Russia may fine citizens who use SpaceX’s Starlink Internet service(arstechnica.com)
arstechnica.com
Russia may fine citizens who use SpaceX’s Starlink Internet service
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/01/russia-may-fine-citizens-who-use-spacexs-starlink-internet-service/
6 comments
Maybe a blow to China too, who can no longer police their internet as a great wall, if the sky is open?
This is a weakness of having Elon Musk as the head of both SpaceX/Starlink and Tesla.
Starlink will 100% play China's rules (and Russia's), not only to sell service there which will be precisely Geo-fenced with all traffic in China sent to Ground stations in China.
But also because if they don't then China/Russia will retaliate against Tesla and any other businesses Elon has that they can exert influence on. So any dreams of Starlink being a panacea of worldwide open internet access need to stop, it will not happen.
Starlink will 100% play China's rules (and Russia's), not only to sell service there which will be precisely Geo-fenced with all traffic in China sent to Ground stations in China.
But also because if they don't then China/Russia will retaliate against Tesla and any other businesses Elon has that they can exert influence on. So any dreams of Starlink being a panacea of worldwide open internet access need to stop, it will not happen.
Forget retaliating against businesses. Both Russia and China are space faring superpowers, they could simply "disable" spacex system until some form of "compromise" is found.
They could create radio interferences, maybe? or just destroy the satellites?
If they see that antenna you're going to a re-education camp.
Starlink is so big and all-encompassing that it is totally advisable to establish their own net altogether. A customer should access the Internet only via separate gateways with responsibility waives and sanitizing protocols.