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Why is the Gaza Strip blurry on Google Maps?

bbc.com

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Re: Why is the Gaza Strip blurry on Google Maps?

#421

Post by asdfasgasdgasdg »

jussij wrote: post #409
asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not seeing any shortage of pictures from the ground. I mean, I agree that targeting news agencies would be a step you would take if you wanted to prevent images from the ground but you would have to be far more sweeping in your approach. If the goal is to prevent news images from making their way out of Palestine this may be the most abject policy failure the world has ever witnessed.

The facts remain; Israel did bomb the offices of Al Jazeera and The Associated Press. That action looks a lot like Israel targeting news agencies and the two news agencies involved have both raised their concerns about that unprecedented action by Israel.

> That action looks a lot like Israel targeting news agencies and the two news agencies involved have both raised their concerns about that unprecedented action by Israel.

They might be targeting those news agencies, but not for the purpose of suppressing images on the ground, which is what we were talking about. It's just implausible given the totality of evidence that that is the main concern. You can't just look at that one action to draw a conclusion when there is a massive amount of other contravening evidence.

Re: Why is the Gaza Strip blurry on Google Maps?

#422

Post by lacksconfidence »

betterunix2 wrote: post #363
jussij wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Israel can get all the detailed imagery it needs by just launching a reconnaissance aircraft or drone. So on that basis I would say it only stops the Palestinians from getting imagery of the area. Now considering the fact Palestine only has rockets and not missiles, I doubt that imagery is of much value to them. Call me cynical, but I suspect the more important reason to keep these images blurred might be to stop the…

I have learned to demand a very high standard of evidence for conspiracy theories, so...let's see the evidence that there is some conspiracy between Google and Israel to hide what is happening there. For that matter, I am not even sure what you think Israel is hiding -- Netanyahu is not at all shy about settlements, the IDF calls people up to tell them when a bomb is going to be dropped on their building, and there a…

The article makes this very clear. There is no google-israel conspiracy. The limits on satelite resolution were dictated by the US government.

Re: Why is the Gaza Strip blurry on Google Maps?

#424

Post by GekkePrutser »

khuey wrote: post #234
nurgasemetey wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I recall, it was due to plane crash and US h̶a̶d̶ decided to make precise GPS available to public

After KAL007 was shot down by the Soviet Union in 1983 Reagan announced the fuzzy GPS signal would be publicly available. The US government didn't turn off Selective Availability until the late 90s.

That's weird though as a reason. KAL007 was so far off course that the distortion of SA wouldn't have mattered. It only distorted location by a couple hundred metres at most.

Re: Why is the Gaza Strip blurry on Google Maps?

#425

Post by slg »

nashashmi wrote: post #404
slg wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reasoning behind the government's decision is irrelevant here. Google is a company headquartered in the US. Going against the official policy of the US government is a more politicalized move than going with the status quo. Side note, you should be careful using Israeli and Jewish as interchangeable terms. There is no such thing as an "Israeli diaspora".

Jews and Israeli are distinct. Maybe diaspora is incorrect word, but those who call Israel their home country and reside in the US are of the diaspora of Israel. Google has headquarters in many countries including Israel. They use various Sources to create maps. And some happen to show Palestine as a separate country. Using one source over another is not a politicized move. But since the recognition of Palestine is r…

>Jews and Israeli are distinct. Maybe diaspora is incorrect word, but those who call Israel their home country and reside in the US are of the diaspora of Israel.

There are something like 100k Israelis is the US. They have virtually no political power. If you want to say "Jewish Diaspora" say "Jewish Diaspora". It really seems like you are using "Israeli Diaspora" in order to avoid accusations of anti-Semitism. My comment was simply pointing out that using Israeli and Jewish interchangeably is probably a more worrying indicator than just saying "Jews have influence in US politics" which is at least true at some level. Although nowadays Evangelicals play a bigger role in determining the US's political stance on Israel than Jews as evidenced by Jewish people being overwhelming Democrats while the Republicans are viewed as the pro-Israel party.

Re: Why is the Gaza Strip blurry on Google Maps?

