Google Not Actually Evil, Just Lacking Info

On the heels of Russia’s invasion of Georgia, media outlets around the globe noted that Google Maps images of Georgia were suspiciously blank.

Scandal.

Had Google erased them? Were Larry Page and Sergey Brin secretly in cahoots with Vladimir Putin? They had to be, right? Google knows everything.

Actually, no. As The New York Times‘ Miguel Helft writes, “the lack of information is not new.”

Helft obtained a statement from the company on the matter:

Google has not made any recent change to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in Google Maps. We do not have local data for those countries and that is why local details such as landmarks and cities do not appear.

The company has since decided to include what information it has. Oh well, it was fun to hate them while it lasted.

(Side note: Microsoft’s Live Search mapping program does have plenty of details.)

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