It is also why "Don't be evil" was a silly thing for a corporation to claim as a motto. What is evil in one jurisdiction is required in another. Corporations that want to serve the global market have to decide between principles and profits.
Do you believe the current state is problematic though?
I don’t see what’s so wrong with showing each country their preferred map, as regulated. Who is being harmed?
Also, wouldn’t it be weird for some international megacorp to start meddling in geopolitics by drawing lines the “right” way?
Although this doesn't count as evil. Showing locally adjusted maps is hardly even a light grey zone. If the authorities in country A say the border is there, draw it there when producing maps for that country. It is not complicated and it is a silly place to pick a fight - Google would lose if they lost and do nothing useful for anyone if they won. Nobody cares where Google thinks the borders are, they don't have an army and we do have VPNs.
In practice a key part of the army's job to decide where the border is. The commander is scapegoating to hide his own incompetence. Google's mapping may have contributed, but the lack of demarcation showing where the border is would have been a bigger issue. If the Google Maps aspect was enough to end up in the wrong country it was going to happen without Google being involved.
there was a documented instance of a military action in Columbia-region IIR that allegedly relied on Google Maps. It is easy to see misinformation, but also easy to see actually low-literacy armed people doing something aggressive Once Again, relying on something that is easy to use.
Let’s look at the Russia situation now. Google didn’t draw Ukraine as part of Russia. And yet Putin found some reasons anyway.
This is basically what happens now because it goes by what the government says and the government is representative of the people.
You might be tempted to say oh but some governments are despotic and don’t represent the people. Sure maybe, but it’s not Googles place to determine when that is or isn’t true. And if did try to do that, I’m sure there be criticism of sowing revolution or something
The principle is: follow the laws of the countries you operate in.
You seem to be under the impression that Google should be the arbiter of true moral right and subvert what Governments have decided for their nations.
It’s not virtuous to be neutral. Are you neutral on free speech? What does that even mean? Are you “neutral” on the oppression of women or lgbt people? On women in the workforce? On respect for the elderly?
Values are like accents. Only people who haven’t travelled can convince themselves that they don’t have an accent - or that their value system is somehow globally “neutral”.
Yes, those of us who have traveled are quite aware that it would make sense to provide an option in the UI to show something other than what the local government wants us to see.
My point remains. Google has no other option. They obey the jurisdictions from which they derive profits.
Frankly I think it's very not-evil to show people what they expect to see. If my country adopts a time zone, I expect the times that I see to be in that timezone and not the one some company decided for me. If I look at a map, I want to see boundaries that are relevant. What if Google suggested I go to a place that was actually outside of my country's recognized borders and I couldn't reenter because I didn't bring appropriate documentation?
I guess what I'm saying is there's implicit evil in making a choice of which country to believe because nobody here is inherently right. And even if they did, showing citizens of X things which the people of X do not agree is correct is definitely not serving your users.
When I view the boundary between Ukraine and Russia, it shows me the dotted line around Crimea. I think it should indicate that there are at least two governments that have different ideas here and let me see their representation of the border. It should show me that it shows other people something different and make it easy to see what it shows them.
This is something a politically neutral Google would do. A Google that wants to get advertising money from both jurisdictions has no choice but to self-censor, as Google currently does. Google has made an understandable decision to put profit ahead of principles.
Quite often people don't consider the principle differences others, even around them, have.