[stickfigure]

> the private sector profits by consuming a shared resource.

The public benefits from this privately maintained system. Irrespective of who profits, this is a service that I very much want, and I'm perfectly happy if Random Corporation XYZ makes a few bucks as long as I get the service at a reasonable price.

[sjtindell]

"The public" usually refers to the whole community and implies payment through a government or similar scheme. You cannot call your benefit from a private transaction a public good or yourself the public in that scenario. Otherwise literally all commerce is for public benefit. The comment was making a point about externalities.

[stickfigure]

It's a false and misleading point. It makes no difference whether SpaceX or NASA is selling satellite internet service.

This isn't a tragedy of the commons scenario, or a "privatize the gains" scenario. It's simply a competing use. For millennia astronomers have had near-exclusive use of the sky. I don't see why they should continue to be able to hog it all to themselves.

[wumpus]

Wow, those dastardly astronomers, hogging something that somehow isn't part of the commons. They should learn how to share! How about letting astronomers use the night sky every Tuesday?

[godelski]

Exactly. I love space and staring at the night sky. But being able to access the internet anywhere on the planet is world changing.