- Then in February of this year, Ukraine said that Russia was deploying Starlink in its own war efforts, while unverified posts on X, Musk’s social network, appeared to show Russian soldiers unpacking kits.
- Two House Democrats wrote a letter to SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell pressing her on Ukraine’s claims. “To the best of our knowledge, no Starlinks have been sold directly or indirectly to Russia,” Musk wrote on X.
Starlink kits are being sold for use in Venezuela, where individuals and entities have been subject to US sanctions for almost a decade, most recently under President Nicolas Maduro’s authoritarian rule. . .
“There needs to be more accountability: to your country, to your company, to your shareholders, to your stakeholders,” said Johnson, who is also a partner with Seraphim Capital, a venture-capital firm that invests in space startups.
In North Africa, Starlink’s use in Sudan shows how terminals arrive in a country subject to international sanctions.
There has been no internet in Sudan since early February. Both the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces have blamed each other for cutting the service while the CEO of Zain Sudan, a mobile operator, said his company’s engineers had been prevented from reaching parts of the country to reconnect the network due to insecurity and a lack of fuel.
Black market boom: Elon Musk’s Starlink is getting into the wrong hands
SpaceX’s Starlink promises high-speed internet worldwide but faces a growing black market, especially in conflict zones and repressive regimes where its use is unauthorized. Despite SpaceX’s efforts to control illegal activations, the allure of reliable connectivity leads to widespread smuggling and trading of Starlink kits.
This raises significant concerns about accountability, national security, and geopolitical implications. As the global demand for Starlink surges, regulatory challenges and ethical dilemmas underscore the complexities of providing satellite-based internet services in politically sensitive environments.
In the real world, its reach extends to countries where Elon Musk’s satellite-enabled service has no agreement to operate, including territories ruled by repressive regimes.
A Bloomberg News investigation identified wide-spanning examples of Starlink kits being traded and activated illegally. How they are smuggled and the sheer availability of Starlink on the black market suggests that its misuse is a systemic global problem, raising questions about the company’s control of a system with clear national security dimensions.
In Yemen, which is in the throes of a decade-long civil war, a government official conceded that Starlink is in widespread use. Many people are prepared to defy competing warring factions, including Houthi rebels, to secure terminals for business and personal communications, and evade the slow, often censored internet service that’s currently available.
Or take Sudan, where a year-long civil war has led to accusations of genocide, crimes against humanity and millions of people fleeing their homes. With the regular internet down for months, soldiers of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces are among those using the system for their logistics, according to Western diplomats.
Starlink terminals are also popping up in Iran, Sudan, and Yemen. Musk said he isn't "knowingly" providing these terminals to any of these countries, but experts say a network of middlemen are moving in to buy and sell these kits in unsanctioned areas around the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment