you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 8 points 1 year ago* (4 children)

I hope you're right.

I'm still going to have my local archives of Wikipedia and the like.

And I'm also going to have my meshtastic and software defined radio

Edit: what stops the USA from cutting all fiber and just using Nazi starlink?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago

    They likely can't do it overnight, but they can do it the same way they've been stripping everything else: Joke about it, hint at it, do it a little bit, do it some more in secret, blame liberals for it, do it in Texas or Florida, and then do it completely. They can get exactly the Internet they want us to have if we let them.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    The US hosts a lot of critical infrastructure for the rest of the Internet, still. There have been a lot of projects to decouple from the US for this exact reason. If you also look at Cable maps, the connectivity between Europe and Asia relies on those high capacity links going through the US. There have been more connections constructed between Europe and Asia to eliminate the US as the only path over the years, but some of those cable routes also tend to venture through contested / not-so-friendly territories. Thus, transit over those paths is also more expensive!

    We also have to consider that Starlink can only do so much. I believe they have trialed or have even activated Inter-satellite connectivity. But that is still a US-based company, and other countries like China are working to launch their own constellations out of fear that US and Europe-based Satellite companies can just come in someday and turn off service.

    Also, cutting that Fiber will break the Public Telephone Network, which is essential for any business. I don't know how many Telcos maintain Satellite uplinks between continents these days for the PSTN, but the end result won't be pretty for anyone. Total economic collapse, especially for the US!

  • source
  • parent