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.

  • Crack0n7uesday@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Do you really want to give the government the power to do that, and then hand that power over to the military… I don’t like Musk but I see so many worse scenarios with this being controlled by the military.

    • TheChurn@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      The government already has the power to do that.

      If shit ever hit the fan, they could just invoke the DPA and force starlink to do exactly what they say.

      • cole@lemdro.id
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        9 months ago

        This is crazy talk. Anybody can smuggle some terminals into their country. That doesn’t mean they’re being “helped”. The US government would come down on SpaceX with unprecedented force if they violated sanctions like that

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          It’s crazy talk? No. It’s reality. Elon shut down Starlink for the Ukraine military with the excuse that they would have started World War 3. Meaning he has the power to shut down Starlink for the Russians as well.

          • cole@lemdro.id
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            9 months ago

            I’d love to better understand your position. it seems like you think that Starlink is aware of who is using a terminal. how can Starlink differentiate between a Ukrainian and Russian user in the same general area? should Starlink randomly turn off user terminals it suspects? what if it accidentally turns off a Ukrainian one? billing is obv not a good indicator

            I want to understand your thoughts a little more clearly on this

          • PsychedSy@sh.itjust.works
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            9 months ago

            They didn’t have it on in that area and refused to turn it on when asked. They didn’t just shut down the sats.