[uMap] [Important: Action required] Your software might be used for terrorism

[Eugenia Soroka]

Hi,

I'm a concerned Ukrainian, writing to ask you to evaluate the options of
your software being used for acts of terrorism / war, and reduce them.

As you probably know, Putin has recently started an unprovoked war on
Ukraine, which is still ongoing. Today, we've noticed that new tags popped
up in many places on the territory of Ukraine in Google maps, marked as
"ФЕРМЕРСЬКЕ ГОСПОДАРСТВО" or "ФГ"(which translates to a "farm"), in places
where there is no farm, which we think can be used for adjusting the fire
on our gas stations and government agencies.

Here's a message about it sent to Google:
https://support.google.com/maps/thread/152809911/terrorists-use-google-maps-tags-to-adjust-the-fires-please-help
They are aware of the problem and are working on resolving it.

*Could you evaluate the ways your map software can be used by terrorist
groups, e.g. for marking points for attacks / correction of fire by
airstrikes, please? And try to block this functionality before it starts,
or monitor such suspicious activity and report it and mitigate it? If your
software is open-source, could you consider making the source code
available upon a verified request?*
We would like to prevent the usage of your software for violent attacks
causing deaths of people. But you know your software best, so we ask you to
please think about the ways your software could be (ab)used and work to
prevent it.

*Please confirm the receipt of this message and that you routed it to the
developers / appropriate teams for processing this request.* Otherwise, we
will reach out to you again with the same plea for help. We have contacted
all major map software companies with this message.

Thank you,
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