知道海湾地区所有的医生。”我就会去问那个人。同样的想法对网站也适用。它们通过链接相互推荐，而系统就像一个参考。然而网络非常的庞大，这个系统就需要优化。我们要看是谁推荐的。这就会提出新的挑战：你怎么判断一个网站上的链接的重要性？我们利用数学公式深入发掘并衡量各种因素。
PAGE: That’s a small part of how we actually link pages. It’s very complex.
PAGE：这只是我们实际上链接网页的一部分，这项工作非常的复杂。
BRIN: We have to consider many other challenges. How do you deal with different words that refer to the same concept? How do you help people find websites in languages they understand? Can we translate pages for them? Google is all about getting the right information to people quickly, easily, cheaply—and for free. We serve the world—all countries, at least 100 different languages. It’s a powerful service that most people probably couldn’t have dreamed of 20 years ago. It’s available to the rich, the poor, street children in Cambodia, stock traders on Wall Street—basically everybody. It’s very democratic.
BRIN：我们还必须考虑到许多别的挑战。怎么来处理表达同一概念的不同的单词？怎么帮助用户找到使用自己的语言的网站？Google就是要帮助人们快速的，方便的，廉价的找到正确的信息-并且完全免费。我们为世界上所有的国家提供超过100多种语言的服务。这么强大的工具，人们在20年前是根本想不到的。不管是有钱人还是穷人，不管是Cambodia的街头小孩还是华尔街上的股票经纪人，基本上是所有人都可以使用Google。这非常的民主。
PLAYBOY: Tim Berners-Lee, who designed the World Wide Web, worried that commercial content would prevail on the Internet, pushing aside open and free conversation and information from individuals. Does Google have a bias toward commercial websites?
PLAYBOY：Tim Berners-Lee，互联网的创始人担心商业内容最终会在网上大行其道，开源的免费的对话和来自个人的信息会失去市场，Google对商业网站存在偏见吗？
BRIN: One thing that’s important to us is the distinction between advertising and pure search results. We make it clear when something is paid for. Our advertising is off to the side and in a couple of slots across the top. Ads are clearly marked. There’s a clear, large wall between the objective search results and the ads, which have commercial influence. Other search engines don’t necessarily distinguish. Beyond ads, with other search engines, payment affects the results. We think that’s a slippery slope. At Google, the search results cannot be bought or paid for.
BRIN：对我们来说最重要的是把广告和纯粹的搜索结果区分开。如果有内容是付费显示的我们会有清楚的说明。我们的广告是在边上或者是在最上面的一两个位置上出现。广告都清晰的标了出来。客观的搜索结果和有商业影响的广告之间有一道清晰的巨大的墙隔开。别的搜索引擎不一定会把搜索结果和广告区分开来。对于一些搜索引擎来说，付费除了会影响广告还会影响到搜索结果。我们认为这中间很有问题。在Google你买不到也不能通过付费影响搜索结果。
PLAYBOY: Will that distinction be protected after the IPO? What if your shareholders push you to accept payment for better placement in search results?
PLAYBOY：在股票首次公开发行后这样的区分会收到保护吗？如果股票持有人要求你们接受通过付费提供搜索结果中更好的位置的做法，你们会怎么办？
BRIN: It doesn’t make sense. Why don’t you, as a magazine, accept payment for your articles? Why are advertisements clearly separate?
BRIN：这是没有道理的。你们作为一本杂志为什么不接受付费来发表文章？为什么广告都非常清晰的区分开来？
PLAYBOY: Our editorial content retains its credibility only if it isn’t influenced by advertisers. If that line were unclear, our readers would rebel.
PLAYBOY：只有不受到广告商的影响我们的内容才会真实可信。如果两者之间的关系比较模糊我们的读者可能会造反。
PAGE: There you go. It’s no different for Google. People use Google because they trust us.
PAGE：这就对了。对Google来说也是一样的道理。人们使用Google因为他们相信我们。
PLAYBOY: With search engines, however, the line between editorial content and advertisements may become less obvious than in magazines. As you note, some search engines do not clearly identify results that are paid for. How can users know the difference?
