But it kinda makes sense to be called Gulf of America since it’s located in North America.
Mexican President Threatens to Sue Google Over 'Gulf of America' Label on Maps.
Submitted 1 year ago by Cat@ponder.cat to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.commondreams.org/news/google-earth-gulf-of-mexico
Comments
TypicalHog@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world 1 year ago
It also kind of makes sense to leave the name in place since the world has been calling it the “Gulf of Mexico” mid-1500s. The original name was in reference to the Aztecs.
Ostrichgrif@lemmy.world 1 year ago
It’s also the country that has the majority of the coastline
bitwolf@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
Google also removed the ability to suggest edits to specifically the Gulf.
Guess they knew ahead of time they’d get an influx of requests to change or back.
piamedeadigital@lemmy.cafe 1 year ago
They hadn’t removed that ability as of Thursday evening, because I was able to give feed back. My guess is they got a rash of hate messages similar to mine and decided to remove it because of that. I hate them so much right now, but Google is unfortunately the forefront service for my online life. So much I do with Google apps that I really can’t get in any one other place.
madcaesar@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Republicans are so good at baiting liberals into useless bullshit arguments, while they plunder stuff that actually matters.
theneverfox@pawb.social 1 year ago
I don’t think that’s fair in this case, she’s been killing it. She’s been drawing hard lines and meeting Trump blow for blow…
As for what’s important, she got concessions so far. Trump got to claim a win, but she let Trump use a previously negotiated deal while getting the US to commit to cracking down on the flow of guns into Mexico
And now she’s fighting on the bullshit culture war stuff… But you know Mexico speaks a different language and isn’t changing the name on their side, right?
The threats against Google are a threat to crack down on a massive US tech company, which is probably (undoubtedly) related to the threat of delayed tarrifs
She’s playing the game. If only the liberals would wake up and realize the game has changed too
GladiusB@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I mean it’s Mexico. I wouldn’t really consider them “liberal”.
onecarmel@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Dems and useless virtue-signaling. Name a better duo
keropoktasen@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Well, the continent was named America, not the US continent. So the name Gulf of America just sounds right.
dukethorion@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Whoa, fella, you can’t apply logic and reasoning around here.
keropoktasen@lemmy.world 1 year ago
True, lol.
kandoh@reddthat.com 1 year ago
Following your logic Lake Michigan should be renamed Lake America. There’s a bunch of lakes up there, do they all get renamed Lake of America? Seems confusing!
Here’s a list of all the gulfs in the Americas:
North America
- Gulf of Mexico
- Gulf of Alaska
- Gulf of California (Sea of Cortes)
- Gulf of St. Lawrence
- Gulf of Honduras
- Gulf of Panama
- Gulf of Tehuantepec
Central and South America
- Gulf of Darien (Colombia and Panama)
- Gulf of Venezuela
- Gulf of Guayaquil (Ecuador)
Following your logic, they’re all badly named because that’s just named after the region they’re in, not the content.
keropoktasen@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Not badly named, I just don’t see anything wrong renaming it to the Gulf of America. It’s like renaming the South China Sea to South East Asia Sea.
HandBash@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I thought it was called North America?
keropoktasen@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Yeah, “America”.
yournamehere@lemm.ee 1 year ago
or we keep american shit inside america. fuck googlemaps, apple and all other shitty US corporations. see, tump will die some day and be forgotten, but people will remember what apple and google did. next time you see someone work for alphabet…spit them in the face. next time an american buys a burger, you spit on it. etc. it is not about actual harm as america is killing itself anyway atm. my bingo card says if trump wins twice, there shall also be two pandemics. maybe protest the egg prices a bit more before using that muri-brain to do sth. against it. americans are just stupid.
pewgar_seemsimandroid@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 year ago
his name is now tump
Superheavy@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Tumpthumbing
FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I want to know how many of the people here defending Google’s decision would be okay with Google labeling Taiwan as “Taiwan (Chinese Taipei)” for people in Taiwan and also the rest of the world.
Bloomcole@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Who should care about petty stuff . Wether it’s the orange clown trying to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the little unwashed cokehead making a point of calling Kiev Kiyv. I’m surprised Google, that is100% a US regime tool didn’t rename that Chinese province already.
FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Did you really just call Taiwan a Chinese province?
tigolbitties@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
I prefer the name “golfo del gringo loco”
Mr_Dr_Oink@lemmy.world 1 year ago
President of mexico is just showing themselves to be as big of a baby as trump. Best thing to do is ignore it. Its of such little importance.
stevedice@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
Mexican here. You are absolutely correct.
Peck@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Right? Honestly there are plenty of geographical features that are named differently between different languages and countries. It really doesn’t affect anybody except people in the US.
yournamehere@lemm.ee 1 year ago
you both are stupid. “let the bully do it”.
how about Fuck the USA? much sexier.
