Thread by @docrussjackson

#THREAD

Remember when RADICAL FEMINIST Elon Musk won plaudits for "activating Starlink" to help Iranian protestors? His superfans swooned & the White House entered into talks with him about setting up SpaceX's satellite internet service in Iran to FIGHT THE POWER! About that...

This thread quotes from recent articles in @PrivateEyeNews & @WIRED.

The Iranian Govt imposed widespread internet blackouts to try to contain the unrest that followed the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, detained for not wearing a hijab properly.

theguardian.com/world/2022/sep…

In response, billionaire SpaceX founder & serial attention-hogger Elon Musk asked the US government for exemptions from Iran export controls for his Starlink satellite internet service.

"Activating Starlink,” he tweeted, quickly gaining 187,000+ likes.

The tweet received great applause, with some of Musk's followers declaring him “one of the greatest freedom fighters of our century!"

Even the US government fell for the hype, with the State Department saying it would welcome & prioritise a licence application.

The idea was that satellite-based broadband service could help Iranians circumvent the regime's restrictions on accessing the internet & certain social media platforms, & so help Iranian women in their struggle - a noble ambition hardly anyone would criticise.

However...

While Starlink has plenty of satellites in position, there aren't any ground stations in Iran to receive signals. A terminal costs $599 & doesn't just require access to the satellites - they also need to be within a few hundred miles of a ground station. There are *none* in Iran.

They will only work, therefore, around the perimeter of the country, where terminals in neighboring nations, such as Turkey, Azerbaijan or Iraq, can be accessed.

While they're reasonably easy to disguise visually, they transmit as well as receive - making them simple to detect.

Musk hasn't said he'll cover the cost of the necessary satellite receiver dishes ($599 each) nor even the $110-per-month subscription fee - & thanks to Iran's ban on international transactions, Iranians can't buy them themselves.

Don't believe the hype.

While there is some evidence of receiver dishes being smuggled into Iran, it doesn't really matter as given that the dishes transmit as well as receive, they'd be announcing their presence to the Iranian authorities.

The fact is "there isn't a hope in hell of the plan working".

Concerning the protests in Iran, at tremendous risk to their safety, young people are demanding an end to years of oppression - burning their hijabs, shearing their hair, & marching in solidarity as the protest anthem Baraye, with its chorus “for #WomenLifeFreedom”.

In addition to instituting strict internet controls, blocking access to social media & knocking the entire web offline, the Iranian authorities have responded with a brutal crackdown in which over 230 Iranians are believed to have died.

pbs.org/newshour/world…

Govts across the world are using technology to oppose uprisings, but another equally important question is: should grotesquely wealthy individuals like Elon Musk - known to have strong political views - really have a similar power? They already own swathes of our (news) media...

Many nations have severely curtailed internet freedom, including full shutdowns, as their default response to popular protests.

The most repressive regimes learn from each other, sharing technology & sometimes personnel to establish an ironclad grip on the web & their citizens.

At least 225 internet shutdowns have taken place in response to popular protests since 2016.

Access Now, which tracks internet shutdowns, reports that protests & political instability were the cause of 128 of 182 confirmed internet shutdowns in 2021.

ohchr.org/en/press-relea…

Draconian protest laws & internet restrictions, including complete shutdowns, have followed popular protests in at least five countries in just the past 10 months, including Kazakhstan, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Burkina Faso & Tajikistan.

With great power comes great responsibility.

Protecting democracy & curbing the use of internet shutdowns—and the severe second-order consequences that attend them—requires a united approach that recognizes the underlying impulses & technologies, as well as the struggle of those impacted.

wired.com/story/iran-mah…

Repressive Governments have sought full control over the internet from the moment it was introduced, but shutdowns have emerged as a tactic in the past decade.

The number of shutdowns ballooned from just a handful in 2011 to a peak of 213 in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic.

While I welcome Musk's preference for an absence of censorship, in a democratic society, access to social media platforms, satellite technology & other essential components for the free flow of information should not be in the hands of profit-hungry corporations & individuals.

The Declaration for the Future of the Internet, signed last spring by the US, the European Union, & 60 other countries, is the strongest commitment governments have yet made to the future of a free, open, and global internet.

state.gov/declaration-fo…

Among the declaration’s provisions is a commitment to “refrain from government-imposed internet shutdowns or degrading domestic Internet access, either entirely or partially.” The signatories to the declaration could form an alliance to counter creeping digital authoritarianism.

With Governments like the UK's signalling it wants to reduce or even withdraw from long-established internationally agreed laws & conventions of basic human rights, citizens & organisations that favour democracy over authoritarianism must remain vigilant.
hrw.org/news/2022/10/2…

The threat to free access to information & the enjoyment of basic human rights is not an isolated one, but a global, networked menace. Countering it will likewise require a deeply interconnected global movement.

Transnational movements like the #MilkteaAlliance, have further united protesters demanding democracy & respect for human rights.

To achieve meaningful & durable change, connections like these must be further supported, sustained, & deepened.

theguardian.com/technology/202…

#NeverForget #NeverAgain