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Comment by LeoPanthera | Hacker News Reader

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> OP doesn't live in the US, so maybe they don't feel this quite as acutely

It's the same sentiment in large parts of Europe, and a major reason for dropping Tesla sales. He actively supports right-wing, eurosceptic politics and parties in several European countries.

That and what it's done for ground based astronomy.

What has it done for ground based astronomy?

As an astronomer, nothing meaningful. Oh, apart from making it possible for me to have a dark sky site that’s miles from anywhere, including the nearest cell tower.

Bastards.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/spacexs-dark-sate...

Even more distressing is that the photo is from 2019.

Same. Stinks of Musk.

I agree. As much as Starlink is a technological miracle, the fact that I should finance the dealings of this man is too much.

SpaceX IPO is the next in the long grift chain.

Starlink amazing solution to a problem that should have been solved by governments years ago, the USA has power to most homes and USPS will deliver anywhere so why do we not have the same for internet? God knows

Starlink is an amazing solution to the problem of "How do I keep my orbital transport business somewhat liquid" which isn't really the kind of problem governments are meant to resolve.

The US kept Iridium alive for the military and intelligence services. If Starlink falters they will fund it the same.

Correct, the government should have ran fiber lines to every home in the united states

The government should have torn up your copper monopolies a few decades earlier, but the one thing the US has done right is sort of letting local power companies and ISPs work it out for themselves where it comes to fibre. Enforcing a single standard everywhere is bad actually.

Nah, they should have done what the UK government did with Project Gigabit

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/project-gigabit-uk-gigabit-progr...

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2026/02/milestone-as-g...

If you were a savvy businessman, you could make a lot of money just connecting customers with FTTH rather than the prior situation. There was an explosion of "altnets" build off the backs of this legislation

https://web.archive.org/web/20151015205446/http://www.alphr....

Funnily enough BT got a bucketload of money from the government and did absolutely cock all with it.

Even funnier the formerly big 5 isps are rated some of the lowest on customer satisfaction despite being actual cash cows for years https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2026/03/new-which-surv...

Yeah vouchers are slightly better than subsidies alone tbh

Musk is a piece of shit but I need to pick my battles.

The only alternative available to me personally is Inmarsat BGAN, and for that I was paying $6 per MB (yes, six dollars per megabyte).

What long-term damage? Also, he stepped back from politics.

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