Xanza@lemm.ee 1 year ago
It’s a US company following US policy as it’s a contract holder for the US Government they’re compelled to follow US policy. Whether anyone likes it or not, at least for right now, US policy is that the Gulf of Mexico for all intents and purposes is the Gulf of America.
President Sheinbaum can sue Google all she wants, but there’s no court that’s going to find that a US company complying with US policy is breaking the law.
InterrobangBang@lemmy.world 1 year ago
It’s a US company following US policy as it’s a contract holder for the US Government they’re compelled to follow US policy. Whether anyone likes it or not, at least for right now, US policy is that the Gulf of Mexico for all intents and purposes is the Gulf of America.
We have a bunch of amendments…go look at the first.
I think you KNOW it’s because Pichai was there and is part of that club now.
Xanza@lemm.ee 1 year ago
The executive order doesn’t conflict with anyone’s freedom of speech… The President didn’t release an executive order saying “no one is allowed to call it the Gulf of Mexico anymore!”
I’m not going to type it all out again, but here you go: lemm.ee/post/55471251/18276179
Chip_Rat@lemmy.world 1 year ago
So you are gonna have to provide a source explaining how the president using an executive order to rename international water is “policy” that Google must follow.
They you’ll have to explain why I, as a Canadian, have to see this stupid renaming in parentheses.
If the US truely doesn’t have a system beyond “once the president orders it, it’s renamed.” That’s their problem but I don’t give a fuck what they call things and I don’t know why google thinks I should.
Xanza@lemm.ee 1 year ago
So you are gonna have to provide a source explaining how the president using an executive order to rename international water is “policy” that Google must follow.
It’s the executive branch. It would be the same as if Congress did the same, and passed a law saying “The Gulf of Mexico is now the Gulf of America.” There’s no source required, it’s literally how the US Government works, but if you want one; American University Law Review (2009) - The Limits of Executive Power:
The President has broad discretion in choosing how to exercise these implied powers. Second, these implied powers are not plenary in nature. They are subject to three basic limitations: (1) the President may not, without congressional authorization, use these powers to change domestic law or create or alter existing legal obligations; (2) these powers are subject to regulation by Congress; and (3) in the event of a conflict between the exercise of these powers and congressional legislation, the latter prevails.
There’s no federal law establishing the name of the Gulf of Mexico, so there’s no conflict with the first limitation. No one in Congress is willing to stop him, so no conflict with the second. And there’s no conflict with existing congressional legislation, so there’s no conflict with the third. So therefore the executive order is within the power of the executive branch.
Because Google is a US company and operates within the US, it has to follow US policy. The President just changed US policy to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico… So they either have to comply or be sued by the executive for not following US policy–which they’ll lose.
They you’ll have to explain why I, as a Canadian, have to see this stupid renaming in parentheses.
Because again, Google is a US company. So if you want to see Gulf of Mexico again, use any map provider that isn’t from a US company.
If the US truely doesn’t have a system beyond “once the president orders it, it’s renamed.”
That’s an extreme oversimplification of what’s going on here. But it kinda outlines how important it is to elect good people, huh?
InterrobangBang@lemmy.world 1 year ago
So you are gonna have to provide a source explaining how the president using an executive order to rename international water is “policy” that Google must follow.
Exactly
hairynipple@lemm.ee 1 year ago
You could be wrong. While possibly justified on Google’s part, Mexico will most likely sue its Mexican affiliate, and if Google wishes to operate in Mexico, it will have to comply with orders from Mexican courts. See twitter and Brazil for similar case.
Xanza@lemm.ee 1 year ago
That’s fully within the right of Mexico as a country, but that has nothing to do with anything that I’ve said here.
Going forward, the official US policy (because of this executive order) is that it’s the Gulf of America. No amount of suing Google will change that.
JustARaccoon@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Actually the executive order only renames the parts that the US controls, and they don’t control the entire gulf
Xanza@lemm.ee 1 year ago
It doesn’t “rename” anything. It means the official US position is that the Gulf of Mexico doesn’t exist and instead it’s the Gulf of America. It’s not forcing anyone to call it that other than for official purposes, like in Governmental memos and official US documents, least of all foreign Governments or their people.
The US doesn’t own the Gulf. We can’t unilaterally change the name. But when the US Government officially refers to the Gulf, it will now be called the Gulf of America. That’s what the executive order did.
