4 ms·
No. Starlink will follow all local laws, including licensing the bandwidth they are using. They are not going to run a pirate internet network. Due to complica
by Tuna-Fish 7y ago
No. Starlink will follow all local laws, including licensing the bandwidth they are using. They are not going to run a pirate internet network.
Due to complications in US laws, this actually means that Starlink cannot directly offer service in much of the world, instead having to let a local company resell access. (Because SpaceX as a US company cannot do certain kinds of filtering without running afoul of US laws.)
- mrtksn 7y agoHow do the satellites know the precise location of the client? Wouldn't it possible to buy a subscription in one country and go use it in another country?
- SiempreViernes 7y agoWell, if you are going to demand payment of the service you need to be able to ID each client, so just apply filtering according to the rules for the country of that user. Also, you presumably keep track of where your antenna is pointing anyway.
- mrtksn 7y agoSee, this is very easy to overcome. In Eastern Europe, the mafia will start a re-sell operation by opening an account to every single babushka and smuggling the devices alongside with the contraband cigarettes. I find it very interesting because the governments see the control(or lack of) of the internet as an existential issue. I am hoping for a censor-fee internet but I don't believe that it's possible. Someone will blow up these satellites if anyone happens to create a free(as in freedom) global communication network.
- ctdonath 7y agoStarlink animations depict each sat servicing a narrow cone below. Remember, these operate much closer to the ground than geosynchronous; they'll have a much better idea where the client is than just which hemisphere.
- jupp0r 7y agoRadio wave propagation is a little more complicated than what the animations depict. It would probably be easy to pretend to be somewhere else by pointing a more directional antenna at the horizon.
- Tuna-Fish 7y agoAll Starlink communication is already extremely directional. The spot size of the beam coming from the satellite is ~1.5km on the ground, and the receiver is also directional with similar accuracy. The entire principle of Starlink is based on extreme SDMA. If you try to communicate with a satellite on the horizon, you will not hear it, and it will not listen to you.
- mrtksn 7y agoI checked it out, it says each satellite covers area with 550km diameter on the land. That's about a few countries at a time and possibly deep penetration into the larger ones. They will have to turn off the sattelites over Austria to prevent connections in Turkey.
- ctdonath 7y ago1.5km vs 550km is not necessarily mutually exclusive when using phased array antenna: the beam may be 1.5km wide, but it may be steered across a 550km area. Ergo sat could service both Austria and Turkey, without blurring - it knows which country it's "pointing" at during any millisecond, so could service each without legal conflicts.
- ohitsdom 7y agoSince these satellites are in low earth orbit, the satellites currently overhead will be changing very frequently. It's possible the satellites will actually not transmit at all over certain countries. The receivers will also know their location based on what's currently overhead. This is all technical assumptions at this point since the service isn't rolled out, but being in LEO instead of GEO simplifies things greatly.
- gizmo385 7y ago> but being in LEO instead of GEO simplifies things greatly It may simplify some things, but it also introduces lots of complications like managing satellite handovers, telemetry tracking for thousands of satellites, accident avoidance in space, etc.
- ohitsdom 7y agoAbsolutely. I meant simplifying in response to the OP's question- detecting a receiver's location.