Hacker News Reader

Comment by euos | Hacker News Reader

I think every country has recognized map of other countries. E.g. US has officially recognized borders of Ukraine.

Those aren’t neutral either, however. The only way to be neutral in this regard would be to show not just the recognized borders and specifying that they’re not agreed upon, but show WHY they’re recognized (NATO consideration, anti-Russian sentiment in USA politicians, etc).

Google has no obligation to be politically neutral. Even if they wanted political neutrality, it’s often an impossible goal to achieve in practice.

Indeed. Corporations whose shareholders expect them to extract profits from all countries have to accept that they cannot be politically neutral. They must put profit ahead of principle.

Profits ahead of what principle?

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”.

I never suggested neutrality. Quite the opposite.

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.

no you are wrong - there are declared areas of dispute, and then those are also disputed. The world is a big place.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com