4 ms·

What I learned a few years back about this is the official (un)obfuscating implementation was distributed to licensed companies in binary .dll/.so/.a , and not

What I learned a few years back about this is the official (un)obfuscating implementation was distributed to licensed companies in binary .dll/.so/.a , and not allowed to be redistributed or reverse-engineered. Licenses are only given to local companies, and foreign companies may only buy service from them. That's why if you reverse engineer Google Map or Apple Map app, they all make real time API calls to do the conversion on servers. Those contracts may also limit the end user who can consume these APIs to be in China, hence foreign users will see the shifts of roads/etc. The open-sourced implementation one may find on the internet are probably thru sth like curve fitting by sampling many data points. It may have good enough approximations but may not work one day if the gov agency decides to change the algorithm. Changing algorithm is a backward compatibility hell but not a big problem for the industry actually, because most Map apps are owned by big corp which has resource and motivation to comply.

xkcd-sucks 5y ago
> distributed to licensed companies in binary .dll/.so/.a , and not allowed to be redistributed or reverse-engineered Such irony in CCP using licensing to protect their IP
- seniorivn 5y ago
  only if you have misconception about what ccp and other one party states actually are
  - mastazi 5y ago
    > you have misconception and what's the "correct-conception"?[1] I'm curious because I get what parent means in terms of intellectual property issues in China but I don't get what do you mean from your comment, especially the fact that you include "other party states" - is it some sort of general rule that you're hinting at? [1] funny, I just realised that there is no antonym of "misconception"
    - leephillips 5y ago
      Not really funny, as nouns in general do not have antonyms.
      - mastazi 5y ago
        Generally nouns prefixed with mis- do; sometimes you just remove the mis- part eg. understanding vs misunderstanding, management vs mismanagement etc.
        deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
        leephillips 5y ago
        You make my point. Your examples are not pairs of antonyms. Management is not the opposite of mismanagement.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - iratewizard 5y ago
      Maybe he means that China is less like a country and more like an organized crime syndicate wearing a nation's clothes?
      - pjmlp 5y ago
        Like US during McCarthy era.
      - mastazi 5y ago
        I had the impression that parent was implying that it’s not surprising for China to invoke IP protection - which is not the case with crime syndicates for obvious reasons.
    - mncharity 5y ago
      Verconception? - truth, 7 hits on google. Orthoconception? - straight, also 7 hits. Benconception? - good, 80 hits off topic. What else...? At least in science education, misconceptions are so vastly more common than correct conceptions, that it makes sense there's a compact negative form but not a positive one. /s
  - Tabular-Iceberg 5y ago
    If you think you know better what the CCP is, why don’t you educate us?
    - rhizome 5y ago
      Hey, I'll bite: they are a thousands-year old country who has seen nations like the US and protectionist strategies like IP law come and go for centuries. They probably know what the US is going to do before the US knows what they're going to do, and certainly before the US knows what CCP is going to do.
      - chii 5y ago
        > they are a thousands-year old country china, the ethnicity, is indeed thousands years old. CCP, however, is barely over 70 yrs old.
        Xixi 5y ago
        Nickpicking: the CCP foundational congress was held on 23 July 1921, making it 100 years old in a couple of month. The Red Army was founded on 15 July 1927, which is why it is generally assumed (seriously or not, I don't know) that China aims at reuniting with Taiwan before 2027. But the CCP has been controlling mainland China for a little bit over 70 years, indeed.
        canadianfella 5y ago
        Nitpicking: couple of months, not “month”.
        dronesoul 5y ago
        to be even more correct, china isn't one culture or one ethnicity. it covers a huge area, and especially before modern times, it was composed of a lot of different cultures and ethnicities, with a shitload of different languages and customs. CCP and other earlier powers (Emperors?) just brought them all, or large chunks, under a common flag.
eruci 5y ago
It is fun to see such a discussion - I've been working on my own implementation of de-obfuscating Mars Coordinates since January 2021 with very good results. And Yes, some curve fitting is involved. At the end of the day they may obfuscate coordinates and blur maps, but the truth will eventually come out.
- bunfunton 5y ago
  R tree
humaniania 5y ago
"they all make real time API calls to do the conversion on servers" Can't imagine why anyone would want that to happen.....
- sneak 5y ago
  You seem to be implying surveillance. I think the actual answer is "because if the library were downloadable, the algorithm used for military physical security would be quickly reverse-engineered."

