Of Information, Truth, and the Space Between
In a paroxysm of totalitarian overreach, Iran’s Islamic fundamentalist government has employed satellite jamming technology to block SpaceX’s Starlink website.
The draconian measure seeks to counter SpaceX boss Elon Musk’s imminent attempt to activate Starlink for Iranians, thereby granting 83-million subjugated individuals access to unrestricted information and broadened perspective—access Iran’s government aggressively denies its citizens.
The announcement of Musk’s intention to further democratize Starlink came on the heels of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s announcement that a General License had been issued to provide the Iranian people with free access to digital communications. In a tweet, Blinken put forth: “We took action today to advance Internet freedom and the free flow of information for the Iranian people … to provide them greater access to digital communications [and] to counter the Iranian government’s censorship.”
Iran International—the London-headquartered, Persian language television station—reported that a spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry had called the U.S. Treasury’s issuance of a General License to support internet freedom in Iran an effort to “violate Iran’s sovereignty.” The spokesman further asserted that the action would not go unanswered.
In addition to jamming the Starlink website, the Iranian government has blocked access to Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, LinkedIn, and even television stations like Iran International. That electromagnetic signal jamming has acutely harmful effects on human health is of little concern to Iran’s government, which is currently about the business of quashing massive, grass-roots protests resultant of the death of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman who perished in the custody of the nation’s morality police—the Gasht-e Ershad or "Guidance Patrol”—tasked with enforcing Islamic dogma.
Ms. Amini was detained for not properly wearing her hijab—a violation of the despotic dress-code to which Sharia law constrains women. Her captors disingenuously ascribed the 22-year-old’s death to heart-failure.
Ms. Amini’s death sparked sweeping and violent anti-government protests in dozens of Iranian cities.
Elon Musk’s involvement in the prevailing Iranian crisis was catalyzed in part by a request from @Erfankasraie, who tweeted: “I’m sure you won’t answer, Mr. Musk, but is it technically possible to provide Starlink to Iranian people? It could be a game-changer for the future.”
Musk responded: “Starlink will ask for an exemption to Iranian sanctions in this regard.”
Starlink and Mr. Musk are wildly unpopular with authoritarian regimes. In addition to raising Iran’s dander, Musk—in the last year alone—and has elicited the ire of both Russia and Twitter.
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