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A network smuggling Starlink tech into Iran to beat internet blackout

bbc.com

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Re: A network smuggling Starlink tech into Iran to beat internet blackout

#161

Post by UltraSane »

jasonvorhe wrote: post #144
tgma wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can't think of a single example where foreign inteference [sic] (or war) has had the citizenry welcome foreign powers as liberators or otherwise increased freedoms or conditions in a country for those citizens. That's one of the lines people spew as if it is a tautology without actually thinking about its accuracy. Germany, France, Japan, South Korea, need more examples? Iranians right now also tend to disagree w…

This claim only works if you stick very closely to the western post WW2 narrative that is neither accurate nor robust enough to withstand a few hours of research.

Don't be vague.

Re: A network smuggling Starlink tech into Iran to beat internet blackout

#163

Post by fgfarben »

SXX wrote: post #83
fgfarben wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

which is the exact same reason China bans Starlink.

Chinas level of internet filtration and censorship nowhere near Iran or Russia. You just buy tourist eSIM and you're golden in China and literally everyone who wants do it. Chinese government don't care about small percent of population accessing open internet.

Why would you lie about this?

Re: A network smuggling Starlink tech into Iran to beat internet blackout

#164

Post by wesselbindt »

miohtama wrote: post #116
wesselbindt wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there other sources than a linkedin post? I try to be a bit more critical of information in times of war. God knows we've been lied to before, by all sides. I've seen janitorial schedules be presented as a terrorist sign in sheets.

The LinkedIn post has the original Persian text attached. Also there is no point to lie about this

I've seen stories come out in major news outlets about every man needing to have the same haircut as Kim Jong Un. Something that didn't need lying about imo, but people did anyway. Don't underestimate what people will lie about in times of war.

And some attached pdf that I could have an LLM generate in a minute I wouldn't call a source. I'm talking about a source in the sense of journalism -- something I cannot find for this story.

Re: A network smuggling Starlink tech into Iran to beat internet blackout

#165

Post by walrus01 »

adiabatichottub wrote: post #18

I learned from a BSides presentation that Ukranian military are using Starlink trancievers placed in pits to beat ground-based signal detection. Do with that what you will.

There's two kind of separate problems, a ground based force with >10GHz band portable spectrum analyzers and the training to use them to locate the terminal emissions, or just somebody with very low-cost/free android wifi analyzer app or a $200 handheld google image search "iran confiscates satellite dishes" for some example photos from their domestic media.

https://www.google.com/search?num=10&q=iran+confiscates+sate...

There's also the problem of just physically identifying starlink terminals on roofs. Iran has gone on sprees of confiscating ku band TVRO satellite dishes for a long time.

It's entirely possible to use a starlink terminal with exclusively wired ethernet stuff, including usb-c to gigabit ethernet adapters plugged into android phones, it just takes some training and discipline for the ordinary non technical user.

Re: A network smuggling Starlink tech into Iran to beat internet blackout

#166

Post by SXX »

fgfarben wrote: post #163
SXX wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chinas level of internet filtration and censorship nowhere near Iran or Russia. You just buy tourist eSIM and you're golden in China and literally everyone who wants do it. Chinese government don't care about small percent of population accessing open internet.

Why would you lie about this?

I am from Russia even though not living there for last 4 years. And I able to compare because I have a lot of friends in Russia. Censorship and VPN blocks are bad there.

I've also been to Shanghai recently and there I can just use HK roaming eSIM and it work super fast, reliable and with no censorship. No passport required to buy it online, no anything. Same with any other tourist eSIM.

Re: A network smuggling Starlink tech into Iran to beat internet blackout

#168

Post by spwa4 »

bigyabai wrote: post #89
Pay08 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They could easily just censor that, especially since a dictatorship has far more control over the media compared to democracies.

The OSINT is a bigger threat than the state media in Iran, hence the internet blackout.

Yeah, indeed. But you neglect to state why: the population hates the islamist government to such an extent that the Iranian population would use the internet to give US/Israel targeting coordinates for EVERY Iranian official.

From Parlementarians, right down to half the traffic cops.

The "supreme leader" (wonder if that comes with salami) was famously targeted so successfully because Iranians gave Mossad access to traffic camera footage across Teheran, so they could track officials' movements ... and Iranians did that with full knowledge, even with the intention that that would kill those officials.

The Iranian people hate the islamist/palestinian/terrorist axis to such an extent they'll actively collaborate to murder every last one of them. Which is another big thing the islamists are afraid of: if the population gets organized successfully, half of the IRGC will find themselves hanging from the nearest traffic light.

So you're both correct, they're terrified of their own people, and they're terrified of OSINT. You are, however, trying to spin that as support for the regime, when of course it is the exact opposite, to an extreme extent.

Re: A network smuggling Starlink tech into Iran to beat internet blackout

#169

Post by z3ncyberpunk »

ajewhere2 wrote: post #120
hrmon wrote: post #93

US military "tested" some of its new weapons during the last war on Iran, in one case killing more than 15 kids [1]. So US tech is famous for improving life quality in Iran. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/29/world/middleeast/us-preci...

15? There were more than a hundred girls killed in their school by an american missile, just in one of the strikes among many, many thousands. And I think it is just a small part which escaped the western information blockade on the war you started with Iran, most of what happened is not reported.

The one that the IR admitted to there being no Tomahawk missles? That their own failed missile bombed? That school killed by "american missles"? Gtfo with your Islamic Regime propaganda

Re: A network smuggling Starlink tech into Iran to beat internet blackout

#170

Post by bigyabai »

Pay08 wrote: post #157
bigyabai wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It absolutely could be one of the motives, I'm not a member of the IRGC so I couldn't tell you for certain. I do know that the IDF and CENTCOM have been censoring in-theater OSINT for decades, and we also know that Iran has the incentives to do the same thing with a larger population. Lacking the CIA and Mossad's censorship tools, a total shutdown is not really that unexpected.

No. What all of those dates had in common wasn't the USA or Israel, it was protests by the Iranian population. Yes, blackout to prevent OSINT is a thing. That's not why they were doing them in 2019, 2022, and 2024 and it's not why they're doing it now (seeing as it started before the war). They're doing it to suppress their population because they fear an uprising.

Even if you do wholeheartedly believe that, then you'd also be willing to concede that it's also intended to suppress Mossad and CIA operatives working domestically. It's not possible to argue that the only motivation is suppressing domestic backlash.
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