MellowYellow13@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Ive been already boycotting google, amazon, facebook, reddit. Yall need to get on it
AJ1@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
it really sucks when you realise that virtually everything is a US company… and yet everything they sell is made in fucking China
LMurch@thelemmy.club 1 year ago
My phone is a Pixel on Google Fi, and I have a YouTube premium account. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me :( lol
Itsapersonn@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
Check out c/degoogle@lemmy.ml, they have some software recommendations for degoogling. Since you have a Pixel you should be able to install GrapheneOS, which removes a lot of Google services and is a lot more secure. I would also recommend FreeTube, which is ad-free and has the feature to download videos like YT premium. You can even import your subscriptions. Welcome to the rabbit hole of degoogling.
MellowYellow13@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Yeah its actually insane how far Googles reach has gotten
viking@infosec.pub 1 year ago
Nah. I’ll start boycotting google when there are useful alternatives. Amazon, facebook, reddit - no problem.
Google search - fine, I can get by with DDG or Yandex. Gmail - sure, whatever. Maps? Organic Maps (and other openstreetmaps front-ends) works alright for getting your bearings, but it’s a far cry from useful for finding businesses, and terrible for navigation. Waze used to be the only viable alternative, but ever since Google bought them, it’s hard to justify a full boycott without massively inconveniencing myself.
Same for meta as a whole. Facebook and Instagram, sure, no need. But living without whatsapp is simply impossible in some countries, where it’s the de-facto standard for communication, and even used as the only means of contact with government agencies.
ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 months ago
There is Mapquest. It sucks in a lot of places though
InterrobangBang@lemmy.world 1 year ago
We did it with Lemmy. It CAN be done!
aeshna_cyanea@lemm.ee 1 year ago
If you disapprove of internet companies caving to authoritarian politics I have bad news for you about Yandex
TWB0109@lemmy.one 1 year ago
Fr, I try, but it’s really not possible to get away from these companies.
Nobody wants signal, nobody wants mastodon, nobody wants or frankly can use openstreetmaps. Alternatives are just not good enough
MellowYellow13@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Yeah its true unfortunatey
Hellsfire29@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Meh I’ll still use Google.
SulaymanF@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I don’t. DuckDuckGo and an alternative email provider are wonderful.
FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 1 year ago
DuckDuckGo is just Bing. And Microsoft is not any better in terms of kissing Trump’s ass.
Hellsfire29@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I can understand why. To each their own.
FlavoredButtHair@lemmy.world 1 year ago
[deleted]MellowYellow13@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Literally no.
SulaymanF@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Nope. Although one explorer did call it Gulf of Florida at one point.
Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Don’t even bother with a pointless lawsuit. Simply stop using Google.
Elshar@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Nah, they’re a megacorp, you gotta hurt them where it counts - in their bottom line. Make them use their super expensive lawyers to defend this shit. Honestly more people/entities should do this. Even pro se, these corporate lawyers cost these companies literally hundreds of thousands of dollars to go into court. Just imagine how much you could cost them if everyone started suing them for any little thing. Even a response to a lawsuit requires a lawyer, which requires time and effort.
Its literally the only thing they care about - money. Strongly worded letters and protests aren’t enough. They can ignore those.
Dozzi92@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Google is worth more than Mexico. A frivolous lawsuit, which is what this would be, will hurt Mexico more.
PlantDadManGuy@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Uninstalled 👍
merc@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
What’s dumb about this is that in their jurisdiction (Mexico) it is actually the “Gulf of Mexico” in Google Maps, they don’t get the “Gulf of America” name. In the US it’s labelled as “Gulf of America” without mentioning “Gulf of Mexico” which you could argue Google has to do because it (theoretically) follows national laws everywhere it operates.
That’s why Korean users don’t see the Sea of Japan to their east, they see the East Sea. That’s why in some locations the Persian Gulf is referred to as the Arabian Gulf instead. It’s also why inside India the borders you see for Kashmir don’t match the borders you see for Kashmir if you’re in Pakistan. The rest of the world sees a third version of that area with areas marked as disputed.
What’s really annoying is that every other country in the world is exposed to this “Gulf of America” silliness, even countries where people don’t speak English. I can understand (just barely) having “(Gulf of America)” under “Gulf of Mexico” in English-speaking countries because if someone is hearing news from a US source and they refer to the Gulf of America, it might be useful to know what they’re talking about. It’s in the news now, but in 3 years say you’re a high-school kid trying to do a geography report and can’t find the feature on the map, that could be annoying.
But, this parenthesis rule apparently even extends to Germany, where it’s “Golf von Mexiko (Golf von Amerika)”. There’s no reason to include a name that doesn’t exist in your language on your version of the maps app. If I, as an English-maps user look at Germany, I don’t get Munich (Munchen). I don’t get Florence (Firenze), I don’t get India (Bhārat). There’s a long-standing tradition that maps show things in the name that’s local to the map user. Sometimes, over time, a name gets changed to be closer to the way it’s said in the local language, so Peking became Beijing.
