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United States The Courts

Mexico Sues Google Over Changing Gulf of Mexico's Name For US Users (theguardian.com) 96

Posted by BeauHD from the new-name-same-body-of-water dept.
Mexico has filed a lawsuit against Google for changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to "Gulf of America" for U.S. users on Google Maps, following a Republican-led House vote on Thursday to codify the name change. President Claudia Sheinbaum argues the U.S. only has authority to rename its portion of the continental shelf and warned of legal action unless Google reversed the change. The Guardian reports: "All we want is for the decree issued by the US government to be complied with," Sheinbaum said. "The US government only calls the portion of the US continental shelf the Gulf of America, not the entire gulf, because it wouldn't have the authority to name the entire gulf," she added. In response to Trump, Sheinbaum has cheekily suggested calling the United States "America Mexicana" -- Mexican America, pointing to a map dating back to before 1848, when one-third of her country was seized by the United States.

Mexico Sues Google Over Changing Gulf of Mexico's Name For US Users More | Reply

Mexico Sues Google Over Changing Gulf of Mexico's Name For US Users

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  • well there will be an tariff on any winnings in court!

  • Sigh (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Powercntrl ( 458442 ) on Friday May 09, 2025 @08:27PM (#65365425) Homepage

    I honestly wish quibbling over the name of a body of water was the worst thing this administration has done, but this morning it looks like one of the wholesalers I buy mini-split air conditioners and heat pumps from has closed their doors due to the tariffs.

    We are most definitely entering the "find out" phase of this administration, and it's going to be a lot more unpleasant than being a little miffed at Google Maps.

    • Re:Sigh (Score:5, Insightful)

      by MightyMartian ( 840721 ) on Friday May 09, 2025 @08:30PM (#65365429) Journal

      I used to think the end of America was going to be the worst thing that could happen. Now I'm just hoping my country (Canada) can get out of the way of what has to be the biggest own-goals in history. I mean, how is Trump even allowed out of a dementia ward, let alone in charge of the most powerful nation on Earth? Why did so many Americans think he was somehow better than someone who can actually string coherent sentences together?

      • Gosh, I wish that you're safe up there in the north. But it's like Agent Smith in the Matrix movie describing a virus

      • Re:Sigh (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Narcocide ( 102829 ) on Friday May 09, 2025 @08:48PM (#65365469) Homepage

        Why did so many Americans think he was somehow better than someone who can actually string coherent sentences together?

        The same reason "reality tv" is so popular; short attention spans.

        • Why did so many Americans think he was somehow better than someone who can actually string coherent sentences together?

          The same reason "reality tv" is so popular; short attention spans.

          Which one? Surely NOT Kamala or Biden. Oh yeah, Tampon Tim was kinda eloquent.

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by jacks smirking reven ( 909048 )

        I mean if you're a Carney, Liberal supporter in Canada, you're welcome? in a fucked up sort of way?

        Is Trump a colossal enough fuckup to fully turn around the rising global right wing movement?

        Tune in next week I guess

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Why did so many Americans think he was somehow better than someone who can actually string coherent sentences together?

        The Trump vote was "I don't want Biden again"...

      • Re:Sigh (Score:5, Informative)

        by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Saturday May 10, 2025 @03:54AM (#65366009)

        Why did so many Americans think he was somehow better than someone who can actually string coherent sentences together?

        He had a penis.
        He wasn't black / Indian / whatever racial slur they were told to hate.
        He wasn't woke and everyone else was woke and you should fear woke.
        Also your life was bad. No it wasn't but we don't tell you that. Your life sucked and it will suck under the other person, and Trump will make it better.

        That is the kind of things idiots hear and it resonates with them. When that's the intellect you deal with they probably can't understand that Trump was saying nonsense. They only hear blah blah blah blah Make America Great Again *waves novelty flag while tear rolls down cheek*.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by flink ( 18449 )

          Lots of people's lives have been getting steadily worse over the last 20 years. The Dems promised to keep things exactly the same. Trump promised to change things for the better. He was lying, but desperate people voted for him. You gotta promise people something besides fighting for the status quo.

          • Getting worse does not mean bad. The world wavers constantly in and out of periods of prosperity and in some cases even recession. One person may lose their job one year, the next find it difficult to pay off their house. The next may love eggs for breakfast.