PLAYBOY：对于搜索引擎来说，正文内容和广告的区分不像在杂志上那么清晰。就像你提到的有些搜索引擎甚至把搜索结果和付费结果混在一起。用户怎么知道它们之间的区别？
PAGE: It’s a problem for us because some people assume we blur the distinction as well. But people are smart. They can distinguish pure results. We will continue to make it clear.
PAGE：对我们来说这也是一个问题因为有人认为我们同样模糊了两者之间的区别。但是人们是非常宗明的，他们可以区分出纯粹的搜索结果，以后我们也会把两者的区分标明。
BRIN: It’s an important issue, something people should be concerned about. We’re dedicated to separating advertising and search results, and we want people to understand the distinction. The more awareness among the entire world’s people about these questions—their ability to understand results that are tainted versus those that are not—the better. It’s not enough for us to improve the search engine so it provides better results from more web pages; we must also protect it from people who attempt to manipulate the results. People try to find ways around our system, and we continue to work on the problem.
BRIN：这是一个非常重要的问题，一个人们应该关心的问题。我们会努力把广告和搜索结果区分开来，我们希望人们能了解这一区分。全世界的用户对于这些问题-他们理解有些搜索结果被修改过和没有被修改过越是了解就越好。对我们来说单单改进搜索引擎以检索更多的网页提供更好的搜索结果是远远不够的；我们还必须保护它远离那些试图对搜索结果动手脚的人。人们想办法绕过我们的系统，我们也会进一步研究这一问题。
PLAYBOY: And yet an entire industry of optimizers seeks to influence Google search results. They claim they can help companies place higher in your rankings, but sometimes they resort to treachery. How do you counteract them?
PLAYBOY：确实有一大帮搜索优化专家试图影响Google的搜索结果。他们声称他们可以帮助提升公司在你们的排名中的位置，但是有时他们干脆作弊。你们采取了什么样的应对措施？
BRIN: You have to distinguish among optimizers. Some do perfectly legitimate things—they’re just trying to create informative sites.
BRIN：优化者也要区分的，有人一点都没有越界-他们在努力创建信息网站。
PAGE: They help people find what they’re looking for.
PAGE：他们会帮人们找到想要的东西。
BRIN: But some people do surreptitious things. They try to influence the system.
BRIN：但是有些人就来暗的。他们试图影响系统。
PLAYBOY: What are some examples of new techniques people use to influence your search results?
PLAYBOY：能不能举些人们常用的用来影响你们搜索结果的伎俩？
BRIN: People send us web pages to review that are different from the ones they’ll send to users. It’s known as cloaking. They’ll put stuff on their web pages that the user can’t see—black-on-black text, for example. We consider that manipulative and work to combat it.
BRIN：他们发给我们看的网页和给用户看到的网页完全两样。他们会在网页上放一些用户看不到的内容-比如黑色的字出现在黑色的背景上。我们认为这不怎么厚道我们将会坚决抵制这种做法。
PLAYBOY: Playing cat and mouse like this, how can you be sure to stop them?
PLAYBOY：玩这种猫鼠游戏，你们怎么来制止他们呢？
PAGE: We have a lot of people devoted to stopping them. We do a good job.
PAGE：我们有不少人负责这一块的。我们做的也不错。
BRIN: People try new things all the time. By now, the people who succeed have to be very sophisticated. All the obvious or trivial things one might think of have been done many times, and we’ve dealt with them.
BRIN：总有人想出来新的馊主意。但是现在想成功要非常的复杂才行。所有你能想到的太明显的或者太小的办法都试过很多遍了，我们已经搞定这些小把戏了。
PAGE: It’s going to get harder and harder to do these things. However, the benefits are obviously large, so some people will try to manipulate the results. Ultimately, it’s not worth it. If you’re spending time, trouble and money promoting your results, why not just buy advertising? We sell it, and it’s effective. Use that instead. Advertising is more predictable and probably more effective.
