What a guy!

[rambot]

Free Starlink for those people affected by the hurricanes in the South!

Sounds amazing?

Almost is...but is actually, kinda awful in the end.

Elon Musk’s “Free” Internet for Hurricane Victims Has a Major Catch

 

[loveofourlord]

what?? The guy that fires people for wanting living wages isn't giving something free?

 

[Palmfever]

Free Starlink for those people affected by the hurricanes in the South!

Sounds amazing?

Almost is...but is actually, kinda awful in the end.

Elon Musk’s “Free” Internet for Hurricane Victims Has a Major Catch

Yeah, how would you connect to any service without their receivers?
And why do left wing marxists always expect free handouts.
That was retorical.
What have you contributed so far?

No internet? How and where to connect to Elon Musk-owned Starlink in Tennessee post-Helene

FEMA said it was providing Starlink devices to help first responders communicate. Residents affected by flooding can use the service, too.

www.knoxnews.com

What is Starlink? How the Elon Musk company is providing Internet for Hurricane Helene victims

Starlink is a a satellite internet constellation owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX. Here's what you should know about the service and its use in Helene-ravaged areas.

www.knoxnews.com

 

[rambot]

Yeah, how would you connect to any service without their receivers?
.

I'm not expecting it. I couldn't care a bit about it.

But let's not characterize this as a give away or charity.

And why do left wing marxists always expect free handouts

Pretty lame to characterize your suffering citizens that way.

That was retorical.
What have you contributed so far?

Nothing that doesn't eventually enrich me.

 

[Palmfever]

I'm not expecting it. I couldn't care a bit about it.

But let's not characterize this as a give away or charity.

Pretty lame to characterize your suffering citizens that way.

Me comment was not in reference to them.
It concerned leftest socialists.

Nothing that doesn't eventually enrich me.

Humor. I like it.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

what?? The guy that fires people for wanting living wages isn't giving something free?

Are you referring to the ex-Twitter employees?

 

[rambot]

Me comment was not in reference to them.

I'm sure the insult wasn't directed at them. Because even though they are expecting things for free they are not the way they expect something foe nothing is different than the way the people I don't like.

It concerned leftest socialists.

Like the people in those states receiving funds from fema.
Who expect free handouts.

Do you not see what you're doing?

And actually you initially said Marxist...not socialists. I'm super curious which one you could closer to defining¹¹

 

[ThatRobGuy]

I don't know if you can exactly call it a "catch" when it's a stipulation they linked in an official X post and on their website

Hurricane Relief (Helene and Milton) - Starlink Help Center

www.starlink.com

That's kinda like saying "The Christmas Toyota-thon event where they advertise "sign & drive" sounds great right?...but there's a catch, turns out you actually do have to arrange financing and make payments on the car and they're not just giving you a free car for nothing more than your signature...the nerve of Toyota to mislead people like that!"

 

[Palmfever]

Like the people in those states receiving funds from fema.

Who expect free handouts.

And yes, the world owes me group.

Those who talk and do nothing.
Those who come to America and miss the motherland.

Start a fund and help out.
Volunteer.

 

[JosephZ]

I live in an area that qualifies for the "free" starlink service. In addition to it not actually being free ($394 for the equipment and $120 a month after 30 days), I would have to wait three weeks to receive it. What a joke.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

I live in an area that qualifies for the "free" starlink service. In addition to it not actually being free ($394 for the equipment and $120 a month after 30 days), I would have to wait three weeks to receive it. What a joke.

View attachment 355774

Are AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner, Spectrum, etc... offering any sort of no-strings-attached internet package for victims of the hurricane? If not, then what Elon is offering is "30 days better" than the competitors.

 

[Offline4Better.]

Remember folks, the elites do not care for citizens, regardless if the elite figure is from the left or the right. It is about time that an open-source grassroots telecoms system is set up, and the FCC sets up a new bandwidth range for people to run DIY telecom towers.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Remember folks, the elites do not care for citizens, regardless if the elite figure is from the left or the right. It is about time that an open-source grassroots telecoms system is set up, and the FCC sets up a new bandwidth range for people to run DIY telecom towers.

That actually presents a whole different range of challenges...

On the surface it sounds like it has benefits...but it'd quickly turn into the same outcome as if we let people drive their own homemade cars on the roads.

 

[Offline4Better.]

That actually presents a whole different range of challenges...

On the surface it sounds like it has benefits...but it'd quickly turn into the same outcome as if we let people drive their own homemade cars on the roads.

Yeah, but no harm no foul. If it does not kill, let it happen. Cars kill, but not a DIY phone tower. We are supposedly the land of the free. Some deregulation is necessary.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Yeah, but no harm no foul. If it does not kill, let it happen. Cars kill, but not a DIY phone tower. We are supposedly the land of the free. Some deregulation is necessary.

And when the person who runs the DIY tower has a particular leaning, and starts filtering content based on their own personal preferences?