            That doesn't change the underlying facts. Trump didn't just promise something better, he outright lied to people gaslighting Americas existing economic credentials. The economy wasn't bad under Biden. It may not have been as good as it was under say Oba

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by gtall ( 79522 )

        American right now is what happens when you have a right wing actively denigrating education, science, government, civil society, etc. And promoting gun "rights", overt racism, whining incessantly about how Whites in America are "victims", "Christian values" (meaning "We'll beat the love of Jesus Christ into you even if it kills you"), etc. The pols haven't helped by being vote and campaign contribution whores and having no redeeming qualities, they just want to stay in office.

        So we have about half an elect

      • Why did so many Americans think he was somehow better than someone who can actually string coherent sentences together?

        I suspect it was exactly what also drove so many Brits to vote for Brexit - the previous winner of "biggest own goal" a country has scored. It was not that they voted for the crazy stuff it was that they were voting against the alternative. If people strongly reject the platform you are putting forward and believe the alternative platform looks better, or at least less bad, they may well be inclined to overlook the red flags or assume that they will not be as bad as they are.

        I mean let's be honest here

      • Re:Sigh (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Zontar_Thing_From_Ve ( 949321 ) on Saturday May 10, 2025 @10:28AM (#65366459)

        I used to think the end of America was going to be the worst thing that could happen. Now I'm just hoping my country (Canada) can get out of the way of what has to be the biggest own-goals in history. I mean, how is Trump even allowed out of a dementia ward, let alone in charge of the most powerful nation on Earth? Why did so many Americans think he was somehow better than someone who can actually string coherent sentences together?

        As an American, I do feel qualified to speak here. So while I didn't vote for Trump, I know many who did. Trump won because Kamala Harris lost due to a thousand little cuts. A bunch of things all went against her and together it was enough to sink her. What were these?
        1) The biggest was Biden allowing almost everybody who could reach the US border to claim asylum, come in, and face a court date 7+ years in the future to determine their fate. If there actually was one thing that caused Harris to lose, this was it. I am completely at a loss to explain how this happened as the "let everybody who wants to come in" stuff is really a fringe position within the Democratic Party that only the wing nuts support, but somehow somebody got to Biden and convinced him it was the greatest idea ever.
        2) Over 10 million voters in 2020 simply didn't vote in 2024. This was also huge as apparently a lot of those people voted for Biden in 2020. I've never heard an explanation as to why they didn't vote.
        3) About 25% of black males voted for Trump with a huge percentage of those doing simply to stop any black woman from becoming president. Black men who hate black women is a real thing.
        4) Some small percentage of legal immigrants want literally all immigration into the USA stopped forever so nobody else can get in. There aren't a lot of these people but they all went for Trump to do exactly what he has been doing.
        5) There was a devastating commercial on TV against Harris that showed her giving an interview around 2020 where she bragged about how prison inmates would get free, tax payer paid for gender changing surgeries because (according to her) this was just the greatest idea ever. The Democrats have a history of adopting weird, extremist positions on finge issues just to be "right" and they'd rather lose than not support the position. Few Americans are trans, even fewer are in prison, but a family complaining about high inflation at the grocery store isn't going to be moved by a candidate who would rather pay for free trans surgeries for prisoners than fix inflation.
        6) And finally, some large enough minority of American voters, and this crosses all racial and gender and politcial party lines, simply don't ever want any woman to ever become president. They all voted for Trump.

        Please note that about 80% of Republican voters are fully in The Cult Of Donald Trump and as long as he is alive and a candidate they can vote for, they will do so. Period.

        • It is absolutely terrifying that slashdot people, some of the most logical and brightest on the Net have been indoctrinated by the required college courses. Where is your source that 80% of republican voters are in Cult of Donald? Trump stole so many democrat voters because they recognize that Dems are off the reservation. Way too woke. See also Bud Light, Disney, covid-19 Illegal immigration....

          You are not right just because the echo-chamber shouts everyone down. It was so disheartening to see sla

    • Re:Sigh (Score:5, Interesting)

      by quenda ( 644621 ) on Friday May 09, 2025 @08:37PM (#65365447)

      quibbling over the name of a body of water

      It is a deliberate strategy by the administration. Creating public debate, flooding it even, over divisive but ultimately trivial issues, distracting from the more serious ones. We should be talking about trade policy, and the blatant outrageous financial corruption from Trumps crypto coin. But we are so easily distracted by inflammatory comments over culture wars topics.

