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Mexican President Threatens to Sue Google Over 'Gulf of America' Label on Maps.
(www.commondreams.org)
this post was submitted on 13 Feb 2025
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Google are an American company, and the government of the USA has changed the name. What else do people expect them to do?
Besides, it still say Gulf of Mexico if you're outside the USA.
It shows up as "Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)" outside of the US apparently. That seems like enough to make a fuss to me; bodies of international water have specific rules around name changes and the US can't unilaterally decide differently.
This is accurate. Here's a screenshot from my friend in France.
Ok, that's absurd. I thought it makes sense to change the name for people in the US if that's the official name in the US (according to the USGS data, which has always been the official source for this info). But translating the US name into other languages that already have a name for it makes no sense.
Google is evil.
I'm a mexican in mexico, my phone's in japanese and it still shows as gulf of mexico
americans can call it whatever the fuck they want, that wont suddenly change its local or english name in any other countries
Imagine being a tourist in the US, looking for an address you believe to be say, Martin Luther King Street. Can't find it anywhere, even on Google maps, then eventually you talk to someone and find out it's now called Elon Musk Avenue.
Not saying this is exactly the same, but if we're letting people change the names of places on commonly used global map software willy nilly, even if it's just region to region, we're gonna end up with problems. It's not like "freedom fries" back in the day that legitimately affected no one.
And I am suddenly seeing a parenthetical on the Gulf here outside the US, so there technically was a sudden change
The issue is the US does not own the gulf whereas they own the streets.
What are the rules? And who makes them?
If there existed any valid reasoning for the change... 🤷♂️
But the Felon Dicktater is only doing it so he can claim himself architect of global geographic change. Same reason he wants Greenland, Panama, Gaza, etc.
Fuck that.
I back Sheinbaum on this one. Won't matter, but do it anyway.
I'm thinking that there was a reason for the change; drilling for oil was blocked in the Gulf of Mexico.
There are 3200 active wells in the Gulf of Mexico.
www.ncei.noaa.gov/maps/gulf-data-atlas/atlas.htm?plate=Offshore%20Structures#:~:text=Since%20the%20first%20offshore%20drilling,of%20Mexico's%20Outer%20Continental%20Shelf
That's a valid point, but why do you expect Google to take a principled stand on this? Take it up with your government.
In the world I want to live in...
Google would have taken a principled stand against such an attempt at a govt.
Instead, they bent the knee along with every other Tech Oligarch and, therefore, deserve the hit.
Dicktater brought to mind very unpleasant images
He wants to seize Greenland, Panama and Canada because they are either strategically important or have valuable resources, or both (and, in the case of Canada, because he wants revenge on Trudeau for being "woke" and standing up to his ape-dominance handshakes). This name change though is just because he hates Mexicans.
1.- Refuse-
2.- Apply only the part of the name change that's actually covered by US jurisdiction. The Gulf of Mexico extends noticeably beyond US's borders.
But hey this is Google we're talking about.
If I'm a eg.: Colombian, it should be ~~"Gulf of Mexico"~~ "Golfo de México" wherever I stand, not "Gulf of America".
Strictly speaking, per the EO, this is what they should have done. The EO defines the area to be renamed as:
You can see exactly where that seaward boundary is on this map: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_ECS_Regions_2023.png
The area described is less than half the whole Gulf of Mexico.
When did they do that?
Or are you one of those people who would agree if Trump said "I am the state"?
It was changed by executive order, which the president has the authority to do. Google doesn't get to go "nuh-uh" and keep it the same.
I was unaware that the executive branch encompassed the entirety of the government. Please, do elaborate.
If you want to know more about how the US government works, I'm not the person to educate you.
Then why are you here trying to tell people that one asshole with an opinion is the government?
You can argue with strangers on the Internet as much as you like, but the fact is, the US president can and has changed the name of multiple geographic features, and arguing with me won't change that.
Oh, you've been caught being dumb and your story is changing.
First it was "the government", now it's "the president".
That's not how America works, lol. Naming things is a legislative responsibility. Trump can sign as many executive orders as he wants, but it isn't official without an act of congress and a chance for the judiciary to object.
The president is part of the government, they're not two separate entities.
And once again, there is nothing to be gained by arguing with me about this.
You underestimate how much I enjoy arguing with people on the internet, lol.
So is this your admission that your earlier statement was false, or are you still pretending that "part of" is the same thing as "all"?
He's the part of the government that has the power to unilaterally change the name of a location.
potus is the "head of government". Would you prefer @[email protected] to write "head of government of the USA has changed the name"?
give them a break!
That would be less inaccurate, lol.
And no. I'll be a pedantic asshole to anyone who pretends that Trump is anything other than one of President Musk's assistants.
i feel your pain and disillusionment but it is what it is. The real "asshole" is changing the world with his Sharpie.
Good luck to you for the next 4 years
If Trump gets to redefine reality as he sees fit then we do too.
See you on the other side, friendo.
Yes, and Congress delegated that authority in 1947 via Public Law 242, creating the US Board on Geographic Names, under the Secretary of the Interior, part of the executive branch. The President has the authority to direct the Secretary.
You can speak as confidently as you like, but you're still wrong. Feel free to learn: https://www.usgs.gov/us-board-on-geographic-names
Did you not read the page you linked?
That org was "established in its present form by Public Law in 1947 to maintain uniform geographic name usage throughout the Federal Government."
It's a standards-setting org that resolves differences between other agencies of the government when there is disagreement about a place name, it isn't entitled to rename things everyone was already in agreement about, lol~
Clearly, since you think an executive order is a law.
Because Google is a US company, and not in a position to tell the US government to take a walk, that's why.
I 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.
Executive orders are not laws. You do know that, right?