It's not real war profiteering if you don't sell to both sides, dummy.
Just like the good ol' days after 9/11
Is this a surprise?
It's not exactly easy to tell from a satellite if it's a Russian or Ukrainian operator.
I'm confused. Do you think starlink is free to access? You have to have authentication to use it, spacex is allowing russia to use it.
Elon "Daddy Warbucks" Musk.
All he needs is a flying suit.
I’m curious, how do you think Starlink can tell the difference between a Ukrainian and a Russian?
Are you under the impression that Russia is signing up for service transparently? The devices aren’t sold in Russia, and won’t even work within Russia. Meaning they were likely bought through a proxy using aliases, and set up in Ukraine.
At that point, you cant tell the difference. It’s just data, which can also be easily encrypted and proxied to mask the fact that they are being used for military purposes.
It’s just data, which can also be easily encrypted and proxied to mask the fact that they are being used for military purposes.
It's not though. The data goes both ways. As long as the device id was not altered, its history of movement can be tracked down, provided such a data is being recorded.
Also, there may be caveats about how accounts are getting created and activated. Those devices bought by Russia may come with pre-activated accounts that can be tracked by origin.
Finally, billing. Unless Russia is not relying on stolen Ukrainian credit cards it should be easy to identify that a group of devices/accounts is being paid for by entities that are neither Russian nor Ukrainian.
Based on all of that, they could filter groups of devices by location, confirm it with Ukrainian forces and ban maliciously used ones.
Russia has operatives worldwide. Just like every other country with any sort of intelligence agency. The idea that they aren’t able to come up with a credit card with a Ukrainian name that looks 100% legitimate to a billing company is farcical.
Let me just ask you point blank, do you think the CIA could manage to purchase a Starlink, activate it, and use it, without anyone having any idea it was the CIA that did all that? Because if so, it’s just as easy for Russia to do it.
Hell, I could likely do it.
The idea that they aren’t able to come up with a credit card with a Ukrainian name that looks 100% legitimate to a billing company is farcical.
I see you don't know how credit card numbers work. You may also not be aware of the fact that credit cards aren't working in Russia for almost 2 years.
Let me just ask you point blank, do you think the CIA could manage to purchase a Starlink, activate it, and use it, without anyone having any idea it was the CIA that did all that?
Just one or two is easy to manage. A dozen is much more difficult already, provided Starlink manages some security and has access to metadata (data that ultimately can't be faked such as location, accounts, device id).
… meaning that one of their many worldwide operatives could just get a credit card. Like, say, in Ukraine.
You’re focused way too hard on “following the law and doing things by the book” without realizing Russia is more of a “do what it takes.”
You see, you are supposed to have a "musk bad" comment, not a rational comment.
Of course starlink is allowing paying customers to use it, won't someone think of the shareholders!
Yeah, it's totally impossible for Russia to register these using an Ukrainian VPN with Ukrainian ID. It's not like they have access to tons of POWs or even Ukrainians that are sympathetic to Russia.
So now you think that it's... Ukrainian traitors or pows? You think they don't deactivate clearance for anyone captured?
If you're going to make up fan fiction for Russia, at least suggest something more realistic, like espionage
Is registration only limited to military personnel? My guess is that anyone except citizens of sanctioned countries can register one of those, so you just need any kind of Ukrainian (or even non-Russian) ID, which are probably plentiful if you have access to POWs or the population of Donbass.
You don't own the sky, nasa does!
Yeah, they put up a prompt when you visit that you confirm you're over 18 and definitely Ukrainian.
People on Lemmy have a massive hard on for hating anyone who makes more money than they do or represents any right wing ideologies
Don't get me wrong, I hate musk, and billionaires in general.
I just hate people being wrong on the internet more.
The fact you think it's about something so shallow as money kinda shows that you haven't been listening to anyone at all.
Well, Elon Musk is a traitor, bigot and fascist, so this makes sense. I would not be surprised if he is sharing sensitive Ukrainian data with the Russians as Ukrainians also use Starlink.
Can't wait for all of the concerned users to start screaming about ITAR...any second now.
I can see that the supplier has his balls in Russia'a vise grips from that fucking hellsite he "bought"
Musk is an ass, but there's way too many possible explanations and insufficient information to be throwing accusations around right now.
The CIA should definitely be looking into this, though.
Just giving Elon the benefit of a doubt. Perhaps the Russian's might have taken over a region and the equipment was not taken during the evacuation. Who knows if this starlink device is even operational.
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