      • Re: Sigh (Score:5, Informative)

        by ToasterMonkey ( 467067 ) on Friday May 09, 2025 @11:06PM (#65365701) Homepage

        El Salvador, no trial life sentence foreign gulag?
        Libya ...??
        Cancelling refuge programs while adding ... Afrikanners?
        Gold Card, because the country is full but not that full
        The weird pronatalism shit that's coming
        Blaming plane crash on "DEI" hires
        Attacks on universities, government "viewpoint diversity" audits
        Attacks on law firms
        Doesn't uphold the constitution, forgot his oath
        Cancelling birthright citizenship
        Threatening our allies
        Threatening to annex our allies
        Signal ... but her emails
        J6 pardons
        Crypto pardons
        "Out of nowhere, courts say you have to have trials"
        and the tariffs thing ..

      • Re:Sigh (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Sloppy ( 14984 ) on Saturday May 10, 2025 @09:34AM (#65366385) Homepage Journal

        Creating public debate

        Ok, then, let's give them what they want.

        I'll start. I am an admittedly selfish American. Fuck everyone else. Fuck everyone who isn't me. From that premise, what are the advantages of renaming the gulf? Sure, it's causing some seemingly-unnecessary expense, but that's balanced by ..

        ...

        ..uh, sorry, I'm drawing a blank. How can the gulf rename give me an advantage? What is the upside to doing this? If I come out ahead at someone else's expense, that's great. I want to do that. I hope someone else loses and their life gets worse, as long as my life gets better, even if just a tiny bit. But how does my life get better from this? I'm fine if a thousand children are raped and murdered as collateral damage, as long as I get a penny. So where the fuck is my penny?!

        Surely, someone has an answer to this.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dskoll ( 99328 )

      Yeah, the "FO" phase is coming shortly now that no more container ships from China are arriving. Look for empty shelves, shortages and predatory pricing coming to your friendly USA store soon.

    • When Google paints Canada in the same color as USA on its maps, and persistent wiki updates for the 51st state? On a better note, the Red Sea could be renamed the Palestine Sea or after the name of a popular local government given Harry Potter do not ever utter status. Because there was no vote on it. I always wondered why in 1960, all the world maps had Russia and China in red. I wonder what AI engines might suggest.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by pjt33 ( 739471 )

        I always wondered why in 1960, all the world maps had Russia and China in red.

        Mapmakers using up the red ink that was no longer necessary for the British Empire?

  • Double stupid (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Baron_Yam ( 643147 ) on Friday May 09, 2025 @08:31PM (#65365433)

    While Trump demanding the name change was the act of a stupid petulant man-baby... the US can use whatever names they want on their maps.

    Laugh at Americans for this? Yes. Keep calling things whatever you were already calling them? Yeah, of course. Sue a company because you don't like the labels on another country's maps? Stupid.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Cinder6 ( 894572 )

      Genuine question: is it any different from us calling Deutschland “Germany” on our maps? Different countries, or at least countries that speak different languages, often have wildly different names for other locations.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Yes. Gulf of Mexico was the established name for hundreds of years.

        Let me rephrase that in Spanish, translation mine, "El Presidente Trump es un payaso."

        Why would anyone entertain his nonsense? I thought that was a reason 1776 happened because no one wanted to be ruled by a fruitcake king.

      • It's not as "Deutschland" because these are long-accepted translations with no particular meaning understood today. "America" isn't of accepted translation for "Mexico", and has a clear meaning implying ownership. Which is a serious matter in diplomatic circles. Imagine Google is purchased by a Canadian company and renames the Great Lakes "The Canadian Lakes" or the USA "Southern Canada".

        Even how foreign countries name themselves can be the subject of disputes. See how long it took for the the Former Yugosl

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Bert64 ( 520050 )

          Or how about the body of water between england and france...
          The english call it "the english channel", whereas the french simply call it "la manche" which translates to "the channel".
          Neither side seems to be bothered that the other has a different name for it.

          "america" is the name of the continent btw, of which mexico is a part. Calling the body of water which sits between the north and south american continents "the gulf of america" does make logical sense.

          • Calling the body of water which sits between the north and south american continents "the gulf of america" does make logical sense

            I would call that the Panama Canal. It's at least a lot closer to the border between continents.