PAGE：这样做越来越困难了。但是受巨大利益的驱使还是有人尝试去操纵搜索结果。最终看来这根本就不值得。你时间精力金钱都搭上去就是为了推广你的结果而已，为什么不直接买广告呢？我们提供这项服务并且很有效。用广告好了，广告更容易预测也更有效。
PLAYBOY: Yet it may not carry the weight of a search that appears to be unaffected by money.
PLAYBOY：对于一个不受金钱影响的搜索结果来说，这种做法就承担不起那份重量。
PAGE: Yes. So people will try, and we will continue to stop them. Eventually people may realize that it’s more efficient just to pay to promote their things, if that’s what they want to do.
PAGE：是的，因此人们会继续尝试下去，我们也不会坐视不管。人们最终会认识到付费推广他们的产品的做法更有效，如果他们真的想推广他们的产品。
BRIN: That’s absolutely true, because ads on Google work. We know that when people are looking for commercial things, they use the ads. They know they’re ads and they know they’re just commercial, yet they use them.
BRIN：非常正确，因为Google上广告非常的棒。我们了解到人们在找一些商品的时候他们会用到广告。他们知道这些是广告，他们也知道这是赞助链接，他们还是会用的。
PLAYBOY: How do you fight Google bombing, a tactic some people use to manipulate search results by linking words? For instance, if they have their way, the query “world’s dumbest man” might lead you to the White House web page.
PLAYBOY：你们是怎么对付Google炸弹的，一种某些人通过连接一些单词操纵搜索结果的手段？比如，如果他们有机会，查询“世界上最笨的人”可能会链接到白宫的网站上。
BRIN: That’s in a different category. We call it spam but not in the sense of e-mail. People try to make political statements using search results. They want to affect the results when you search for something obscure and specific, say “French military victories.” They get tons of people to link the phrase to a website that pushes their political point of view. These queries are rare. The number of people interested in French military victories is tiny. There may be no other websites dedicated to that topic, so people create a page with the idea of controlling a message.
BRIN：这又是另一个类别了。我们把这种做法称为垃圾信息，但不是电子邮件里讲的垃圾邮件。人们试图利用搜索结果来宣传自己的政治观点。当你搜索一些费解的但是非常确切的东西时，比如“法国军事胜利”他们就试图影响搜索的结果。通过一个短语他们会吸引无数的人链接到他们宣传他们的政治观点的网站上。这种搜索很少，对法国军事胜利感兴趣的人更少。可能没有其他网站专门谈到这个问题，因此他们为了控制这一条信息创建了一个网页。
PAGE: People do it because it’s like discovering fire: “We can affect the web!” Well, you are the web, so of course you can affect it.
PAGE：人们做这个就像发现火种似的“我们可以影响网络！”但是你就是网络，你当然可以影响它啦。
BRIN: Typically Google bombs don’t affect people looking for information.
BRIN：一般说来Google炸弹不会影响到查找信息的用户。
PAGE: They’re more like entertainment.
PAGE：他们看起来更具娱乐性。
PLAYBOY: How can you balance the more modest sites of nonprofits or consumer groups with those of enormous companies and industries? If we research a controversial topic, how can Google be certain to point us to sites that reflect both sides of an issue?
PLAYBOY：一边是非营利性或消费者的的比较中和的网站，一边是大牌公司大企业的网站，你们是怎么平衡两者之间的关系的？如果我们搜索一个比较有争议的话题，Google如何保证把我们带到呈现不同观点的站点的？
BRIN: I agree that diversity of sources is a desirable goal, and in fact the results naturally tend to be diverse. We do some simple things to increase the diversity. If you check almost any topic, you will get diverging viewpoints. Everyone on any side of an issue will typically complain, though. Environmentalists will say, “Why aren’t you showing our results first?” An industrial group will say, “Why aren’t you showing our results first?” They all want to be number one. We think it’s good for us to encourage diverse viewpoints, and the search engine presents them. It happens naturally as a response to queries.
