Elon Musk’s Most Alarming Power Grab

Ross Anderson: “When Elon Musk’s engineers bundled a batch of prototype satellites into a rocket’s nose cone six years ago, there were fewer than 2,000 functional satellites in Earth’s orbit. Many more would soon be on the way: All through the pandemic, and the years that followed, Musk’s company, SpaceX, kept launching them.”

“More than 7,000 of his satellites now surround Earth like a cloud of gnats. This fleet, which works to provide space-based internet service to the ground, dwarfs those of all other private companies and nation-states put together. And almost every week, Musk adds to it, flinging dozens more satellites into the sky.”

Key takeaway: “The space internet of the future may become the central way that we communicate with one another, as human beings. Information of every kind, including the most sensitive kinds, will flow through it. Whoever controls it will have a great deal of power over us all.”