It’s not google’s fault. It was told to do so and has. Does anyone seriously expect them not to have done this?
Every American company, or company doing business in America, needs to toe the line of an unpredictable and vindictive president, especially one as fat and tempting as Google.
Now there’ll be a disconnect in mapping between what some sources say and what others do, but anyone with a little history knowledge knows this isn’t the first time.
There’s no legal requirement to comply.
This is voluntary
look, fuck google for many reasons, but not this. this is just keeping your head down and trying to survive the shit storm.
Nah, fuck them 100% - and this is just icing.
look, if you’re a soulless corporation just trying to deliver profits to shareholders, this is 100% the right move.
the problem is not refusing to go along with some meaningless gesture based in ignorant nationalism. the problem is that we live in capitalism, where the right move is always the one that delivers profits. decisions lacking humanity are always going to get made. focusing on this nothingburger just distracts from the bigger picture.
if you want results, destroy capitalism.
if you want results, destroy capitalism
Says the person defending google…
You don’t destroy capitalism by making concessions to mega-corp. If you truly want to destroy capitalism, you should be constantly taking every shot you can.
I will continue deadnaming the gulf with the name assigned at birth. It’s just going through a phase.
It probably had names before but what did the Mayans call it?
I’m trying to, but Proton made me throw up in my mouth a little.
Now I have the option to do everything I was doing, but poorly AND spread across 3 vendors.
What’s wrong with proton? It works pretty well for me.
CEO publicly praised Trump and the Republican party. It’s not the political alignment you’d want from the CEO of a service where privacy is their main selling-point.
CEO went full maga, was given an opportunity to correct, then doubled down. After receiving blowback he tripled down and then started lashing out at customers using official channels.
After receiving blowback he tripled down and then started lashing out at customers using official channels.
damn, i only followed the dramma for the first couple posts, do you mind posting a link to read the third one?
I’m not sure if this covers everything, I don’t have access to Reddit. https://sh.itjust.works/post/31843393
Can someone explain the 4D chess going on here? AFAIK this was just tweet diplomacy, the US hasn’t passed anything about this. So why would google want to handle all the complaints and backlash they’ll take for this?
I think something official was actually signed in the last few days. Dumbest timeline.
So why would google want to handle all the complaints and backlash they’ll take for this?
Because it’s worth getting on trump’s “good side”, per Ajit Pai’s reasoning
backlash? where? did google received any complaint ever?
From official heads of state even: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexico-president-presents-letter-google-about-gulf-mexico-name-change-2025-01-30/
Removed by mod
To be fair:
I’m American and my phone is set up in the US with region being the US.
For me it’s extra strange. If I zoom out, I see “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)”. However when I zoom in it changes to just “Guild of America”.
I’m American also in the US.
If you zoom in to 1m resolution and then slowly zoom out, you’ll see the name change back and forth several times. Very odd.
So it’s as stable as our government right now?
You have to zoom in sooo much too for it to say Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America). Weird. Makes no sense why Google would do this except to schmooze up to Little-Hands Trump.
It’s the same for europeans, just in a different language.
Time for a repeat comment: Organic Maps does everything Google Maps does (except traffic conditions), and is FOSS. Please encourage places to contribute business information to Open Street Maps.
“Except traffic” is not a little thing. It’s like putting up an ad for a house with all the features you’d expect, except a roof.
With my daily commute, there are a dozen routes I can take and traffic conditions make it so that from day to day, there can be an hour difference between different routes. It’s literally the only reason I use navigation apps over a cheap GPS unit with no live online connection requirement to navigate.
Talking about FOSS; I prefer OsmAnd because its licence is GPLv3, as opposed to the Apache 2 licence from Organic Maps.
I think this is important. That said, traffic info is the whole ballgame for many people. People who live, work, and drive in metro areas frequently use map applications even when driving everyday routes to avoid traffic.
I don’t see Google/Waze/Apple maps getting any less popular unless there is a FOSS alternative that includes live traffic, which does not seem possible while remaining free. People will choose free every time, especially since Google maps works so well.
Personally, I would pay some amount for a privacy-minded alternative, something like OrganicMaps with live traffic. But I doubt it could ever attain the user base it would need to provide accurate traffic info.
Yea, I really wish I had more spare time. Algorithms like this are an area of expertise for me, and I’d love to build an anonymized service that works with Organic Maps. It’s annoying when I know it is something I could make that would support high volume, but just don’t have time for (mainly because of all the ongoing optimization it would require).
Next thing you know they’ll change Canada’s name to Not-yet-United States of America
Yes, Tim Apple bent the knee, but the company seems to be holding steadfast.
In Taiwan it says:
Gulf of Mexico(Gulf of America)
Same here in Canada, though I get the American version with an American VPN.
Same for me in the US!
Same for me in Australia
Even in the UK they have put Gulf of America.
The UK Government doesn’t recognize that name and have officially stated they wont (at least in the short term)
I live in the US and I won’t recognize the name either.
…what name?..
Trump signed an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Executive orders aren’t laws, they’re just memos stating what the federal government will do. Google decided to bend the knee for the new king.
For U.S. Google Map users only, the body of water formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico will now appear as the Gulf of America when using the navigational service.
The change comes just several weeks after President Donald Trump signed an executive order for the gulf to be renamed and on Sunday declared February 9 was officially Gulf of America Day.
Following the order, Google stated that it has a longstanding practice of implementing name changes when done by official government sources.
It’s the same in every language, or at least in russian and french.
Everyone should report it as bug.
