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You're saying that SpaceX, a privately owned company that has some contracts with different parts of the US gov't would find themselves in trouble with the gove

by Teever 5y ago

You're saying that SpaceX, a privately owned company that has some contracts with different parts of the US gov't would find themselves in trouble with the government if they refused to launch satellites from a foreign owned company? And you're saying that the government would go out of their way to fund alternatives to SpaceX because of this? That seems a bit implausible.

eganist 5y ago
"foreign-owned" in this case is still the UK i.e the closest ally we have today. So I don't think you'll see the same sort of American protectionism you might see with e.g a Chinese competitor. Therefore... yeah, nothing's stopping the DoJ (guessing the FTC would make the referral?) from pushing an antitrust matter. But I certainly can't say for sure; I'm not a lawyer.
- Teever 5y ago
  Where's the law that says that an American business must sell their product or service to a foreign company?
  - eganist 5y ago
    > Where's the law that says that an American business must sell their product or service to a foreign company? As I understand it, it's covered by the various antitrust laws in the United States. And it's not so much a "foreign company" thing so much as it's an unfair advantage for any one company thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_antitrust_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_antitrust_law Again, not a lawyer. But my lay reading would say that it would feel comparable to the action the feds took against Microsoft for trying to stifle Netscape. But I'm sure there are far better analogues.
- simonh 5y ago
  Foreign owned maybe, but the satellites are manufactured in the US. There are US commercial interests at stake in Oneweb, and the services it intends to offer to US clients too.
gbear605 5y ago
Under antitrust law, SpaceX would theoretically be made to split off StarLink from the launch business so that the launch business would have no incentive to prioritize StarLink over other sattelites. In practice though, antitrust laws aren’t enforced very strictly and government contractors are treated leniently, so probably nothing would happen.
- Teever 5y ago
  How? SpaceX has no stranglehold over the market.

by Teever 5y ago

eganist 5y ago

"foreign-owned" in this case is still the UK i.e the closest ally we have today. So I don't think you'll see the same sort of American protectionism you might see with e.g a Chinese competitor. Therefore... yeah, nothing's stopping the DoJ (guessing the FTC would make the referral?) from pushing an antitrust matter. But I certainly can't say for sure; I'm not a lawyer.

Teever 5y ago
Where's the law that says that an American business must sell their product or service to a foreign company?
- eganist 5y ago
  > Where's the law that says that an American business must sell their product or service to a foreign company? As I understand it, it's covered by the various antitrust laws in the United States. And it's not so much a "foreign company" thing so much as it's an unfair advantage for any one company thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_antitrust_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_antitrust_law Again, not a lawyer. But my lay reading would say that it would feel comparable to the action the feds took against Microsoft for trying to stifle Netscape. But I'm sure there are far better analogues.
simonh 5y ago
Foreign owned maybe, but the satellites are manufactured in the US. There are US commercial interests at stake in Oneweb, and the services it intends to offer to US clients too.

gbear605 5y ago

Under antitrust law, SpaceX would theoretically be made to split off StarLink from the launch business so that the launch business would have no incentive to prioritize StarLink over other sattelites. In practice though, antitrust laws aren’t enforced very strictly and government contractors are treated leniently, so probably nothing would happen.

Teever 5y ago
How? SpaceX has no stranglehold over the market.