reuters.com
www.reuters.com

Elon Musk-controlled satellite internet provider Starlink has told Brazil’s telecom regulator Anatel it will not comply with a court order to block social media platform X in the country until its local accounts are unfrozen.

Anatel confirmed the information to Reuters on Monday after its head Carlos Baigorri told Globo TV it had received a note from Starlink, which has more than 200,000 customers in Brazil, and passed it onto Brazil’s top court.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes last week ordered all telecom providers in the country to shut down X, which is also owned by billionaire Musk, for lacking a legal representative in Brazil.

The move also led to the freezing of Starlink’s bank accounts in Brazil. Starlink is a unit of Musk-led rocket company SpaceX. The billionaire responded to the account block by calling Moraes a “dictator.”

    • Maggoty@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      4 months ago

      On 3 March 1968, the radio ships Mi Amigo and Caroline were boarded and seized before the day’s broadcasting began. They were towed to Amsterdam by a salvage company to secure unpaid bills for servicing by the Dutch tender company Wijsmuller Transport.[6] Caroline was broken up for scrap in 1972.[21]

      Looks like being in an international area doesn’t actually make you immune to consequences. If Brazil doesn’t want something broadcasting then the only way to keep them from shutting it down is to broadcast from inside a national area. If push comes to shove they can ban Starlink too, confiscate any receivers they can find, and even shoot down the satellites.

      • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        4 months ago

        The satellites may be carrying starshields on them which are national security modules with the DoD. Shooting down the wrong satellite would be attacking US national defense infrastructure.

        Nevermind starshields are whole DoD satellites.

        I think when I read this, I replaced starshield with starlink

        the ability to put a wide variety of instruments on the Starshield satellite bus

          • ms.lane@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            4 months ago

            Lets assume they’re not carrying DOD data (they are), do you really think the US will sit back and let some third world-

            1. Destroy US Commercial property

            2. Start a Kessler Storm

            Without consequence? US destroyed Iran’s navy over a single shipping vessel…

            • Maggoty@lemmy.worldEnglish
              4·
              4 months ago

              The DoD is not depending on starlink in South America. And dropping a few satellites is not going to create a Kessler effect. And Operation Praying Mantis was because they attacked a US Navy Frigate.

              Are you done being dramatic?

    • gressen@lemm.eeEnglish
      5·
      4 months ago

      The ground antennas that enable the service totally broadcast from inside Brazil.

        • gressen@lemm.eeEnglish
          3·
          4 months ago

          I think the next logical step for Brazil is to revoke a license to operate in that spectrum, rendering all user terminals illegal.