UK should sue them…
I wish I could degoogle my android phone. Sadly, it would mean many of the apps I use would stop working…
As far as I understand, only F-droid apps would work on e.g. GrapheneOS - is this wrong? I believe there would be issues with
- Local chatting app
- Local map app (As good as OrganicMaps is, it seems to have limited support in route finding)
- Local banking app
- Local investing app
- Apps for university affairs
- Zoom
I feel so sad that I am locked to the platform…
How do people feel about e/OS? I just started playing around with it on an old phone and it seems to work with most apps, including banking and Google apps (their store has an optional Google login).
For route finding, what about GraphHopper Maps?
As already commented, the vast majority of apps are fine with Graphene and its optional sandboxed Play Services. Mainly some banking apps can be tricky, but otherwise you’re good. You can also use alternatives like Aurora Store rather than Google directly to get your existing apps which aren’t on F-Droid; the only real exception there is paid ones.
I got a Pixel and made the switch over about a year ago, and it has been pretty smooth sailing. I also really do appreciate having full control over which permissions to allow each app. I know some people do prefer to run Google’s stock camera app or keyboard, but it’s easy enough to not give those network access to phone home.
You can install any app on GOS. You can use sandboxed google play to use the gplay store as normal, or Aurora Store if you just want gplay apps but not services.
I moved to GrapheneOS a few months ago and haven’t really looked back. Someone else below covered using the Sandboxed Google play / Aurora Store (I use both, in addition to fdroid).
Although I could conceivably install more apps, using GrapheneOS had made me think more deeply about whether I actually need an app, instead of using a web browser. It’s true that using the web is a degraded experience (likely intentionally so, in some cases), but this is a cost I’m willing to pay for better security and privacy.
Finally, I wanna rep Magic Earth as a solid alternative to Google maps. Route finding is accurate and includes traffic warnings, etc. It uses OpenStreetMap data FWIW.
Yeah but some apps just do not have website equivalent, which is the main issue. For instance, the local messaging app does not have web version.
On the Magic Earth app, does it show multiple alternative routes? I found Organic maps problematic in that it only gave a single route.
It shows multiple routes, although I typically use the fastest / default.
GrapheneOS has the option to run sandboxed google play services which you can then download any google play store app. This allows for much greater security as the apps cannot see the other apps you download. Also, you could use Aurora Store which allows play store app downloads without a google account.
There are issues that can pop up and is something you’d need to look into on app by app basis. Lately, it seems they have most banking apps working though.
I feel like my local bank etc. is relatively shitty in terms of software, so I am expecting it to not work anywhere other than android & iOS. Local map apps and local messaging app is the bigger issue for me, though.
Same as almost everyone, I need some apps that just won’t work, even with sandbox GSM and Play (ie: banking apps, ev charging, my kids’ school reporting app), so I just have a sub-200 dollars phone just for that (One Plus n200 is now 84 dollars).
Since I only use apps when there’s no other option (web version and PWA for everything else), it’s actually refreshing. I charge my car at home unless I’m on a road trip, and only use banking apps 1 day of the month to get paid and pay bills. Outside of that, I’m home free with everything self hosted and absolutely no social networks other than Lemmy and Mastodon.
Unfortunately, if you want privacy, you need to compromise. However, absolutely nothing will make me drop my GrapheneOS use for everything else.
I get it that’s not optimal, but the alternative, in my opinion is even worse.
Good luck degoogling, and I wish you enjoy the mental health improvement once you do.
F-droid works on any Android phone, doesnt need to be GrapheneOS. I have installed in on regular installs plenty of times.
i know its not as easy / inconvenient, but is there any way to use the companies website instead of the app? For example, i usually log into my banks website to check things or to make a transfer between accounts. Yes you cant scan a check or make desposits, but i also not use a lot of companies App’s in the first place. I just dont understand why everyone needs apps - do you really need an app for your ISP?
Yeah, I meant that most apps are not available from F-droid.
Local messaging app does not support web version. Silly/outrageous, I know; guess they want iron grip on the data. What can I do though, when everyone uses it.
You do not use banking through mobile at all? Seems that would be inconvenient at times.
You can get by for most apps with MicroG which is a cut down implementation of play services but some apps will absolutely refuse to run on a non-factory Android image.
Last time I was on a custom ROM I got most things to work to some extent but some jush didn’t work e.g. NFC payments via Google Pay.
IIRC there’s legislation being discussed in the EU that could compel Google to offer hardware signatures for custom ROMs in future.
For most of those things you could probably use the browser on a degoogled phone? I can’t speak to your specific banking or university apps.
You might want to set up a separate work profile to sandbox that browser usage and/or dodgy apps (see Shelter if you can’t do this through the Android settings).
That’s the thing, local messaging app does not have web version. And it is the most famous app everyone uses where I live. Insane, I know.
Organic Maps:
Organic Maps is really cool :-)
Yeah, it’s even better than GMaps for me, because GMaps doesn’t have bike navigation (where I live) while Organic Maps has all the bike lanes marked and navigatable.
“There’s no saving America – we need to pull it out by the roots. Wipe the slate clean. Burn it down! And from the ashes, a new America will be born. Evolved, but untamed!”
— Senator Armstrong.
Time to make the mother of all omelettes. Can’t fret over every egg!
America is so fucking weird!
Only most of us. Please send help.
Putin is on the way 😝
…putin got us into this mess and couldn’t be happier…
Ufff, I guess I should have added a “/s” 🤣
Now I look like a tankie