BRIN：我要说确保来源的多样性是我们奋斗的目标，事实上搜索结果更倾向于多样化。为了增加结果的多样性我们做了一些简单的调整。不管你看哪一个话题你都会了解到不同的观点。但是站在问题的不同方面的人都会抱怨。环保主义者会说，“为什么不先显示我们的结果？”工厂联合就会说，“为什么不先显示我们的结果？”他们都想当第一。我们认为这对我们鼓励多样化非常有帮助，并且搜索引擎会把这些都显示出来。搜索时很自然就会出现这样的结果。
PLAYBOY: But don’t companies with enormous budgets have the ability to pay for deep sites with lots of links and overwhelm the opposition?
PLAYBOY：但是会不会有巨牛的公司花钱买下深层的会带来大量链接的网站来压倒对方呢？
PAGE: Actually, given the factors the search engines take into consideration, opposition groups do well in search results. For example, environmental groups tend to be very active on the Internet. That’s how they organize. They have good websites with a lot of activity. All of that is factored into the search results. Thus their sites will be prominent in the listings.
PAGE：事实上，有这些搜索引擎考虑到的因素，对方也会做出同样的反应。比如环保组织在网上通常非常的活跃。这也是他们组织的方式。他们有不少网站的活动都挺多。所有这些都是被收入搜索结果的因素。因此他们的站点会出现在列表的显著位置。
BRIN: Yes. On such a search, you would likely get the best environmental sites as well as the best sites representing the industry, for two sides of the issue. I’m sure there are counterexamples, and I’m sure we could do a better job.
BRIN：是的，这样的一个搜索你会得到最好的环保网站也会看到一些代表工厂方面的网站，这就是问题的两个方面。我确信有类似的反例，我也确信我们在这一方面会做的更好。
PAGE: In general we’re trying to use the web’s self-organizing properties to decide which things to present. We don’t want to be in the position of having to decide these things. We take the responsibility seriously. People depend on us.
PAGE：总体来说我们尽量利用网络自身的有序性来决定需要显示的内容。我们不想处在一个决定一切的位置上。我们对这个责任看的很重，因为大家都依靠我们。
PLAYBOY: Yet you’ve been criticized for caving to pressure from organizations that objected to some of your search results. In one famous case, the Church of Scientology pressured you to stop pointing out a website critical of it.
PLAYBOY：但是有人指责你们向反对你们一些搜索结果的组织低头。比较有名的一个就是基督教科学派教会要求你们停止链接到一个批判他们的网站上。
PAGE: That was more of a legal issue.
PAGE：这更像是个法律问题。
BRIN: The Scientologists made a copyright claim against an anti-Scientology site. It had excerpts from some of their texts. The counter-Scientology site, Xenu.net, didn’t file an appeal. It sort of folded. Consequently, we were forced to omit their results, but we explain what happened on the search. If things are missing from a search, we often link to websites that explain the controversies. So now, if you do a generic search on Scientology, you get a link to a site that discusses the legal aspects of why the anti-Scientology site isn’t listed. In addition, this independent site links to the anti-Scientology site. As a result, if you search for Scientology, you will be armed with anti-Scientology materials as well as pro-Scientology material.
BRIN：科学教派声称一个反科学教派的网站侵犯了他们的版权。这个网站上出现了一些他们的文章的摘要。反科学教派的网站Xenu.net也没有上诉。他们好像是关掉了。结果是我们不得不删除掉他们的结果，但是我们解释了这条搜索发生的情况。如果一个搜索结果上有东西少掉了，我们通常会转向解释这一争议的网站上。因此现在如果你搜索科学教派你会看到一个链接，链接的网站上就讨论了反科学教派的网站没有被显示的法律原因。此外，这一独立的网站也链接到反科学教派的网站的。你如果搜索科学教派，结果是你不仅会得到赞同科学教派的资料还能拿到反科学教派的资料。
PAGE: A Stanford University organization has volunteer lawyers posting complaints about cases like this related to web searches. We’re able to link to this site. It’s a nice compromise. In general, though, few things get removed in this way. It’s not a practical problem.
