The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party sent a letter on Saturday to SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk demanding that U.S. troops stationed in Taiwan get access to SpaceX’s Starshield, a satellite communication network designed specifically for the military.
The letter, obtained by CNBC and first reported by Forbes, claimed that by not making Starshield available to U.S. military forces in Taiwan, SpaceX could violate its Pentagon contract, which requires “global access” to Starshield technology.
Sorry… you’re saying that SpaceX can’t just turn access on and off whenever they feel like it? Like my ISP can if I don’t pay my bill?
Coordinating with the Ukrainian military would be enough to tell them what to turn on and off.
Starlink terminals in Ukraine didn’t come from one source. some have been donated by orgs in the US and other countries, some the government, some SpaceX themselves. Ukraine almost certainly doesn’t have full knowledge of all the Starlink terminals it possesses. This isn’t an ideal environment
So you are again saying that Elon can’t do what he already did- not allow access in certain locations.
No. What I’m saying is that due to the fast-shifting geographic nature of a battlefront, and the lack of organization in where the user terminals have come from: (A) Starlink would have a hard time keeping up with a precise map (and would be prone to errors, and would need exact operational data) (B) Ukraine doesn’t completely KNOW what terminals are theirs
So a geographic location block would be a hindrance for Ukrainian troops when trying to advance, and potentially dangerous when Russians advance into Ukrainian territory. Boundaries would constantly need to be redrawn, requiring exact knowledge of what is happening. Which for obvious reasons should not be shared
A) The Ukrainian military says where the Russians are. Starlink access is turned off there.
B) The Ukrainian military says where the Russians are. Starlink access is turned off there.
Yet again, this is something Elon already did to the Ukrainians. So all you are doing is saying is that somehow it’s impossible for Elon to stop Starlink from being used in a certain geographic area when, yet again, that already happened.
Honestly, it sounds like you think somehow the Russian military is just superior somehow.
I feel like you are fundamentally misunderstanding me. Battle lines are not static or cut and dry. Neither militaries KNOW exactly where the enemy is. It isn’t that simple
Again, weird, since Ukraine knew exactly where Russia was and exactly where they were when Elon didn’t allow them to access Starlink.
So, again, sounds to me like you’re saying Russia has superior tech powers Ukraine does not.
I have no clue how you’re coming to that conclusion. Starlink blanket blocked access from Crimea. Regardless of whether that was right or wrong, this doesn’t prove that Starlink knows where Russian and Ukrainian troops, can track the battle line, and precisely turn off access based on that geographic area
Oh, so they can cut off areas Russia controls. Such as… oh… I don’t know… Crimea?