I'll spell it out: Joe got busted because he is a programming genius... he wrote a program that simply indexed all the mp3's that he could reach from his dorm. He was not sharing out these files, just making it easier for people to get at them. In the larger context of things, there is a struggle between brilliant people wanting to tinker and make cool stuff happen, and corporate interests squashing innovation and creativity to keep control of their cash flows. This is a struggle for freedom, thus it is relevant.
Altitude is not the issue. In principle you can use GPS outside of the spheroid in which the satellitles move, at about 20,200 km of altitude. Your accuracy would start suffering outside of 25,000km or so, and the software you use to calculate your position cannot make the assumption that you are inside of the spheroid.
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I'll spell it out: Joe got busted because he is a programming genius... he wrote a program that simply indexed all the mp3's that he could reach from his dorm. He was not sharing out these files, just making it easier for people to get at them. In the larger context of things, there is a struggle between brilliant people wanting to tinker and make cool stuff happen, and corporate interests squashing innovation and creativity to keep control of their cash flows. This is a struggle for freedom, thus it is relevant.
Altitude is not the issue. In principle you can use GPS outside of the spheroid in which the satellitles move, at about 20,200 km of altitude. Your accuracy would start suffering outside of 25,000km or so, and the software you use to calculate your position cannot make the assumption that you are inside of the spheroid.