SpaceX Probed over Russia's Alleged Use of Starlink

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Democratic lawmakers are investigating SpaceX over reports that Russia is using the company's Starlink satellite internet service in occupied areas of Ukraine, raising concerns about potential violations of US sanctions and export controls.

Posted by LampLighter at 06:33 PM | 9 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

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... In a letter sent Wednesday to SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Robert Garcia of California cited intelligence from Ukraine indicating Russian forces have illegally deployed and activated Starlink terminals in Russian-occupied regions of eastern and southern Ukraine.

"It is alarming that Russia may be obtaining and using your technology to coordinate attacks against Ukrainian troops in illegally occupied regions in Eastern and Southern Ukraine, potentially in violation of US sanctions and export controls," the lawmakers wrote. ...

#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-03-13 08:24 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 3

If only ace congressional investigators Gomer Comer and Gym-Shorts Jordan could investigate this matter. They would certainly find that everything is A-OK at Starlink...

#2 | Posted by catdog at 2024-03-15 09:16 AM | Reply | Funny: 3

Love him or hate him, I HIGHLY doubt Musk would endanger his government welfare golden goose of Space X by selling to Russia

#3 | Posted by zeropointnrg at 2024-03-15 11:17 AM | Reply | Funny: 1

What a corny stunt from people with nothing better to do.

#4 | Posted by sitzkrieg at 2024-03-15 01:08 PM | Reply

I read that the usage was via Proxy (i.e. Russian aligned or sympathetic
nations (ie. Iran) buying the time on the system, and then allowing
Russian Operators to utilize it to pinpoint targets...

This will become increasingly hard to police.
They should just make a list of hostile nation states that cannot
buy time on the satellite network....but we DO KNOW how much
Musk loves his money $$$.

#5 | Posted by earthmuse at 2024-03-15 01:47 PM | Reply

www.cnbc.com

It doesn't have to be Iran. People traffic these.

#6 | Posted by sitzkrieg at 2024-03-15 03:11 PM | Reply

If he thinks the next "president" is going to be a Russian asset...

#7 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2024-03-15 05:10 PM | Reply

Maybe they should use a bigger probe. Something from Bad Dragon would probably work.

#8 | Posted by DarkVader at 2024-03-15 09:08 PM | Reply

#5 & #6

It doesn't matter who buys it. They can be geolocated, access from Russia and temporarily occupied Ukraine could easily be blocked. Modems owned by the Ukrainian government could easily be whitelisted in blocked areas, blocked if they fell into enemy hands.

The elongated muskrat should probably be held in Gitmo until the orcs are driven out of Ukraine.

#9 | Posted by DarkVader at 2024-03-15 09:20 PM | Reply