          • The english call it "the english channel", whereas the french simply call it "la manche" which translates to "the channel".

            They are two different languages. The official name for it in France when speaking in English remains the English Channel. And on English maps published in France it is listed as the English Channel. And if you go to google.fr/maps using a French VPN and switch the language to English you will still see it called English Channel.

            Now if 'Murikan was a different language that would be comparable. We wouldn't be having that discussion if it was called Gulf of Al'ya'all's Freedom's and it only showed up if your

          • So what you're saying is that when Trump says "Make America great again !", by "America", he actually means the entire continent, and not just the US, right ?

          • Calling the body of water which sits between the north and south american continents "the gulf of america" does make logical sense.

            No for several reasons:
            1) You're forgetting the context. We know for fact that Trump isn't using the words America/American to mean "continent". Trump is in a culture war and he factors "pissing off people" as main motive or side benefit in every of his actions.

            2) It would be preferred to call it "Gulf the the Americas".

            3) The process to obtain a change would be through a toponymy conference of the UN (UNGEGN), joining all countries of the continent in a symbolic place, e.g. Haiti or Cuba for a multilateral

          • Or how about the body of water between england and france... The english call it "the english channel", whereas the french simply call it "la manche" which translates to "the channel".

            "La manche" translates from (French) French to (English) English as "the sleeve". Which is reasonably descriptive at my level of sewing. Uneven width, angular corners all along the length. Bitterly cold. Gales howl through it. Definitely a sleeve.

            Were you using EN_US, or translating to FR_CA? In general, it doesn't matter mu

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by pjt33 ( 739471 )

            The body of water between the north and south American continents is called the Caribbean Sea. The Rio Grande / Río Bravo isn't at a plate boundary.

      • >Genuine question: is it any different from us calling Deutschland âoeGermanyâ on our maps?

        Renaming the Gulf on American maps was done to incite domestic racist/nationalist fervor. But, in terms of international relations, it's America's right to do so.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

        The Germans and Italians have been playing name games for a couple thousand years. Some Italian dumbass showed up in Deutschland and declared it Germany, then some German mapmaker named the New World after one Italian explorer to make the point that another Italian explorer was a dumbass.

      • Yes because Germany is Germany's official English name for Deutschland. That isn't an arbitrary American decision, or even one related to the English language. If you want to see in action how the country itself defines its own official name in foreign languages then scroll over to the other side of the world and see if you can find Turkey. You can't. They wanted the official English name to be Türkiye and as such it is now called Türkiye on any official English language map.

        And this is kind of th

        • see if you can find Turkey. You can't. They wanted the official English name to be Türkiye and as such it is now called Türkiye on any official English language map.

          I had noticed the change, but didn't know it was a deliberate choice. "Türkiye" is it.

          You were posting from an Android app of some sort? From a desktop browser, I'm probably going to get mangled by Slash(code).

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by pjt33 ( 739471 )

            It's nothing to do with mobile vs desktop. It's just a case of knowing that if you want accents to display correctly on /. you have to use HTML entities (e.g. ü for ü).

    • Maybe the only way here to fight stupid is with stupid.

        At the very least it's doing something, even if petty, to Google for caving to the silly demand.

      Now they might have to at least make a defense of it legally. Do they believe it should be changed? Do you just tell a court you're worried about a shakedown?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Lips ( 26363 )
      Ban a journalist from parts of the WH because "you don't like the labels on another country's maps? Stupid.*

      • That one actually exceeds stupid... it's very disappointing to see, but that remains an internal American matter. Besides, Trump needs to make more room in the press pool for the right-wing shills.

    • Sue a company because you don't like the labels on another country's maps? Stupid.

      While you're partially right in that the suit about what the USA calls it for Americans is stupid, the wider world is a good target. I don't live on your continent. No one other than America claims to call it the Golf of America. Why the hell does it say Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America) on my map? Not that it is something one can sue someone over.

      At least Bing maps still says calls it the correct name we address it as where I live.

      I just praised Bing. I feel personally violated for being put in a position w

  • Good. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Vegan Cyclist ( 1650427 ) on Friday May 09, 2025 @08:33PM (#65365437) Homepage

    This is good.

    EVERYONE should push back until Orange Julius Caesar stops (or at least reduces) these inane media stunts.

    As a Canadian, I can also confirm we're sick of this dumb shit too.

    'When you elect a clown for king, the palace becomes a circus.'