xkcd-sucks 5y ago

> distributed to licensed companies in binary .dll/.so/.a , and not allowed to be redistributed or reverse-engineered Such irony in CCP using licensing to protect their IP

seniorivn 5y ago
only if you have misconception about what ccp and other one party states actually are
- mastazi 5y ago
  > you have misconception and what's the "correct-conception"?[1] I'm curious because I get what parent means in terms of intellectual property issues in China but I don't get what do you mean from your comment, especially the fact that you include "other party states" - is it some sort of general rule that you're hinting at? [1] funny, I just realised that there is no antonym of "misconception"
  - leephillips 5y ago
    Not really funny, as nouns in general do not have antonyms.
    - mastazi 5y ago
      Generally nouns prefixed with mis- do; sometimes you just remove the mis- part eg. understanding vs misunderstanding, management vs mismanagement etc.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      - leephillips 5y ago
        You make my point. Your examples are not pairs of antonyms. Management is not the opposite of mismanagement.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - iratewizard 5y ago
    Maybe he means that China is less like a country and more like an organized crime syndicate wearing a nation's clothes?
    - pjmlp 5y ago
      Like US during McCarthy era.
    - mastazi 5y ago
      I had the impression that parent was implying that it’s not surprising for China to invoke IP protection - which is not the case with crime syndicates for obvious reasons.
  - mncharity 5y ago
    Verconception? - truth, 7 hits on google. Orthoconception? - straight, also 7 hits. Benconception? - good, 80 hits off topic. What else...? At least in science education, misconceptions are so vastly more common than correct conceptions, that it makes sense there's a compact negative form but not a positive one. /s
- Tabular-Iceberg 5y ago
  If you think you know better what the CCP is, why don’t you educate us?
  - rhizome 5y ago
    Hey, I'll bite: they are a thousands-year old country who has seen nations like the US and protectionist strategies like IP law come and go for centuries. They probably know what the US is going to do before the US knows what they're going to do, and certainly before the US knows what CCP is going to do.
    - chii 5y ago
      > they are a thousands-year old country china, the ethnicity, is indeed thousands years old. CCP, however, is barely over 70 yrs old.
      - Xixi 5y ago
        Nickpicking: the CCP foundational congress was held on 23 July 1921, making it 100 years old in a couple of month. The Red Army was founded on 15 July 1927, which is why it is generally assumed (seriously or not, I don't know) that China aims at reuniting with Taiwan before 2027. But the CCP has been controlling mainland China for a little bit over 70 years, indeed.
        canadianfella 5y ago
        Nitpicking: couple of months, not “month”.
      - dronesoul 5y ago
        to be even more correct, china isn't one culture or one ethnicity. it covers a huge area, and especially before modern times, it was composed of a lot of different cultures and ethnicities, with a shitload of different languages and customs. CCP and other earlier powers (Emperors?) just brought them all, or large chunks, under a common flag.

eruci 5y ago

It is fun to see such a discussion - I've been working on my own implementation of de-obfuscating Mars Coordinates since January 2021 with very good results. And Yes, some curve fitting is involved. At the end of the day they may obfuscate coordinates and blur maps, but the truth will eventually come out.

bunfunton 5y ago
R tree

humaniania 5y ago

"they all make real time API calls to do the conversion on servers" Can't imagine why anyone would want that to happen.....

sneak 5y ago
You seem to be implying surveillance. I think the actual answer is "because if the library were downloadable, the algorithm used for military physical security would be quickly reverse-engineered."