Travis Mooney-EvansVertical integration with launch has given SpaceX the lead for ages. And if their launches get even cheaper, it's an uphill battle for competitors.
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Integrity-178B may be the most secure phone OS , but it probably doesn’t have your bank’s app, and is used by so few that opportunities to crack its security are few and far between.
Drop off a hundred devices at Blackhat and let’s see what happens.
With the failure of IS30E earlier today, it's probably a good idea to understand why space debris is such a bad idea (and this isn't even bringing environmental concerns into play).
Here's a great explainer:
End of Space – Creating a Prison for Humanity
Charles ☭ is now tooting from queer.partyThe reason Stallman has an eclectic collection of opinions that completely ignore cultural taboos and power relationships is because free software used to be part of the free culture movement.
Free culture thinkers felt like taboos limited freedom and that human happiness should trump Christian social mores. Stallman was attempting to be a Jeremy Bentham like figure, maximising human happiness and potential.
He was trying to start from that and build a logically consistent system where anything that doesn't hurt a living human is basically fine. There are obvious problems with this when it intersects with, say human remains, sexuality, children, etc. The larger movement also had systemic problems with failing at intersectionality. Stallman shares these problems.
There's a fair amount of overlap between free culture and anarchism. Stallman aside, many people involved in the movement did take feminist and anti racist critiques. As time has carried on, the FC movement has largely been subsumed. The thing where Open Source Software was a defanged way to donate labour to rich corporations was not an isolated incident. The commons have been enclosed. Free culture is not what it was.
Stallman has resisted changes. He did not join OSS. He did not listen to feminists. His obstinacy has helped and hindered his cause. It has materially contributed to cis hetero patriarchy in free software. He has also contributed to some resistance against corporate enclosure - but far less effectively than he could have if he listened to feminists and antiracists.
Indeed, I do not support Stallman's continued role at FSF. He should retire.
But he does have a context. The parts of the discourse now that are exhausting and off putting are the parts where culture did *not* change. Its important to recognise some of free culture's victories which include a bunch of stuff about relationships and bodily autonomy. People into polyamory now dont owe anything to Stallman in particular, let's be clear. But that movement, his contemporaries - the world changed for the better.
As Stallman leaves free software, we should be conscious of which parts of his mission are retained. I would argue we should embrace an intersectional approach to the free culture ideal and not just move to a buttoned down, professionalised monofocous on software. The larger freedom is not peripheral, but should remain a core part of the project.
Reopening Africa’s only spaceport (although one is under construction in Djibouti) is a huge achievement for a continent that has relied on foreign satellite communications for too long. Bravo, all!
https://satelliteprome.com/news/kenya-italy-space-centre-to-resume-operations-soon/
Starlink is a remarkable success in Kenya. It’s one of the biggest markets in Africa with Nigeria, DRC, and South Africa. But as we’ve seen in Nigeria, local currency fluctuations can make a success a difficult pill to swallow.
https://satelliteprome.com/news/satellite-subscription-jumps-by-2000-in-kenya/
Starlink raised fees 97% in Nigeria due to currency fluctuations, only for the Nigerian regulator to open a (rightful) complaint. Another example of how it’s particularly difficult to apply western business models in the developing world!
https://satelliteprome.com/news/nigeria-initiates-pre-enforcement-action-against-starlink/
Multipath routing keeps the Internet going, but when trunk lines, like subsea cables, go out, the Internet is mostly useless, even if it’s ‘available’. Small satellite services can save an office, but enterprises must have reserved reliable connectivity.
https://totaltele.com/submarine-cable-damage-in-the-red-sea-severely-underestimated/
For years, Africa has been a key focus for external space programmes. It’s early days, but let’s see what Africa comes up with for herself.
National and home-grown satellites are popular in closed-market countries. It costs less to operate slow data or a geo data service, but can they withstand the unstoppable force of investment coming into LEO networks? Which gets to the centre first?
