Slashdot Mirror
Russia Limits Operations of Foreign Communications Satellite Operators (zdnet.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from ZDNet: This week, the Russian government has published a document outlining new rules that limit foreign communications satellite operators inside the country. The Russian government will require all foreign communications satellite companies to pass all incoming traffic through a ground gateway station. This means satellite operators won't be able to beam communications directly to customers without going through a ground station first. The Russian government cited an espionage threat of allowing foreign satellite companies to transmit data directly within the country's border, but critics of the Kremlin regime say the new requirement will enable Russian government agencies to intercept any incoming traffic. The new rules, set to enter into effect in six months, will also force all foreign communications satellite companies to obtain a permit from Russian authorities even before operating in the country. The Russian Defense Ministry, the Federal Security Service (FSB), and Federal Protective Service (FSO) will be in charge of reviewing applicants.
Trying to stop SpaceX. Good luck enforcing this broskis
It would be interesting to see what they have to stop the signal.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
..the more grains of sand slip through your fingers.
I really wish someone would end Putin. He's a fucking troublemaker and the world would be better off without him -- and several other people I could name.
It's guaranteed to work, just ask Trump.
Why is Snark Required?
The new smuggling will bring not drugs, liquor, or other banned physical things, but ungoverned data. There is already lots of this going on in the form of USB sticks with media from the West traded by people in countries with repressive governments, and use of internet proxies to receive data that is restricted by region where intellectual property is a tool of corporate totalitarianism (that means here in the US, folks). The new smuggling will be satellite ground stations providing direct, un-gatewayed access to global communications. Free speech is the crime here.
Bruce Perens.
Much of the reason for satellite communications is to provide communications to locations that are out of reach of ground stations. The InReach devices communicate directly with satellites to trigger a rescue - and communicate - in remote areas. Espionnage 140 characters at a time?
Bizarre.
Laugh while you can, monkey-boy.
Look around at all the rooftop dishes in you neighborhood. Which one is beaming or more likely intermittently bursting in a sneaky and sophisticated way a high capacity data uplink? how do you think espionage works? Shortwavew and Morse code? Microfiche hidden in shoe heels? Obviously every terestial Internet data path is being sniffed. And you can bet rural personal uplinks and even dish TV logo-ed urban apartment balcony dishes are suspected of being covert alternatives to all the flash in personal electronics and body cavities as ways to get data back to China, albeit not with the much more useful near real-time capabilities of Earthline VPN feeding covert terrestrial uplink dishes. Why Russia is making a The new regulation law about down links is just theater. Putin Angle-ing for a Netflix board seat?
"Knowing everything doesn't help..."
... North Korea's dynastic dictator-baby who literally has dissidents executed with flamethrowers and grenade launchers in public ...
I'm no fan of North Korea but reports like that should be taken with a grain of salt. The story about Kim's Uncle being executed by a pack of man eating dogs turned out to be a hoax (well, actually, it originated as a satirical post on a Chinese social media network) and a number of other similar stories have turned out to be exaggerated. Like for example the story of general Hyon Yong-chol who was supposedly executed with a quad barrelled 23 mm anti-aircraft gun for “dozing off” at official events. This was later progressively downgraded until Hyon had supposedly been “purged”, but that he might still be alive. The North Korean regime is loathsome but believing every story about them you read in tabloids like the Daily Mail on a slow news day is not necessarily a good idea.
Russia under Putin has slowly been drifting towards becoming another North Korea. Putin clearly understands that the legitimacy of the Russian government is under question and this is how he wants to control every piece of information flow, so that he and his circle will forever remain in power.