Also, google addressed this in a blog post from 2008, almost literally describing this situation:
“How Google determines the names for bodies of water in Google Earth … if a ruler announced that henceforth the Pacific Ocean would be named after her mother, we would not add that placemark unless and until the name came into common usage”
Other than the ruler not being female, the body of water being a different one, and “America” not being Donald Trump’s mother, this is the exact situation.
victorz@lemmy.world 1 year ago
in their jurisdiction (Mexico) it is actually the “Gulf of Mexico” in Google Maps, they don’t get the “Gulf of America” name.
I’m in Europe and for me it says “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)”. 🥴
merc@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
I’ve heard that in Germany it’s “Golf von Mexiko (Golf von Amerika)”. That’s really annoying. I can vaguely understand it having the parenthesized name in English. Say in 3 years some kid in England is doing a report about something in the US and the Gulf of America comes up. Maybe you’d want the kid to be able to find it on the map. But, maybe it’s fine if the kid has to look it up somewhere else, realize that’s the stupid name, then search for Gulf of Amerikkka.
But, it doesn’t make any sense to do that for other languages. Just like we don’t get Finland (Suomi) when searching for Finland, Finns shouldn’t get something like Meksikonlahti (Gulf of America). They aren’t going to be exposed to / hearing the Finnish translation of the English name, so it’s not helpful in any way to have that parenthesized version.
Stern@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Senkaku Islands are the center of a dispute between Japan and China, both claim them, both have names for them. Wikipedia goes more in depth.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senkaku_Islands
On google maps we get…
So it’s not like they can’t give stuff multiple names.
viking@infosec.pub 1 year ago
That’s what YOU get since you’re neither in China nor Japan. They only get to see their relative government’s name. China in fact gets to see nothing since they block Google, but it you happen to be in Hong Kong or Macau, you would.
Slovene@feddit.nl 1 year ago
Come on, guys. You have drug cartels. Surely you have a guy named Luigi. Doesn’t Trump want to declare war on Mexico or some insane shit like that?
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 1 year ago
You have drug cartels.
11111one11111@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Everyone has drug cartels. The US doesn’t even make thr top 20 tho.
Blackmist@feddit.uk 1 year ago
Just call it the Gulf of Fuck The Environment, We’re Getting Rich!
abbotsbury@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Sponsored by BP
dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 1 year ago
…Brought to you by Carl’s Jr.
DozensOfDonner@mander.xyz 1 year ago
Can someone just make a mod or something for g-maps to name all American names to like Spanish ones? Nuevo York, Guashintón Distrito de Columbia, that kinda stuff.
Dozzi92@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Just access GMaps through your VPN through Mexico, and your wildest dreams can come true.
diemartin@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
Guayinton or Guallinton fits better
Jimmycakes@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Cancel all government contracts with google
wanderingmagus@lemm.ee 1 year ago
And for the love of god do not switch over to another American company, or any company, go FOSS and decentralized
PhAzE@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
So why did google change it in Canada, then?
IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
Where will the lawsuit be filed in?
Mexican courts? Good luck getting an American company to comply.
US Courts, well… surely no judge would be biased right? glances at the composition of the US Supreme court
International Courts? Lol like they have any power at all.
Reminds me of The Expanse:
“Earth Court? Mars Court? What Inner court gives Belters justice?”
raef@lemmy.world 1 year ago
It’s stupid, but it’s not that extreme. Countries have different names for things. For example, Germany calls the Baltic Sea “Ostsee” (lit. east sea) and Lake Constance 'Bodensee" (lit. bottom sea) but those things are only at the bottom and east for Germany.
Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Do it honey. Make em pay for suckin orange ass
Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 1 year ago
This is stupid. Google is doing it with their normal process, labeling the USA as a sensitive country in their system and changing the label only for the sensitive snowflakes. So there is no harm to Mexicans in Mexico.
What sort of damages would she assert anyway? That her country suffers in a significant way from a Google Maps label that can only be seen from the sensitive country? How so?
And if it’s a political move what is she hoping to achieve? Google will never cave to the USA before Mexico, they depend more on their US operations than their Mexican ones. So she can’t achieve anything politically. Does she want to draw even more attention to a losing fight? A losing fight over mere symbolism no less? Why?
Cethin@lemmy.zip 1 year ago
Everyone needs to get used to ignoring this bullshit. The Gulf of America thing isn’t important. It doesn’t effect anyone, and there’s far too many posts about it when there are real things to pay attention to. This is purely a distraction. Stop giving it attention.
leadore@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Whenever I see Gulf of America mentioned, in my head it sounds like “This is America” in the Childish Gambino song.
yggstyle@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Don’t sue- just threaten to block some of googles services in your country and they’ll come around real quick. Hit em where it hurts. Google isn’t hurting for lawyers.
fx242@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Golf of Portugal Image While we are at renaming things…