PAGE：斯坦福大学一组织有一些志愿律师贴出了他们对网络搜索中的类似案例的控告。我们也可以链接到这个网站。这也算是丰厚的补偿吧。总体来说很少有东西被这样干掉。这不是一个实际问题。
PLAYBOY: How did you respond when the Chinese government blocked Google because your search engine pointed to sites it forbade, including Falun Gong and pro-democracy websites?
PLAYBOY：中国政府因为你们的搜索引擎链接到一些他们禁止的网站，比如法轮功和民主主义的站点，你们如何让看待这一问题？
BRIN: China actually shut us down a couple of times.
BRIN：事实上中国和谐过我们好几次。
PLAYBOY: Did you negotiate with the Chinese government to unblock your site?
PLAYBOY：你们和中国政府谈给你们放行的条件了吗？
BRIN: No. There was enough popular demand in China for our services—information, commerce and so forth—that the government re-enabled us.
BRIN：没有。在中国用户对我们服务的需要是如此的大-信息，商业等等-政府又解禁了我们的网站。
PLAYBOY: Have you ever agreed to conditions set by the Chinese government?
PLAYBOY：你们有没有同意过中国政府提出的条件？
BRIN: No, and China never demanded such things. However, other search engines have established local presences there and, as a price of doing so, offer severely restricted information. We have no sales team in China. Regardless, many Chinese Internet users rely on Google. To be fair to China, it never made any explicit demands regarding censoring material. That’s not to say I’m happy about the policies of other portals that have established a presence there.
BRIN：没有，中国也没有要求过这些东西。然而别的一些搜索引擎已经在当地发展业务，作为代价他们只提供符合严格限制的信息。我们在公共没有销售团队。无论如何中国的网民还是很依赖Google的。说句公道话，中国在材料检查方面没有什么明确的要求。这并不是说我乐意看到别的一些已经在那儿发展业务的门户网站的条例。
PLAYBOY: Which sites cooperate with Chinese government censors?
PLAYBOY：都是哪些网站配合中国政府的检查呢？
BRIN: I’ve heard various things, but I don’t want to spread secondhand rumors. There is a Harvard site that lists what you can and can’t get from different places around the world.
BRIN：我听到过不少东西，但是我不想散布二手传言。哈佛有一个网站，上面列出了你在世界各地你能得到的得不到的东西。
PAGE: Search for “censorship” and “Berkman” and you can get the website. [Editor’s note: The website is at cyber.law.harvard.edu/home.] It has some cool programs that automatically track what is and isn’t available on the web.
PAGE：搜索一下“censorship”和“Berkman”就可以找到这个网站。（编者注：网址是cyber.law.harvard.edu/home。）上面有些非常酷的程序，它们可以自动追踪网可以使用和不可以使用的内容。
PLAYBOY: What would you do if you had to choose between compromising search results and being unavailable to millions of Chinese?
PLAYBOY：如果在搜索结果上让步和失去数百万的中国用户之间选择，你们会怎么做？
BRIN: There are difficult questions, difficult challenges. Sometimes the “Don’t be evil” policy leads to many discussions about what exactly is evil. One thing we know is that people can make better decisions with better information. Google is a useful tool in people’s lives. There are extreme cases, we’re told, when Google has saved people’s lives.
BRIN：总会有一些难题有一些棘手的挑战。有时“不干坏事”的信条总会引起无数关于究竟什么是坏事的讨论。我们清楚的是人们有更好的信息会做出更好的决定。Google在人们的生活中是非常有用的工具。有人告诉我们所到在一些极端的环境下Google还曾救过人。
PLAYBOY: How has Google saved lives?
PLAYBOY：Google是怎么救人的呢？
BRIN: When people look up information in a life-threatening situation. Someone wrote that he was having chest pains and wasn’t sure of the cause. He did a Google search, decided he was having a heart attack and called the hospital. He survived and wrote to us. To help in situations like that, Google has to be quick and correct. Other people have written us with similar stories. We get postcards and pictures of them with their family. Those are extremes, but there are countless other examples. People are helped with their careers. Students are helped when they study. It’s a powerful tool.
