One of the things that makes Elon Musk famous worldwide is the breadth
of the field in which his activities extend. Otherwise he might seemlike just one of the many bizarre entrepreneurs who are an expression of
21st century capitalism, capable of taking the media spotlight even by
gesticulating or commenting on domestic and international political
events. As if his main objective were not to extract profits from his
activities mainly focused on the development, production and sale of
products related to new technologies.
One of the sectors that has long been a real battlefield is that of
digital communications, in which Musk has been present since 2019 with
one of his best-known companies, "Starlink", a subsidiary of "SpaceX",
which aims to provide Internet connections to individuals and businesses
via thousands of satellites. This is certainly not an original idea,
given that since the very beginning of the Internet there have been
services that provide satellite connections to cover areas of the planet
where it is too expensive to lay cables. However, these companies have
always had little success, both because certain technologies were still
in their infancy in the 90s and because the connection speed was really
low. Today, things are partially different and a company like that of
the American magnate can boast of being present in a hundred countries.
And it is precisely its diffusion that is the origin of some of its
problems, including having to deal with a hundred governments and
consequently with thousands of politicians. In the last two years, many
cases have occurred that have shown the close connection between
political and economic interests. Let's remember some of them.
In 2023, some journalistic sources reported a complaint filed with the
Italian Ministry of Industry against Telecom Italia accused by Musk of
not sharing data relating to the frequency spectrum intended for
satellite transmissions.
In the same year, in Ukraine, it seems that the invading troops began
using the "Starlink" satellite network for clearly military purposes,
after it had been made available, with much fanfare, to the Ukrainian
government and army. The interested parties immediately denied having
sold subscriptions to the Russians; however, it was not possible to deny
that the satellite terminals used by the Moscow army could have been
purchased in some other country and modified to fool its protections.
An original case occurred last year in Brazil, when the government in
office decided to block the social network called "X" (formerly
"Twitter") accused of conveying the propaganda of former president
Bolsonaro and his followers. The blocking order, carried out by all
Brazilian connection providers, was not carried out by Musk's company
(which claims to have around 250 thousand users in that country) and
this gave rise to a political tug-of-war, with requests for arrest,
million-dollar fines, seizure of ground stations and freezing of bank
accounts. After a few days, however, "Starlink" was forced to give in,
paradoxically censoring its own owner's social network.
Again in 2024, another problem, this time the Astronomers' associations
are protesting, because they claim that the 7 thousand or so satellites
in orbit shine a little too much in the night, thus ruining the view of
the sky. On the other hand, the damage that the continuous launches
linked to the "SpaceX" space program are causing to the Earth's
atmosphere is continually the subject of protests by environmentalists
due to the pollution they produce.
Meanwhile, to return to Italy, the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office has
started an investigation, relating to suspicious contracts awarded by
"SOGEI", which has led to two arrests and involves various public
officials, including military personnel, one of whom allegedly had
contacts with Musk's "representative" in Italy.
At an international level, "Starlink" claims to have reached 4 million
users today and has recently obtained (in the USA) authorization to also
carry telephone connections but, for the moment, only text-based.
Even from the few examples mentioned above, it is clear that a company
of this kind has an enormous political as well as economic impact and,
moreover, enjoying a position of absolute monopoly in some fields, it is
able to generate enormous profits on the one hand and to also direct
political decisions on the other. And we have arrived at the present
day, when in Italy the discussion has focused on the use of Musk's
satellites to convey consular and military communications, but also
possibly to provide connection to areas of the peninsula that are not
connected to the Internet, especially due to orographic issues and the
substantial failure of the many projects to bring "broadband" throughout
the country. Regarding the Internet connection, there are some things
that are often not adequately highlighted. The connection to the
Internet sold by "Starlink" still has all the problems (for example when
it rains or snows) related to satellite connections, some of which are
not solvable either because the technologies are still missing or
because they are specific to this type of connection. A simple search on
the Internet is then enough to dismantle any advertising regarding the
fabulous connection speeds advertised.
Always regarding the Internet, the policy carried out by Trump's friend
shows worrying aspects: the declarations against any type of control of
the contents that people publish on the Internet are well known, which
does not mean being against censorship, but rather aiming for an
increase in users. It is no coincidence that since last month, the
contract of those who register on "X" provides that what they publish
can be fed to the programs that train the so-called "Artificial
Intelligences". "Starlink" is also one of the major threats to "Net
neutrality", once considered untouchable. In fact, there are (in the
USA) three types of "residential" contracts at different prices; the
cheapest one has a connection that has a "lower priority" than the more
expensive ones. This translates into a constant "degradation" of the
stability of the connection and its speed, which decrease further in the
most crowded areas and at peak times. In other words, the connection to
the Internet sold by Musk is designed to offer better quality for some
and worse for others, the first to the detriment of the second. A
communication system created to allow at least theoretically equal
communication is replaced by one designed and built to privilege those
who have the money to pay to the detriment of those who have less.
Capitalism can be painted whatever color it wants but the result does
not change.
Pepsy
https://umanitanova.org/internet-secondo-musk-una-rete-per-pochi-paganti/
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