Satellite is helping the internet to slip beyond authoritarian control
“A recent Reuters report on Iran’s escalating battle with Starlink highlights why that playbook is starting to fray. Tehran has spent years perfecting censorship and surveillance, yet it now finds itself struggling to contain a satellite-based internet service designed explicitly to bypass terrestrial controls.”
I suppose it is more correct to say foreign satellite services, as a service based inside one's own country can still be switched off by decree. Many telecoms licenses are granted with certain conditions attached, so quite often these telecoms providers are duty bound to shut down or otherwise censor services (including age verification, blocking undesirable sites, etc).
And this most certainly includes First World countries as well. Our freedoms are mostly taken for granted, but actually they are attached to threads that can be pulled for various reasons.
But it is true that satellite connectivity has been a new frontier as it becomes more commercial. It not only grants connectivity to those who were denied (including for reasons of living in remote areas) but it also is a commercial opportunity for those countries providing it, and yes, even for reasons of spying as well.
But technology is evolving and with phones also now being able to connect to satellite services, the world is pretty well much being lit up. We just have to bear in mind that there may be plenty of advantages, but we've also seen from Facebook's early forays into some countries, that technology can have all sorts of unintended consequences as well.
Satellite is only one of many advances though, as we are also seeing the rise in use of peer-to-peer communication, I2P networks, Tor browser traffic being obscured, etc. Satellite's big advantage is that it communicates over a very broad area, so attempts to block it are usually very localised only.
I hope that more connectivity will encourage States to rather uplift their people instead of trying to oppress them. Whether we like it not, the era is changing, just like landlines, video rentals, dial-up modems, pagers, and many other technologies that found themselves superseded. This is not about the speed of downloads, but more the breaking of the shackles of control and suppression.
On a lighter note, we've actually had the means for over 100 years for one home to chat or message another home 10,000 kms away. I was text messaging someone in Europe not so long ago, using a direct link that passes through no gateway, no undersea cable, at all. Amateur Radio is still around, and going quite strong in the digital era. In fact, we should know that satellites are themselves just radio repeater high sites. It is all still radio! The difference with satellites is the cost of the end user device is a lot cheaper now.
See
TechCentral
The internet is slipping beyond authoritarian control
Satellite broadband promises to weaken authoritarian regimes’ ability to shut down the internet and silence dissent.
#technology #censorship #satellites
#technology #virtualworlds