BRIN：人们在生死攸关的时刻查询急需信息的时候。有人写到有一次他胸口很疼，也不知道原因。然后他到Google上搜索了一下，了解到是心脏病，马上打电话给医院。后来他活了下来并给我们写了一封信。要在这种情况下帮得上忙Google反应要非常的迅速准确。还有人写信给我们讲述了类似的故事。我们还收到明信片和他们的全家福。这都是极端的情况，但是还有无数别的情况。人们会在工作上用到Google，学生会在学习上用到。总之Google是一款非常强大的工具。
PLAYBOY: When someone is having chest pains and searches the web for information about them, for example, it’s essential that the information be correct. How does Google know about the veracity of a website’s information?
PLAYBOY：比如有人胸口比较疼然后到网上搜索关于胸口疼的信息，这些信息要非常的准确才行。Google是怎么知道一个网站上的信息是真实的呢？
BRIN: Similar to other media—books, magazines, whatever—you have to use judgment.
BRIN：和别的媒体-书籍，杂志，等等-一样，你必须做出判断。
PLAYBOY: But isn’t the Net, where anyone can put up a web page, more likely to have erroneous information?
PLAYBOY：但是网络不一样啊，在网上任何人都可以做一个网页，上面可能就有错误的信息。
BRIN: Yes. Joe Blow can write something in a few hours, post it and it’s on the Net. It could be about neuroscience, and he may know nothing about neuroscience. More typical inaccuracies in other media are from out-of-date material. In both cases, you have to apply judgment. The Internet helps because you can quickly check a number of different sources. If I were seriously interested in something important to me, I wouldn’t just click on the first search result, read it and take it as God’s word.
BRIN：张三花几小时写了一些东西，贴出来就到网上了。可能是关于神经系统学的，他很可能对神经系统学一窍不通。别的媒体的不精确一般都是因为材料过时。无论是哪种情况你必须做出判断。网络也会帮不少忙，因为你可以对比不同的信息来源。如果关心一件事，这件事对我很重要，我不会只是点开第一条搜索结果，并把它当成圣经来读。
PAGE: Which is a great thing about the Internet, because you can read information from many sources and decide. Libraries might have some of the information but probably not all—and not necessarily the most up-to-date.
PAGE：这也是网络的伟大之处，因为你可以看到来自不同渠道的信息然后做出决定。图书馆可能有一些信息但肯定不是全部-并且更不是最新的。
PLAYBOY: Librarians must hate Google. Will you put them out of business?
PLAYBOY：图书馆管理员肯定非常的恨Google。你们会强掉他们的饭碗吗？
BRIN: Actually, more and more librarians love Google. They use it. They do an excellent job helping people find answers on the Internet in addition to using their book collections. Finding information still requires skill. It’s just that you can go much further now. Google is a tool for librarians just as it’s a tool for anyone who wants to use it.
BRIN：事实是越来越多的图书馆管理员开始喜欢Google了，他们也在用。他们非常擅长利用收藏的书籍和网络帮助人们找到问题的答案。查找信息依然需要技巧。只不过现在你能触及到的范围更大。Google是提供给图书馆管理员的工具也是提供给任何Google用户的工具。
PLAYBOY: Much has been made of the fact that Google has now become a verb. When did you begin to fathom the scale of Google’s success?
PLAYBOY：越来越多的事实表明Google现在变成了一个动词。你们什么时候开始意识到Google的成功的？
PAGE: I don’t remember exactly. Pretty early on I saw a newspaper story about Googling dates. People were checking out who they were dating by Googling them. I think it’s a tremendous responsibility. If you think everybody is relying on us for information, you understand the responsibility. That’s mostly what I feel. You have to take that very seriously.
PAGE：我记得不太清楚了。很早的时候我在报纸上看到关于Google约会的故事。人们会通过使用Google搜索来了解他们打算约会的朋友。我认为其中有很大的责任。如果你知道每个人都通过我们获取信息，你就会了解我们的责任了。这就是我的想法。我们必须认真对待这个问题。
PLAYBOY: Are you still surprised by the ways people use Google?
