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'Lake America' makes one thing clear: We can't trust U.S. tech companies

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Re: 'Lake America' makes one thing clear: We can't trust U.S. tech companies

#11
Personally I believe you cannot trust the US Gov. since Citizens United. This seems not only to allow the rich to purchase politicians, but under Trump it allows the current administration to extort companies.

So, companies can easily pay Trump for favors with out any consequences, but they just need to keep the money train going and kowtow to Trump's insane whims.

Re: 'Lake America' makes one thing clear: We can't trust U.S. tech companies

#16
post #9

Another way to look at it is that when adults are back in charge, we can trust tech companies will fall in line with them too.

That is not helpful. That makes them only useful as windsocks, and there are other far better ways to see which way the wind is blowing.

If you want symbolic resistance I suggest you look to sources other than multinational corporations for it. Their job is to make money and not stick their foot in any bear traps, our job is to not elect maniacs multiple times.

Lets not cross the streams just because it would be convenient this time... next time it may well not be.

Re: 'Lake America' makes one thing clear: We can't trust U.S. tech companies

#17
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m in the US, near the Canadian boarder, I see both names show up. Lake Ontario shows up larger and when zoomed out. Lake America shows up smaller as I zoom in. I suppose some of this could be a cacheing issue, hard to say. At the end of the day a map provider has the responsibility to show the official names of places on a map. If it’s one name to the US and another name for the rest of the world, the pragmatic sol…

> It’s extremely disruptive, but blaming Google or Apple for any of this is a bad move, imo They have the capacity to push back, instead of pre-emptively rolling over for an autocrat.

Google and Apple don’t name things. If the official name inside the US is Lake America, they are only hurting their users by delaying the change, as the map will no longer be in line with the reality the users are living in and things they need to look up.

When it’s only one thing, you might say everyone just knows, but that doesn’t scale.

And like I mentioned, they need to pick their battles. I’d rather them save their politics and favors for things like encryption and privacy, not piss it away on map data, when they can show both names and this will likely be a small footnote in history. In 20 years I can imagine, “What was the name of Lake Ontario for a brief period in the mid 2020s?” Being a question asked at bar trivia.

Re: 'Lake America' makes one thing clear: We can't trust U.S. tech companies

#18

As a Canadian living in Canada, I see “Lake Ontario.” in Apple Maps. All good. No idea what Google shows because I don’t knowingly use Google products. But I do see the ridiculous “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)” I don’t care what Apple shows inside of U.S. borders but dragging the rest of the world into the clown show is unnecessary. Although I haven’t much thought through the details, I wonder if these disputed n…

I’m in the US, near the Canadian boarder, I see both names show up. Lake Ontario shows up larger and when zoomed out. Lake America shows up smaller as I zoom in. I suppose some of this could be a cacheing issue, hard to say. At the end of the day a map provider has the responsibility to show the official names of places on a map. If it’s one name to the US and another name for the rest of the world, the pragmatic sol…

> At the end of the day a map provider has the responsibility to show the official names of places on a map.

Not really. They have the responsibility to show the useful names. They are also free to show whatever the local bully forces them to.

Neither of those is necessarily the official name.

Re: 'Lake America' makes one thing clear: We can't trust U.S. tech companies

#19
The executive orders are ridiculous/childish/whatever-you-call-this. That aside, if they have any legal effect, I’d expect a map company to call a feature by its legal name.

Should a rendering of the land bordering the Southwest corner of the Black Sea show the city of Istanbul? Or must it remain depicted as Constantinople? Or perhaps even Byzantium?

Re: 'Lake America' makes one thing clear: We can't trust U.S. tech companies

#20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m in the US, near the Canadian boarder, I see both names show up. Lake Ontario shows up larger and when zoomed out. Lake America shows up smaller as I zoom in. I suppose some of this could be a cacheing issue, hard to say. At the end of the day a map provider has the responsibility to show the official names of places on a map. If it’s one name to the US and another name for the rest of the world, the pragmatic sol…

> At the end of the day a map provider has the responsibility to show the official names of places on a map. Not really. They have the responsibility to show the useful names. They are also free to show whatever the local bully forces them to. Neither of those is necessarily the official name.

And they do both. When I search for Lake Ontario in both Google and Apple Maps, I get to the right place.

I’m not sure what the problem is.

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