Prof. Sam LawlerAlso, in case anyone is counting, Starlink is now 63% of all active satellites.
2 out of ever 3 satellites up there now are owned by that awful billionaire. He effectively controls Low Earth Orbit. That should terrify everyone.
...just in case anyone needs more to be terrified of. Sorry.
You know what you can do? Not buy Starlink internet. (And if Starlink is your only option, write to them as a customer and tell them that you are concerned about their safety practices on the ground and in orbit, and they need to make fewer satellites with longer functional lifetimes)
Ms. Que Banh@sundogplanets Do you know Musk tries to gain influence with some rather naive leftist groups by offering them free Starlink gear for their direct actions/protest work? I know because he offered & then donated several full Starlink setups to activists in BC. People took them out of desperation because other communications gear was seized by RCMP CIRG. I heard similar things had happened with Starlink in NZ & a few places in South America too.
Darrin West@sundogplanets @PhoenixSerenity Not just influence. Being the transport, it would be easy to snoop their activity, and trivial to locate them. Not that great an idea for any kind of activist. If you know them, tell them about VPNs, at a minimum.
@obviousdwest @sundogplanets I tried to warn people that accepting would make it easier to track them but they didn't listen to me. I refused to use the gear. I moved camps a few times when people brought Starlink gear to where I was tenting.
@PhoenixSerenity @obviousdwest WHOA I had no idea they were "donating" starlink equipment to activists. Wow. Good on you for not taking it at face value...techbros NEVER give away stuff for free!
@sundogplanets @obviousdwest 100% - it's good to be wary of super rich techbros donating their gear. There's always a shitty catch to it.
Some activists found out that fact, the hard way. Remote comms stations with Starlink gear were the first to be heavily targeted by RCMP CIRG. They didn't search but beelined straight to stations in middle of forests & up in mountains. They knew exactly where they were since Starlinks are trackable.
Some activists found out that fact, the hard way. Remote comms stations with Starlink gear were the first to be heavily targeted by RCMP CIRG. They didn't search but beelined straight to stations in middle of forests & up in mountains. They knew exactly where they were since Starlinks are trackable.
@PhoenixSerenity @obviousdwest Wow that's terrifying.
@sundogplanets @obviousdwest All of the Starlink comms were found very quickly & seized. They didn't last long in the field. The accepting of that gear contributed to a lot of middle of night raids where RCMP CIRG went straight to the Starlinks & left everything else alone. That's why I kept moving where I slept, after that gear was brought to camps.
Dan Neuman 🇨🇦@PhoenixSerenity @sundogplanets @obviousdwest Not to mention Musk's habit of turning off access when it is needed most by the users. See Ukraine.