[snohobro]

I worked on the Starlink program in the Redmond facility during the growth from a couple sats as proof of concept to thousands of sats regularly providing internet. I’ve since moved on to other ventures, but I’m still incredibly proud of what I did there. Mostly because it brought internet to those unserved and those who no one was ever going to serve, at least any time soon. I believe the internet and access to the same knowledge and tools as everyone else is such an equalizer. My favorite was getting the monthly emails with stories from rural areas or countries with spotty to no internet and how many of those folks could now commune with the rest of the planet and take full advantage of the wealth of knowledge provided by the internet.

[rayiner]

I have a Starlink shout out! My brother in law worked on a salmon fishing boat in Alaska a couple of summers ago. They are at sea for weeks and keep fishing until the boat is full. He's done crabbing trips before and was basically out of communication for a month. On this trip, they had Starlink and were able to send us pictures and even FaceTime. Starlink delivered a huge quality of life improvement to guys who work a hard, dangerous job. They really appreciated it!

[zuzululu]

man I am happy to hear that. in Europe there is still widespread cynicism and vitrol against anything Elon Musk especially Starlink.

I think that many people appreciate Starlink in rural parts but your story is one of many that are just amazing

[dmix]

Ontario ended a $100M contract with Starlink to help connect 15k rural and first nations households because Elon was connected with the US administration when tariffs were announced

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/starlink-deal-void-on...

AFAIK there has been no replacement contract since it was killed in 2025

[rapind]

Elon has total control of Starlink and he’s currently enjoying his bond villain phase.

I am very happy my tax dollars are not going into his pockets.

It’s not a crusade. You send him your money if you want. It’s none of my business.

Pretty sure they are doing a bunch of AI training with your data now too. Opt-in by default. So yeah, no thanks.

[dmix]

Tax payers are already responsible for the fees paid to cancel the contract early, but won't tell the public how much it cost. They also already paid for a test run with a first nations community in 2020 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/spacex-deal-ontario-s...

I personally see more value in connecting poor and isolated rural communities. Plus I highly doubt a provincial government contract in Canada will be a major influence on a Elon's dumb twitter politics.

[overfeed]

> Plus I highly doubt a provincial government contract in Canada will be a major influence on a Elon's dumb twitter politics.

I don't think the decision was meant to influence, rather, it's self-defense against said "Elon's dumb Twitter politics."

Americans having challenges conceptualizing how problematic Starlink is to non-Americans: imagine the same satellite service was provided by Huawei - but helmed by Chinese Elon.

[baranul]

You might be right, SpaceX and xAI are merged. Starlink users better read the policy documents very carefully.

[questiona]

The primary purpose of Starlink and SpaceX was from the start to support military goals, civilian goals were never the primary purpose. SpaceX and Elon Musk claimed that reaching Mars was a primary goal, but these are blatant and repeated lies, also by shills in this comment section, as is evident by Michael D. Griffin, under secretary of defense for research and engineering from 2018 to 2020, being involved from the beginning. Strangely enough, no comment in this Hacker News section seem to discuss the role Starlink plays in Ukraine currently.

> In early 2002 he met entrepreneur Elon Musk and accompanied him on a trip to Russia, where they attempted to purchase ICBMs.[8] The decision to found the company SpaceX was made on the flight home, and Griffin briefly considered serving as chief engineer,[9] but eventually he instead became president and COO of In-Q-Tel, a private enterprise funded by the CIA to identify and invest in companies developing cutting-edge technologies that serve national security interests.[10]

[skybrian]

Would you prefer that it weren’t used in Ukraine? I believe they find it rather useful.

[zuzululu]

There is no replacement because the pockets of Canada's political inner circle hasn't be lined yet with someone that can match Starlink

I think that a more expensive and crappier version of Starlink is going to be offered to Canadians , looking at how its run as an outsider.

[Leonard_of_Q]

Carney seems to flirt with China [1] so they might make him an offer he can't refuse.

[1] https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2026/01/16/prime-...

[shoobiedoo]

My wife and I live in Japan, and her job is in a very, very rural area, while I am able to work remote. Before I moved into her house, we checked her local internet, it was 11mbps with a wired connection. yikes. On top of that there are often landslides and other connection issues. Starlink saved the day.

[from_memory]

I get that he is an ignoble dude, and I dislike him as much as anyone, but why do we judge an entire company by the largest shareholder's personal scruples?

There are likely thousands of hardworking people making that ship sail, and it's really short sighted to just write them all off because he is a dumbass.

We are SO ready to judge but so unwilling to THINK. Why?

