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Surely you don't think that a company that has a contract to service the ISS also would likely have a number of high-value government contracts around the globe

Surely you don't think that a company that has a contract to service the ISS also would likely have a number of high-value government contracts around the globe, and certainly inclusive (or even exclusive to the DoD/USD... Imagine all the surveillance the NSA can harvest simply from the use of all the starlinks given to Ukraine... We talked about the likelihood of cyber-attacks rising with the Ukraine conflict, and a part of cyberwarfare is going to be a portion of surveillance... Starlink creates a global network for providing service to anywhere on the planet. So if you have a device that uses starlink, there is not a single place on the globe where you cannot be tracked actively via starlink. I think its insane that we don't have open convos about this here on HN with a critical eye. And this is why they didnt name it SkyNet :-)

modeless 4y ago
I mean, it's an ISP. Any ISP you use can track you. Your cell provider can track you globally if you use international roaming. This is not novel. > So if you have a device that uses starlink, there is not a single place on the globe where you cannot be tracked actively via starlink. This makes it sound like Starlink is going to be built into your phone. Starlink is a satellite dish, it's the size of a medium pizza and consumes 60+ watts continuously in operation. It's not like you're going to accidentally leave it in your pocket or something.
- walrus01 4y ago
  Wait until this guy learns that all iridium handsets also report their position when used. For the last 22 years.
  - samstave 4y ago
    I know all this JEASUS. Iridium was out of the price range of the averwage bear. With family in Alaska, we've them for a LONG time in my family. My point is that as SkyNet eveolves - its going to provide defacto global coverage for even the poorest regions. Even Musk himself said that large swaths of africa will see early value. This IMPLIES that they are intending to poc-mark the globe with enough cells... Moonshot idea.
    - modeless 4y ago
      They're not going to "pockmark" the globe. Starlink V2 will have inter-satellite laser links so local ground stations are no longer required. It's an impressive engineering achievement and a huge improvement to the system with great practical benefits. Providing internet service to as many people as possible and without geographic limitations is hardly a nefarious plot.
      - samstave 4y ago
        I agree and disagree. The plot is not nefarious. They way it will be abused by every government on the planet is.
walrus01 4y ago
If you use a wireline based copper or fiber terrestrial ISP, your ISP knows your fixed service address and can do dpi and traffic monitoring if they're evil. Better hope your crypto is good. If you use starlink, it has a built-in GPS receiver, and also can report its position to the ISP. If Starlink is evil, they could also do the same, with deep packet inspection, traffic monitoring, etc. Better hope that your crypto is good. It's not much different.

modeless 4y ago

I mean, it's an ISP. Any ISP you use can track you. Your cell provider can track you globally if you use international roaming. This is not novel. > So if you have a device that uses starlink, there is not a single place on the globe where you cannot be tracked actively via starlink. This makes it sound like Starlink is going to be built into your phone. Starlink is a satellite dish, it's the size of a medium pizza and consumes 60+ watts continuously in operation. It's not like you're going to accidentally leave it in your pocket or something.

walrus01 4y ago
Wait until this guy learns that all iridium handsets also report their position when used. For the last 22 years.
- samstave 4y ago
  I know all this JEASUS. Iridium was out of the price range of the averwage bear. With family in Alaska, we've them for a LONG time in my family. My point is that as SkyNet eveolves - its going to provide defacto global coverage for even the poorest regions. Even Musk himself said that large swaths of africa will see early value. This IMPLIES that they are intending to poc-mark the globe with enough cells... Moonshot idea.
  - modeless 4y ago
    They're not going to "pockmark" the globe. Starlink V2 will have inter-satellite laser links so local ground stations are no longer required. It's an impressive engineering achievement and a huge improvement to the system with great practical benefits. Providing internet service to as many people as possible and without geographic limitations is hardly a nefarious plot.
    - samstave 4y ago
      I agree and disagree. The plot is not nefarious. They way it will be abused by every government on the planet is.

walrus01 4y ago

If you use a wireline based copper or fiber terrestrial ISP, your ISP knows your fixed service address and can do dpi and traffic monitoring if they're evil. Better hope your crypto is good. If you use starlink, it has a built-in GPS receiver, and also can report its position to the ISP. If Starlink is evil, they could also do the same, with deep packet inspection, traffic monitoring, etc. Better hope that your crypto is good. It's not much different.