Or they start allowing illegal pornography or or other illicit things to take place through their circuits?

 

[Offline4Better.]

And when the person who runs the DIY tower has a particular leaning, and starts filtering content based on their own personal preferences?

Or they start allowing illegal pornography or or other illicit things to take place through their circuits?

We can ban that stuff, and only have the FCC interfere if illicit actions are transmitted or recieved via the towers. What is common among open-source communities, is that the community typically bans illicit stuff. For instance, the Linux community prevents people from placing malicious code in their software. If someone wants to filter content, it is up to them. There can be other tower owners that may not filter as much info. Folks who filter a bunch of info (say as in blocking Fox, or blocking CNN) may be ostracized by the DIY tower community in this hypothetical example, and lose computer traffic. But yes, I do see your point. As we live in a fallen world, someone is bound to misuse these DIY towers.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

We can ban that stuff and only have the FCC interfere if illicit actions are transmitted or recieved via the towers What is common among open-source communities, is that the community typically bans illicit stuff

That's a lofty ideal, but it's not going to play out that way in the real world.

Speaking as someone who works in tech and has (what I like to think, is a pretty in-depth knowledge of it), that's simply not the way things pan out.

"Open source communities"... the same people who brought us TAILS/TOR, the mechanisms by which people can buy stolen credit info and social security numbers, easily access child phonography, or a hire a hitman for bitcoin, with virtually no mechanism for the government to stop it.

Open source communities are a textbook case of what I'd call "principled to a fault"... a lot of tunnel vision in that community. While they may have good intentions when purposely building systems that government entities can't get into for principled reasons (for instance, helping political prisoners communicate to the outside world, or being a mechanism by which Ed Snowden can whistleblow on the NSA and alert the American people), the end result of their efforts ends up being something very different.

I mentioned TAILS/TOR before (the gateway to the "darkweb")...it was intended to be a privacy mechanism by the people who created it, the end result ended up being 90% child exploitation and identity theft material, with even the creators of the system being powerless to stop it due to the anonymity mechanisms they built into it.

 

[Offline4Better.]

That's a lofty ideal, but it's not going to play out that way in the real world.

Speaking as someone who works in tech and has (what I like to think, is a pretty in-depth knowledge of it), that's simply not the way things pan out.

"Open source communities"... the same people who brought us TAILS/TOR, the mechanisms by which people can buy stolen credit info and social security numbers, easily access child phonography, or a hire a hitman for bitcoin, with virtually no mechanism for the government to stop it.

Open source communities are a textbook case of what I'd call "principled to a fault"... a lot of tunnel vision in that community. While they may have good intentions when purposely building systems that government entities can't get into for principled reasons (for instance, helping political prisoners communicate to the outside world, or being a mechanism by which Ed Snowden can whistleblow on the NSA and alert the American people), the end result of their efforts ends up being something very different.

I mentioned TAILS/TOR before (the gateway to the "darkweb")...it was intended to be a privacy mechanism by the people who created it, the end result ended up being 90% child exploitation and identity theft material, with even the creators of the system being powerless to stop it due to the anonymity mechanisms they built into it.

I see your point. As you work with IT, you know much more about this stuff. Doesn't it seem that stuff meant for good seems to be used for evil? Would partial regulation of open-source community prevent illicit deals from taking place? Just as nuclear power can be used to power cities, nuclear energy can be used to destroy cities. It seems that tech can be a double edged sword. If something is used for 90% evil, then it should be shut down. TOR should be shut down, or regulated a bit more.

 

[Palmfever]

I live in an area that qualifies for the "free" starlink service. In addition to it not actually being free ($394 for the equipment and $120 a month after 30 days), I would have to wait three weeks to receive it. What a joke.

View attachment 355774

Then don't do it.

 

[JosephZ]

Are AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner, Spectrum, etc... offering any sort of no-strings-attached internet package for victims of the hurricane? If not, then what Elon is offering is "30 days better" than the competitors.

People in the path of the storm can get free Wi-Fi and internet usage from six top internet service providers throughout Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Florida.

The FCC has also expanded the Lifeline discount to victims of Hurricane Helene. Whether or not you were previously eligible for the $9.25 discount, you can enroll in the Lifeline program if you're receiving aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Individuals and Households Program.

Optimum is offering all current customers in North Carolina affected by Hurricane Helene one month of free internet service.

Optimum is waiving all charges for lost or damaged equipment and extending the free month of service to TV and Optimum Mobile packages as well.

Spectrum has opened 90,000 free Wi-Fi access points. Originally, the access points were slated to close on Oct. 7, but according to a spokesperson from Spectrum, the access points will remain available through Oct. 13. The access points are mainly located in public areas, either indoors or outdoors, across North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia and Florida.

Verizon is offering 24/7 free power and Wi-Fi stations in Florida, North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee.

T-Mobile is offering charging stations and free Wi-Fi hotspots in North and South Carolina.