您正在看的时事英语是:英语新闻导读 2004.3.23。 ielding a lot of power is a puzzle," said Jonathan Zittrain, a Harvard law professor.

Although some have compared Google to an electric company, which is generally regulated to ensure that moneymaking concerns don't hurt the public interest, Google see itself more as an information provider.

Defending a federal lawsuit over changes in Google's ranking system, Google argued that its results are merely opinions. A judge agreed, saying the company deserved First Amendment protection.

In an interview, Page said Google shared values that most journalists hold: providing "really good, trustworthy, objective, unbiased information."

Nonetheless, some critics have suggested that a mechanism be created for appealing decisions on ranking. A public forum, they say, could help hash out policy issues. Perhaps Google could use a public liaison like ombudsmen found at many news organizations?

Zittrain said Google has moved toward more openness, citing its decision to publicize cases where organizations and companies, alleging copyright violation, pressure Google to remove links to critical sites.

By law, Google must remove the links or lose immunity from lawsuits, but now it also discloses specific cases through an independent site, Chilling Effects Clearinghouse.

Google has yet to do that for sites removed under pressure from France and Germany, which have strict laws banning hate speech. Page said the company still was eXPloring the legality of doing so.

Nancy Blachman, an author of Google tutorials and the wife of a Google software engineer, said Google doesn't add features lightly, holding "a lot of discussions about the ramifications" of each one.

Even the ads, Blachman said, favor users.

Ads are ranked not just based on payments, but on the number of clicks they get, so unpopular ads can get dropped even if their sponsors are willing to pay more.

EXPerts believe the market will ultimately keep Google honest, and even with shareholders to answer to, its executives should recognize that trust is a key asset.

"If Google did something that would be bad for users, people would find out about it very quickly," said Charlene Li, an analyst at Forrester Research. "That would hurt their brand."

Anick Jesdanun can be reached at netwriter(at)ap.org