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jmccue ( 834797 )

      I fully agree, but I doubt Mexico would win :(

      But, since you are from Canada, I think Canada, Mexico and all other sane countries get together and tax Google say 99% of their full revenue (not profit) until they change the name back in the US. No way the Trump owned court system could stop the tax and it would hurt Goggle were it counts. In their pocket book.

      • Why wouldn't they? They can take them to court in Mexico and adhere to Mexican laws (no GOP crony to rig the outcome). If Google wants to do business in Mexico at all then they need adhere to Mexican laws. It is no different than any other foreign company doing business in America must adhere to our American laws.

    • Julius Caesar had coherent writing.

      • And significant verbal diarrhoea. How many volumes of "the Gallic Wars"? 6? And he ran a major PR campaign over the previous Hispanic War too. And at least one into Asia (Minor?) to give us Veni! Vidi! Victi!
    • Calling the Tangerine Shitgibbon an "Orange Julius Cæsar" is pretty insulting to Ol' JC. He may have been a genocidal tyrannical dictator (he was even ELECTED as dictator by the Senate! ; the genocide was mostly in Transalpine Gaul ; he was assassinated, allegedly, for behaving like a tyrannos - a king), but he repeatedly led his troops into battle without excusing himself on the grounds of bony spurious spurs. And he could spin a good line in his native tongue ("Veni! Vidi! Victi!" - "I came, I

  • Just stop using Google Maps (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    N/T

  • A couple of points (Score:4, Interesting)

    by LazLong ( 757 ) on Saturday May 10, 2025 @03:28AM (#65365975)

    Mexico can sue whomever they want for whatever reason. The suit is probably mostly for domestic consumption and performative, just like a lot of Trump's actions.

    Mexico actually has about 100 miles more coastline along the Gulf.

    Calling it the "Gulf of America" doesn't make it any more of a US body of water. We're all on the North American continent. It's really more about Trump being a tinpot authoritarian shithead, and easily manipulated by whomever it was that whispered this idea into his ear.

    Maybe we should expend less energy on dumb shit like this and concentrate on Trump's more important actions.

    • Yes Americans do need to spend less energy on that. But as a non American (and non Mexican) I applaud Mexico's efforts. While it may seem dumb to you, we now live in a world where you can pick up an English language map and see names called something different not just based on locale but also based on who the mapping provider is.

      Yeah its dumb to us, but explain to your 4 year old why they can't find Gulf of America on bing.com or Gulf of Mexico on google.com. ... Well actually probably not your 4 year old

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by djinn6 ( 1868030 )

        Disputed names are not really problems. In Japan, the body of water to their west is the Sea of Japan. In Korea it's called the East Sea. In Vietnam, East Sea is the sea to the east of Vietnam, not Korea. In China that's called the South China Sea. Maybe there's a bit of confusion when a Korean and a Vietnamese talk oceanography, but the rest are pretty clear.

        I'm pretty sure if we meet aliens, their name for our planet would not be "Earth" and that's okay. We don't need to sue them and try to get them to ch

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by 0xG ( 712423 )

      Well, china has got a whole sea, so why can't america have at least a gulf?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by djinn6 ( 1868030 )

        You forgot that India has an entire ocean.

        "America" is not even necessarily the US. Referring to the largest gulf between North and South America as "Gulf of America" seems reasonable to me.

  • I spent an extensive amount of time in Mexico, where I was regularly referred to as "cracker". Most of the time, it was intended in a derogatory way. I didn't take it as such. I just found it funny. "Yep, I'm a white guy", I'd say in Spanish. At no time did I disrespect what THEY wanted to call me there. I accepted it. Perhaps it's time those throwing a lawsuit like this around start learning what freedom of speech really means. It also means we're free to name anything whatever we want and it's YOUR choi

  • Trump's renaming infection has spread to Mexico.

    It's called the Gulf of Mexico or Gulf of America or Persian Gulf or Indian ocean or whatnot because that country is nearby. Calling it one way or the other does not grant any ownership over the body of water.

    What a timewaste.

  • I promote renaming it for a location relatively central in the Gulf, and of considerable politically-neutral importance. See above.

    Plus, I've spent years training Bloody AutoIncorrect to spell the name correctly, and I want to maximise the benefit I get from that sunk cost.

  • ... the Gulf of America? Mexico is part of America.

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