Russia may fine citizens who use SpaceX’s Starlink Internet service
arstechnica.com
arstechnica.com
(The prohibition of the use of treacherous enemy radio for the precautionary confusion protection of the vulnerable cattle er...people goes without saying.(courtesy of deepl.com))
Will the Oligarchy be exempt? Who enforces that in the Datchas of the divergents?
Sure, Russia could shoot down the satellites, but the cost both in terms of missile cost and in terms of space debris would be extreme. Given that SpaceX is launching many starlink satellites in a single launch and reusing the falcon-9, SpaceX's costs will continue to get lower.
I'm sure the CCP will find a way to stop SpaceX and the great firewall will remain, but I'm less confident in countries like Iran or Turkey in being able to continue to censor and regulate their internet.
Musk’s other main business has plenty to lose in China, I don’t see why he would upset the CCP.
My point is that this technology will get more and more democratized until a company comes about that refuses to censor certain countries' internet. Those countries only options would be to shoot down the satellites or hack the company and take the satellites offline.
Shooting down satellites will cause an exponentiation in space debris, be very costly, and ineffective given the size of these constellations.
1. The StarLink dish has an pretty unique shape. Pretty easy to look for it via some means (drones, aerial photos, etc).
2. You got caught committing some crime. When they search your property they find the Starlink dish. Maybe they find StarLink software on your computer. Then extra charge and fine comes your way.