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Google stops hiding Russian secret sites on its maps

mikece 5y ago
Interesting, but why? Just because it's "hate the Russians" month? What was the reason for hiding these items in the first place? Was there a previous agreement with Russia to keep secrets for them? To what extent is Google hiding the secrets of other oppressive regimes, such as China?
- mc4ndr3 5y ago
  The CIA wants the GRU to know that we know.
  - mikece 5y ago
    The CIA has more effective ways of flipping the bird to the GRU than futzing with Google Earth/maps.
    - sidewndr46 5y ago
      Given the expansive budget of the CIA, I would assume if they wanted to offend them they'd probably leave a handwritten note left inside of a "secure location" somewhere in Russia.
- lesuorac 5y ago
  You don't need to be an oppressive regime to get google maps to hide stuff. https://lifehacker.com/how-to-blur-your-house-in-googles-street-view-1845050158 https://lifehacker.com/how-to-blur-your-house-in-googles-str...
- yakak 5y ago
  I think Google pulled out of all Russian interests about a month back, so they no longer need to censor anything for Russia. This might also be a warning for China that there's still plenty they censor for their rocky relationship that may cease to be censored if there is no relationship.
- netsharc 5y ago
  Google draws borders differently if you're opening Google Maps from different countries (e.g. India and Pakistan), it used to only offer bitmaps (instead of vector graphics) of S. Korea to comply with the law there, the satellite images of China are still offset compared to the real world to also comply with the laws... So the answer is, they do it to remain compliant with the laws.
alphabetting 5y ago
Expert here says they were never blurred to begin with. Seems like fake news. https://twitter.com/konrad_muzyka/status/1516089845990494213 https://twitter.com/konrad_muzyka/status/1516089845990494213
webmobdev 5y ago
... and that, my friends, is the start of the short story that will end in Google getting banned in Russia (I am assuming this does break some Russian laws). Not that it matters for Russians as Google was surprisingly never a market leader there: - In Russia, you don't need Google: 5 reasons why Yandex is still No. 1: https://www.rbth.com/science-and-tech/326234-in-russia-yandex-popular https://www.rbth.com/science-and-tech/326234-in-russia-yande... ). - Distribution of search engine traffic in Russia from 3rd quarter 2019 to 4th quarter 2021, by company: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1094920/leading-search-engines-by-visits-share-russia/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1094920/leading-search-e... .
- NicoJuicy 5y ago
  Almost no one cares about doing business with Russia anymore. Since they just take your business away, some stories are getting more out now. It's just a criminal organization that should be ignored. Read a longer "short story" about a hedge fund manager and how Russia operates and how he's now in the n°1 hit list of Russia - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Browder https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Browder Note: A lot of Yandex ( English-speaking) employees fled abroad currently, including it's CEO. I'd be suprised if Yandex would hold >6 months ( employees, high-tech eg. semiconductors, sanctions, default looming, ... ) Fyi: Yandex also tried in Turkeye and it didn't work. I'm pretty sure Russia was happy to give Yandex a leg up in it's other divisions ( eg. Law for their self driving tests - considering in other countries they don't even report manual interventions unlike others, so i think it's mostly a fad though). And Google didn't have much will to win the market die to ( reasonable) uncertainty.
- sidibe 5y ago
  Pretty sure a company that gave up on being allowed in China is willing to give up on being allowed in Russia which probably has very little impact on their revenue
- sovok_x 5y ago
  I don't use Yandex Search for years already. Because all results I got from it were pages of clever SEO-spam while relevant links lost somewhere far away which started being annoying very fast. Google with its recent decrease of search quality is still way better, even for local results for which Yandex was famous about a decade ago.

Interesting, but why? Just because it's "hate the Russians" month? What was the reason for hiding these items in the first place? Was there a previous agreement with Russia to keep secrets for them? To what extent is Google hiding the secrets of other oppressive regimes, such as China?

mc4ndr3 5y ago
The CIA wants the GRU to know that we know.
- mikece 5y ago
  The CIA has more effective ways of flipping the bird to the GRU than futzing with Google Earth/maps.
  - sidewndr46 5y ago
    Given the expansive budget of the CIA, I would assume if they wanted to offend them they'd probably leave a handwritten note left inside of a "secure location" somewhere in Russia.
lesuorac 5y ago
You don't need to be an oppressive regime to get google maps to hide stuff. https://lifehacker.com/how-to-blur-your-house-in-googles-street-view-1845050158 https://lifehacker.com/how-to-blur-your-house-in-googles-str...
yakak 5y ago
I think Google pulled out of all Russian interests about a month back, so they no longer need to censor anything for Russia. This might also be a warning for China that there's still plenty they censor for their rocky relationship that may cease to be censored if there is no relationship.
netsharc 5y ago
Google draws borders differently if you're opening Google Maps from different countries (e.g. India and Pakistan), it used to only offer bitmaps (instead of vector graphics) of S. Korea to comply with the law there, the satellite images of China are still offset compared to the real world to also comply with the laws... So the answer is, they do it to remain compliant with the laws.

alphabetting 5y ago

Expert here says they were never blurred to begin with. Seems like fake news. https://twitter.com/konrad_muzyka/status/1516089845990494213 https://twitter.com/konrad_muzyka/status/1516089845990494213

webmobdev 5y ago

... and that, my friends, is the start of the short story that will end in Google getting banned in Russia (I am assuming this does break some Russian laws). Not that it matters for Russians as Google was surprisingly never a market leader there: - In Russia, you don't need Google: 5 reasons why Yandex is still No. 1: https://www.rbth.com/science-and-tech/326234-in-russia-yandex-popular https://www.rbth.com/science-and-tech/326234-in-russia-yande... ). - Distribution of search engine traffic in Russia from 3rd quarter 2019 to 4th quarter 2021, by company: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1094920/leading-search-engines-by-visits-share-russia/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1094920/leading-search-e... .

NicoJuicy 5y ago
Almost no one cares about doing business with Russia anymore. Since they just take your business away, some stories are getting more out now. It's just a criminal organization that should be ignored. Read a longer "short story" about a hedge fund manager and how Russia operates and how he's now in the n°1 hit list of Russia - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Browder https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Browder Note: A lot of Yandex ( English-speaking) employees fled abroad currently, including it's CEO. I'd be suprised if Yandex would hold >6 months ( employees, high-tech eg. semiconductors, sanctions, default looming, ... ) Fyi: Yandex also tried in Turkeye and it didn't work. I'm pretty sure Russia was happy to give Yandex a leg up in it's other divisions ( eg. Law for their self driving tests - considering in other countries they don't even report manual interventions unlike others, so i think it's mostly a fad though). And Google didn't have much will to win the market die to ( reasonable) uncertainty.
sidibe 5y ago
Pretty sure a company that gave up on being allowed in China is willing to give up on being allowed in Russia which probably has very little impact on their revenue
sovok_x 5y ago
I don't use Yandex Search for years already. Because all results I got from it were pages of clever SEO-spam while relevant links lost somewhere far away which started being annoying very fast. Google with its recent decrease of search quality is still way better, even for local results for which Yandex was famous about a decade ago.