Comment on Mexican President Threatens to Sue Google Over 'Gulf of America' Label on Maps.
Stovetop@lemmy.world 1 week agoI mean, they are to an extent. The laws of the US are ostensibly supposed to allow citizens to call things whatever they want. If the government wants to throw a hissy fit and say the constitution is meaningless after all, let them do it. At least then we could give up all of the pretense that they are supposed to care about what it says.
Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 1 week ago
I very much doubt that privilege extends to a mapmaker
Stovetop@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Why wouldn’t it? Google’s just a company, not an arm of the government. At best, maybe there is some sort of accreditation process to have their maps called “authentic” or “accurate” or whatnot, but I’ve never heard of any US law that penalizes the publication of an inaccurate map.
Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 1 week ago
Are you seriously suggesting nothing whatsoever would happen if Google just didn’t update their maps to the new name?
Stovetop@lemmy.world 1 week ago
I’m suggesting that if Trump wants to be the one to cross the Rubicon, let Trump be the one to cross it. No need to meet him on the other side first.
In theory yes, Google should face no consequences for publishing an inaccurate map. There’s actually an old tradition of publishing maps with at least 1 inaccuracy in order to catch forgeries, which has never been a legal issue in the US. It shouldn’t be any more controversial than a published document choosing to call Jerusalem “Al-Quds”
In practice, I imagine Trump will throw a tantrum and try to argue that Google doesn’t have the right to say no to him. And if that’s the stance he wants to take, disregarding the constitutional protections that Google ought to have, let his administration waste time and resources arguing that in the courts. If he wins, then we can all stop pretending the constitution means anything, and if he loses, it’s a blow to his ego, resources wasted, and we can turn the focus on other companies to say they have an ethical obligation to change the names back.