PLAYBOY：你们还对人们使用Google的方式感到惊奇吗？
PAGE: We hear surprising stories all the time. The amazing thing is that we’re part of people’s daily lives, like brushing their teeth. It’s just something they do throughout the day while working, buying things, deciding what to do after work and much more. Google has been accepted as part of people’s lives. It’s quite remarkable. Most people spend most of their time getting information, so maybe it’s not a complete surprise that Google is successful.
PAGE：我们总是会听到新奇的故事。最意思的是我们已经变成了人们日常生活的一部分，就像刷牙一样。他们工作的时候会用到搜索，买东西的时候会用到搜索，计划下班后到哪儿去晃晃也会用到搜索。Google已经变成了人们生活的一部分。这是非常值得关注的。大部分人大部分时间都在查找信息，所以Google的成功也不是完全没有道理的。
PLAYBOY: Though you have cataloged 4 billion websites, there are more than 10 billion, and the number grows each day. Is it possible for Google to catch up and keep up?
PLAYBOY：尽管你们已经归类了40亿的网站，事实上有100亿的网站，这个数字每天都在增加。Google能跟的上吗？
PAGE: We have to. The increasing volume of information is just more opportunity to build better answers to questions. The more information you have, the better.
PAGE：我们必须跟上。信息越多就有更多的机会找到更好的答案。信息越多就越好啦。
PLAYBOY: Yet more isn’t necessarily better.
PLAYBOY：但是更多并不一定意味着更好啊。
BRIN: Exactly. This is why it’s a complex problem we’re solving. You want access to as much as possible so you can discern what is most relevant and correct. The solution isn’t to limit the information you receive. Ultimately you want to have the entire world’s knowledge connected directly to your mind.
BRIN：完全正确。这就是为什么我们正在解决的问题会如此的复杂的原因。你想了解尽可能多的信息这样你就可以识别出哪些是对的相关性更好。最好你想把全世界的信息都拿来为你所用。
PLAYBOY: Is that what we have to look forward to?
PLAYBOY：这就是我们期待的未来吗？
BRIN: Well, maybe. I hope so. At least a version of that. We probably won’t be looking up everything on a computer.
BRIN：我想是吧。至少是一个大概的样子。我们也可能不是在电脑上查找所有的信息。
PLAYBOY: How will we use Google in the future?
PLAYBOY：未来我们会怎样使用Google呢？
BRIN: Probably in many new ways. We’re already experimenting with some. You can call a phone number and say what you want to search for, and it will be pulled up. At this stage it’s obviously just a toy, but it helps us understand how to develop future products.
BRIN：可能会有不少新的用法。有些我们已经在测试了。你可以打电话到一个号码讲你要搜索的内容，然后结果就出来了。在现在这个阶段还只是一个玩具，但是它会帮助我们理解如何开发未来的产品。
PLAYBOY: Is your goal to have the entire world’s knowledge connected directly to our minds?
PLAYBOY：你们的目标是组织全世界的知识并直接和我们的思想联系起来吗？
BRIN: To get closer to that—as close as possible.
BRIN：尽可能接近这个目标吧。
PLAYBOY: At some point doesn’t the volume become overwhelming?
PLAYBOY：有时候这么多的数量也会比较麻烦吧？
BRIN: Your mind is tremendously efficient at weighing an enormous amount of information. We want to make smarter search engines that do a lot of the work for us. The smarter we can make the search engine, the better. Where will it lead? Who knows? But it’s credible to imagine a leap as great as that from hunting through library stacks to a Google session, when we leap from today’s search engines to having the entirety of the world’s information as just one of our thoughts.
BRIN：在处理海量信息的时候你的头脑也会非常的高效。我们想把搜索引擎做的聪明一些，这样可以代我们做好多工作。搜索引擎越聪明越好啦。最终会发展成什么样子？谁知道呢？但是说我们会从在图书馆翻成堆的书到Google搜索是一大跨越，实现从今天的搜索引擎跨越到搜索全世界的信息，我们的想法不算太过分吧。