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Comment by imrelaxed | Hacker News Reader

This very worrying, particularly because Apple recently caved in and marked Crimea as Russian...

Crimea only appears as Russian if you're viewing it from within Russia, which recognizes Crimea as part of Russia, not Ukraine.

If you're viewing Crimea from Ukraine, it will appear as Ukrainian, because Ukraine recognizes Crimea to be part of Ukraine.

That seems fair, doesn't it?

So, literally, everybody lives in their own bubble.

Except if the guy from Ukraine drives into Crimea there's a whole foreign army to arrest him.

I wish Apple could just show Russian politicians that Crimea was theirs, but also all of NATO was as well!

That means that American companies like Apple have admitted that Crimea is a part of Russia, not just an occupied territory of a foreign country? Despite the fact that there are no international treaties that would confirm transferring this territory to Russia?

Not really. It only shows that way in Russia. So they are admitting that Russia thinks that it’s a part of Russia.

If you look at Kashmir using Apple Maps, it will look different depending whether you are in India, Pakistan, or China. Is Apple recognizing one of those countries claims any more than the other?

There’s an interesting mix here though. As a nerd with a passing interest in politics, I don’t want to call Crimea lost. But at the same time, there needs to be a healthy dose of reality - if I’m on the ground, and crossing this imaginary line is going to mean russian soldiers with guns pointed at me - I think I’d prefer my map to render that line, imaginary or not.

Agreed, I'd definitely have to 1-star an app if it led me into a DMZ or military blockade.

As I understood, when viewed from Ukraine, Western maps show Crimea as a part of Ukraine.

Haha - this is exactly what happened to me when Maps.me app (formerly OpenStreetsMap) led me to UK military base in Cyprus (it made a route which skipped border checkpoints to occupied Turkish part of the island)

Do you know what it says if Im actually in Crimea?

That’s not true, if you’re in Ukraine it is not marked as Ukrainian territory, while in Russia it is now marked as Russian.

To be fair this has been the way of doing things since the dawn of civilization. Country A invades Country B, Country B is now part of Country A.

Is this location dependent? In other words do you only see this if you’re using your phone in a particular region?

On my device, I’m seeing “Crimea, Ukraine” when I search for it. The border with other parts of Ukraine also looks like a border for national subdivisions as it fades when zooming out.

It’s location-dependent. Crimea is shown as within Russia’s boundaries only “when viewed from Russia”.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-50573069

Give enough money and they will mark US as Zimbabwe. It is a corporation that exists to make money for shareholders, duh.

What are you worrying in particular anyways? Do you really think that Apple installing the mandated apps or refusing to do so is going to sway Russian lawmakers. I do not think they give a hoot. Neither Apple marking Crimea as Russian will affect what Merkel, Macron, US senate will do about Russia. On that scale of things the Apple is big nothing.

It's more about the entertainment and seeing what Russian politicians will do without their iPhones and Apple Watches if Apple were to decline and stop selling in Russia. Because if they do comply it will be boring. No fun here.

They'll use Samsung, Huawei, Whatever. I am not sure how politician's mind works but I doubt they will perform collective seppuku.

Me personally I would not give a rat's a$$ if any of major brands has gone out of business (except of feeling sorry about employees). But then again, the only things I use my phone for are actual phone calls, GPS (off-line software mind you), bike computer and occasionally camera.

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