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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

#21

Post by throwaway894345 »

Varelion wrote: post #14

STOP. RELYING. ON. THE. UNITED. STATES. AND. ITS. ECONOMIC. SYSTEM. Build and trade amongst yourselves instead of relying on this house of cards. Buy European. Buy Canadian.

As an American, I wonder if Trump succeeds in giving away so much of America's economic and military power to other countries, will it make America a less interesting target for corrupting interests? Maybe the billionaires and foreign governments will invest less money in corrupting our system if it's not the global hegemon?

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

#22

Post by GMoromisato »

I personally would rather have a democratically-elected government--no matter how awful--pick names rather than have corporations pick names.

Also, I was curious, so I looked it up: Congress passed a law (Public Law 80-242) in 1947 that allowed the executive branch to establish a single set of geographic names.

Conservatives famously protested when the Obama administration renamed Mt. McKinley to Denali. I have no doubt that when a Democratic administration returns to power, they will rename a bunch of stuff, now that the precedence is set.

My guess is we're going to go through a ping-pong of renames before the law gets changed to require some kind of independent group, or a super-majority of senators or something.

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

#24

Post by nergo »

sokoloff wrote: post #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?

[flagged]

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

#25

Post by iAMkenough »

sokoloff wrote: post #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?

Technically the border goes through the middle of the lake, and each side has their own legal name.

Is it legally one lake with two names, or two lakes with one name?

What should customers in neither country see displayed? What if the federal government renames New Mexico to New America, but the state government refuses?

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

#26

Post by gonzalohm »

al_borland wrote: post #17
vkou wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 th…

What about all the privacy laws that Google is bypassing in Europe? They don't rush to apply those

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

#27

Post by gonzalohm »

It is funny that there are people defending Google because "it's the law and they have to follow it" when Google is completely ignoring privacy laws around the world.

They could have done the same right? They probably even have a team specifically for evading the law

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

#28

Post by modemNoises »

jmclnx wrote: post #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.

Friends overseas are no longer trusting the American people

At first they were saying it's just Trump, they get it

As it has carried on and on conversations have veered into "the people of that country are not reliable and intelligent global partners or the American system truly is a dystopian mess"

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

#29

Post by toss1 »

EA-3167 wrote: post #16
toss1 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Even "symbolic" resistance is not merely symbolic — it is actually costly and meaningful.

A core principle of authoritarianism is to get people, corporations, and institutions to yield to the despot's — comply in advance, retell the despot's lies, applaud the despot's ridiculous new clothes.

Anything not doing that provides permission for others to also refuse.

The entire principle of authoritarianism is it is too costly for a small number of people to resist, so the activation energy never happens. That is why they swat down one "bee" so hard, because if a million "bees" get together, they are done.

Supporting any person or corporation who resists is legit, as is refusing to support those who comply.

And the idea that corporations are only responsible for "shareholder value" and have zero responsibility to the people or society which literally sustains them is BS; just a mantra to justify running corporations like sociopaths.

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

#30

Post by ModernMech »

throwaway894345 wrote: post #21
Varelion wrote: post #14

STOP. RELYING. ON. THE. UNITED. STATES. AND. ITS. ECONOMIC. SYSTEM. Build and trade amongst yourselves instead of relying on this house of cards. Buy European. Buy Canadian.

As an American, I wonder if Trump succeeds in giving away so much of America's economic and military power to other countries, will it make America a less interesting target for corrupting interests? Maybe the billionaires and foreign governments will invest less money in corrupting our system if it's not the global hegemon?

Yes, at the end of this administration Trump will have destroyed the standing of the US so much he'll have solved all our problems by making this country such a shithole no one will want to invest or live here. Immigration problem solved! Trading deficit solved!
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