[Veserv]

Why do we judge an organization by their leader and head executive who has complete control over direction and operations? Who individually has a controlling interest which can and has been used to elect himself the leader? Who regularly, openly, and publicly talks about how he needs to have control over the operation of the organization to be willing to run it?

You would be hard pressed to find a person who is more responsible or more representative of their organization than that.

[zdragnar]

Most judging isn't anything more than parroting other people, a mimetic reflex to help you fit in with the people around you.

Thinking risks you forming an opinion that might not align with the zeitgeist.

There was a student newspaper editorial not too long ago... I think maybe it was at Harvard?... the crux of the piece was there's no reason to debate or engage, because we know we are right. Having independent thought risks putting you in a position of staying silent, or publicly disagreeing with people who have this kind of mentality.

[panick21_]

Claiming that its 'especially Starlink' is just not true. I heard lots of discussion about Musk but very little about Starlink. Starlink mostly gets discussed in terms of space policy and people who care about that.

That said people are somewhat right that in most of Western and Central Europe there isn't a huge need for Starlink, it will be quite niche. But I have not heard any 'vitrol' against Starlink.

[TMWNN]

>in Europe there is still widespread cynicism and vitrol against anything Elon Musk especially Starlink.

European Tesla sales are rising yoy again. <https://www.statesman.com/business/article/tesla-sales-q2-20...>

[ornornor]

Rightly so, subscribing to starlink is giving money to Heilon Musk, one of the worst people alive (he’s in very good company though there are many like him)

[jnaina]

There are alternatives. Amazon Leo is currently on a soft launch and will be ramping up over the next 12 months

[idiotsecant]

Elon musk is a scumbag and starlink is very useful. Both things can be true.

I will say having the world ISP run by a man with his ... proclivities is less than optimal.

[leonidasrup]

Elon Musk is quite cotroversial figure for Europe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk_salute_controversy

On one hand Elon Musk and JD Vance supported far-right German party AfD, a party with strong links to Russian. On the other hand Starlink helps Ukraine in the fight against Russia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AfD_pro-Russia_movement

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2025/02/24/germany-...

[_DeadFred_]

It perfectly fits the current timeline that the top 'feel good success anecdote' for this is about Starlink making raping the most remote areas on earth more enjoyable.

These guys get paid outsized rewards for exploiting our/everyone's oceans. Imagine a giant blimp getting paid outsized pay hovering for days over national forests hauling in every last animal they could get until the blimp was overflowing with dead creatures leaving behind a biologically weakened forest. We wouldn't hype them as working hard/dangerous jobs, we'd label them as crappy people/a crap industry. So glad we're making them more comfortable.

[mips_avatar]

If it hadn't been for Starlink I wouldn't have been able to work remotely from my parents house during covid.

[ponector]

You also brought internet to the long range kamikaze drones enabling hunting mode there.

[geoka9]

Yes, for a while Starlink was available to the invading Russian troops killing Ukrainians, but this is over now, thanks god.

[ponector]

But it is still used in Ukrainian kamikaze drones.

[geoka9]

Nice!

[libertine]

With the massive bot networks shoving misinformation and propaganda, it's also a new infrastructure that will destabilize a lot of countries unfortunately.

[gruez]

That just feels like status quo bias. Consider the reverse: should we cut off people's internet access because "that will destabilize a lot of countries"?

[libertine]

Not at all, just that tech companies should take action on this matter

[cactusplant7374]

> take full advantage of the wealth of knowledge provided by the internet

Seems like a bit of a stretch in modern times. Do you have any idea what percentage of traffic is TikTok/YouTube/Facebook?

[bathtub365]

YouTube has excellent creators for almost any topic you can think of and for almost any video style you can think of

[cactusplant7374]

The average person isn't interested in that. They watch funny videos. We are talking about the average person here -- not HN commenters.

[CursedSilicon]

Hi, I'm a Youtuber.

I talk about computer history. Is my knowledge not valid just because I'm "on youtube" ?

[cactusplant7374]

Where did I target you specifically?

[CursedSilicon]

When you derided people using it for youtube :)

[cactusplant7374]

That's not specific enough. Sorry.

[llbbdd]

All places laden with useful information.

[cactusplant7374]

That the average person doesn't consume. Yes, that is true.

[snohobro]

I mean yeah, it’s a ton and totally a topic worth discussing on its own. Those aren’t the only options though. There is still plenty of available data out there for people to access and do practical and educational things with outside of purely entertainment. That’s a choice anyone accessing the internet has to make, and I was able to help give them that choice. Better to have a choice to learn and grow vs scroll than have no choice at all I’d say.

[snayan]

Ahh yes, the ole throw the baby out with the bathwater retort.

[cactusplant7374]

Ah yes, a snarky comment of no substance. Thank you.

[snayan]

You're welcome!