#426

Post by guerrilla »

plaidfuji wrote: post #342

This link title is extremely misleading to the point of being disingenuous and provocative. The title of the linked article is “Israel-Gaza: Why is the region blurry on Google Maps?”... because the entire Israel / Gaza / West Bank region is blurred in the exact same way. There is no preferential blurring of Palestinian areas. The clear answer is to prevent actors on both sides from using Google’s satellite imagery to…

IDF doesn't need Google maps to plan any attacks. They have an arsenal of remote surveillance methods including 24/7 monitering by both low and high altitude drones, not to mention frequent flyovers in upgraded F-16s.

> But please continue the breathless hot takes.

This part of your comment doesn't belong on HN.

Re: Why is the Gaza Strip blurry on Google Maps?

#427

Post by lacksconfidence »

betterunix2 wrote: post #116
elmomle wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish the recent history of Palestine were different too, but it seems unkind to use language that implicitly blames Palestinians as a people--or the factions that now hold power--for these issues. Literally any people on Earth would probably have a similar history, and be in a similar (or worse) place with respect to government, if they faced similar pressures for such an extended period of time.

How did I blame the Palestinian people? The fact is that they do not have a functioning government, and the government they have is not in a position to negotiate on their behalf when it comes to Gaza. The faction that controls Gaza is not even recognized as legitimate by the PA (which is supposed to represent the Palestinian people).

You appear, and i could of course be mistaken, to be blaming the palestinian people for "the failure to establish a functional Palestinian state or government". As if it the fault of a population that's mostly under 30 years old that they haven't been able to establish a government under the existing conditions. I'm not sure anyone else could.

Re: Why is the Gaza Strip blurry on Google Maps?

#428

Post by diebeforei485 »

plaidfuji wrote: post #342

This link title is extremely misleading to the point of being disingenuous and provocative. The title of the linked article is “Israel-Gaza: Why is the region blurry on Google Maps?”... because the entire Israel / Gaza / West Bank region is blurred in the exact same way. There is no preferential blurring of Palestinian areas. The clear answer is to prevent actors on both sides from using Google’s satellite imagery to…

Israel lobbied for the KBA.

Re: Why is the Gaza Strip blurry on Google Maps?

#429

Post by lacksconfidence »

betterunix2 wrote: post #354
mtrovo wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, because life on Gaza strip on 2006 was all moonlight and roses. Hell even going back 30 years ago you wouldn't find much difference [0]. I wonder what political force or nation could be benefiting from this constant chaos. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine_(comics)

Is that supposed to be some kind of excuse for derailing the peace process? Are you actually denying that progress toward a two-state solution happened between the Oslo Accords in 1993 and Hamas taking power in 2006? Like it or not the government of Israel and the PLO made a good-faith effort to establish a legitimate Palestinian state. It is not an easy task, the solution is not simple and there are a lot of legitim…

The median age in palestine is (was, 2014) 18 years old. Compare to 30 in israel or 40 in france.

Like it or not the vast majority of palestinians alive today had nothing to do with what hamas did 15 years ago. They were mostly children or not even born yet.

Re: Why is the Gaza Strip blurry on Google Maps?

#430

Post by slg »

sudosysgen wrote: post #419
slg wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oops, I made that more confusing by trying to note everyone was a Palestinian when the place was called Palestine. By "non-Jewish Palestinians" I was trying to refer to the predominately Muslim and predominately Arab group that we now just call Palestinians. There was and still is a population of Christians in the area and there presumably was some larger population of foreigners in the area when it was under foreign…

Everyone is still a Palestinian nowadays though. The reason why there are less Christian Palestinians is because a lot of them were deported or fled shortly after the Nakba. A lot of them would come back if Palestine was restored, but most of them are legally prevented by Israel from coming back. Not even Hamas or Hezbollah wants Palestine to be a single religion or single ethnicity state, so I don't really understan…

I'm not going to get that deep into politics here. You are basically arguing for a one state solution except it is Palestinian run instead of Israeli run. HN probably isn't the place to have that debate.
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