Belarus has shut down the internet amid a controversial election

Post by tomatotomato37 » Tue, Aug 11, 2020, 6:52 PM UTC

est31 wrote: post #23

toast0 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My guess is Starlink isn't going to turn off subscribers for small countries, but large countries like Russia and China may have more influence. The real question is if there's going to be enough receivers to make a difference.

Any country which has the capability of shooting down satellites has more influence than countries which can't do it. But even a country with like 100 million residents, if it doesn't have a space program (or someone protecting it with a space program), it doesn't have much of a say.

Post by petre » Tue, Aug 11, 2020, 6:59 PM UTC

gpm wrote: post #17

est31 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It will shift a lot of power from the countries where the internet users are located to the countries where the space internet companies operate from. Both in the free countries like the EU, and in non-free countries like Belarus. That being said, the user's country still has some level of control: * the companies want to be paid by their users somehow, and local governments usually have control over money flows insi…

* International treaties and national laws prohibit sending radio signals into the country if the countries government doesn't give you permission. Space ISPs are very unlikely to do so without permission except at the behest of their home government.

Post by petre » Tue, Aug 11, 2020, 7:06 PM UTC

jbay808 wrote: post #27

gpm wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

* International treaties and national laws prohibit sending radio signals into the country if the countries government doesn't give you permission. Space ISPs are very unlikely to do so without permission except at the behest of their home government.

Yes; can't they just declare that Starlink's particular transmission bands are reserved for Belarussian military use, and then fine them for broadcasting on military bands?

Post by Florin_Andrei » Tue, Aug 11, 2020, 7:08 PM UTC

echlebek wrote: post #32

2Gkashmiri wrote: post #29

this is nothing. shameless plug. I am a kashmiri typing this from 2G internet which apprently is the only acceptable thing for the indian government to allow me. 4G access has been stopped since 5 AUGUST 2019. a freaking year has passed and no high speed internet. I didnt have 2G for like 7 months. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revocation_of_the_special_stat... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Kashmir#Cens…

Sorry to hear you are struggling with internet access, but I don't see how the actions of India create legal precedence in Belarus?

Post by crispyporkbites » Tue, Aug 11, 2020, 7:13 PM UTC

dmix wrote: post #104

I've noticed this in other countries where there are accusations of rigging the results that the ratios always super high, in this case 80%. If you're going to fake an election result that had some legitimate measurable opposition, why make it so extremely high? Does that mean nearly every vote counting place is rigged and it's so bad they don't even bother hiding it? Just like when Crimea voted to join Russia it was…