Russia Limits Operations of Foreign Communications Satellite Operators (zdnet.com) 130
An anonymous reader quotes a report from ZDNet: This week, the Russian government has published a document outlining new rules that limit foreign communications satellite operators inside the country. The Russian government will require all foreign communications satellite companies to pass all incoming traffic through a ground gateway station. This means satellite operators won't be able to beam communications directly to customers without going through a ground station first. The Russian government cited an espionage threat of allowing foreign satellite companies to transmit data directly within the country's border, but critics of the Kremlin regime say the new requirement will enable Russian government agencies to intercept any incoming traffic. The new rules, set to enter into effect in six months, will also force all foreign communications satellite companies to obtain a permit from Russian authorities even before operating in the country. The Russian Defense Ministry, the Federal Security Service (FSB), and Federal Protective Service (FSO) will be in charge of reviewing applicants.
Small d ivans (Score:4, Interesting)
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Re:Small d ivans (Score:5, Insightful)
Nothing new here, Russia has always being trying to legislate itself back into 17th century. Let's see how their economy follows it.
*YAWN* ... call me when their economy out grows Italy's in size.
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It has nothing to do with SpaceX (or PT Barnum, Jr.). It has to do with making sure that they at least are able to cheaply monitor the "low-hanging fruit" of big centralized communications centers. They will work the more difficult problem of decentralized systems later with much more sophisticated and complex SIGINT systems (which they are well-capable of doing).
This is effectively remaking the old Soviet KGB domestic spying organization, and predictable as the sun rising in the East.
Re: Small d ivans (Score:2)
It has nothing to do with SpaceX
Of course not; why would the Russians choose a course of action that would yield multiple benefits??
Re: Small d ivans (Score:2)
or more likely, your sigint is just to shoddy to even know his sigint exists.
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GENERAL BUCK TURGIDSON:
Gentlemen! We cannot have a psi research gap!
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If they followed that line of thinking, perhaps the US wouldn't be so far behind Russia in the field of Electronic Warfare.
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->What makes you think we are behind?
What they did to all the systems on the USS Donald Cook and https://www.defensenews.com/ho... [defensenews.com]
So... (Score:1)
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If you would read the news their main concern is people sending data to the satellites not the opposite.
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The act of connecting up to the network without permission would be detected in real time.
Like using power from the electric company without permission and an approved connection.
Connecting to gas and water without paying for the connection to the utility company.
Having a phone and IPS account without ever paying for that connection.
Want to use a communications network? Get one that's approved
Anyone with the balls to test enforcement? (Score:5, Interesting)
It would be interesting to see what they have to stop the signal.
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http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/22941/russia-has-four-potential-killer-satellites-in-orbit-at-least-that-we-know-about
Re: Anyone with the balls to test enforcement? (Score:3)
Just fantastic stuff if they actually use them. Goodbye low earth orbit, hello Kessler syndrome.
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But if we're talking about 2nd-tier superpowers like Russia destroying satellites they don't own, (destroying ones you do is bad enough...) that's Defcon 1+x.
You'd think so, but when they bombed the US oil pipeline during their invasion of Georgia, neither the Democrats nor the Republicans said anything. And that wasn't even their territory. What do you think are the chances that anyone will say anything if they destroy satellites which they deem to be spying on them?
a traitor is in charge! Literally.
No, she lost.
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But in this case people's doors would be kicked in, in the middle of the night, black bags put over people's heads, and dragged to some windowless room where they have unspeakable things done to them. This is Russia we're talking about after all, not much better than PRNK or China.
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...people's doors would be kicked in, in the middle of the night, black bags put over people's heads, and dragged to some windowless room where they have unspeakable things done to them. This is Russia we're talking about after all...
Well, golly gee! You can't let the CIA have all the fun, can you? What ever happened to sharing?
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Domestically, I have no idea. Internationally, which is the part I care about, the US is a lot worse.
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Just count the wars and "revolutions" that the US started in the Middle East, Africa and South America since the year 2000 and be silent.
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> what they have to stop the signal
Rubber batons are very effective at stopping reception, when applied forcefully to the kidney area of the back.
Re:Anyone with the balls to test enforcement? (Score:4, Informative)
The issue isn't actually with operating the device in Russia.
The issue is with having paying subscribers that live there.
A foreigner trying to test the law will just get arrested as a spy for it, they won't "test" shit.
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I remember a Chechen leader who was using a phone sat. The Russians tuned an air-launched missile to the frequency. You can guess the result.
But no, I guess it would depend on what happens.
The tighter you grip.. (Score:3)
I really wish someone would end Putin. He's a fucking troublemaker and the world would be better off without him -- and several other people I could name.
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I wonder who he's playing to. The Russian people don't believe anything their government tells them, and neither do we.
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What does UKIP have to do with Brexit? Brexit was and is the responsibility of the UK Conservative Party and a certain David Cameron, who chose the referendum to be a key issue of the 2015 election campaign because they otherwise got nothing and would have lost.
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Gosh, they're not even trying to make the conspiracy theories sound plausible any more, are they?
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I wonder who he's playing to. The Russian people don't believe anything their government tells them, and neither do we.
Obviously he's playing to the Russian people directly, or at least trying to. His polling numbers have been falling out of bed of late, so it's time to rattle swards, date young popular women and ride horses bareback shirtless. Or, as in this case, take steps to seemingly bolster Russian security and power. I expect a lot more of this kind of saber rattling in the days to come.
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..the more grains of sand slip through your fingers. I really wish someone would end Putin. He's a fucking troublemaker and the world would be better off without him -- and several other people I could name.
This is really about Putin's falling poll numbers. His popularity is falling, so it's time to rattle some swards, ride some horses w/o a shirt and stuff like that. He's got to push the narrative that Russia is relevant and HE'S in charge of the Russian rise to power.
The glaring truth here is that Russians see their continued decline and Putin's part in that. Putin is getting desperate and now that the "Russian Collusion" from 2016 narrative is dying, he has to do something. So he's looking for ways to
They have a plan (Score:5, Funny)
It's guaranteed to work, just ask Trump.
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And Mars is going to pay for it!
The new smuggling (Score:5, Insightful)
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Except Russia, unlike China, does not have a firewall or filter global Internet access.
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Actually they do. It's a lot less comprehensive than China's infamous national firewall, and less sophisticated in implimentation, but it does exist. The specifics if implementation are down to the individual ISPs, but they are required by law (since 2012) to block all sites on a blacklist maintained by the Russian government agency Roskomnadzor. Like most such systems, it is officially justified as a required measure for protecting children from harmful material, but the definition of harmful material is b
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How will that work with devices like InReach, GPS? (Score:4, Insightful)
Much of the reason for satellite communications is to provide communications to locations that are out of reach of ground stations. The InReach devices communicate directly with satellites to trigger a rescue - and communicate - in remote areas. Espionnage 140 characters at a time?
Bizarre.
Satelites will B cheap as cars (Score:2)
Uplinks are sexier (Score:4, Interesting)
Look around at all the rooftop dishes in you neighborhood. Which one is beaming or more likely intermittently bursting in a sneaky and sophisticated way a high capacity data uplink? how do you think espionage works? Shortwavew and Morse code? Microfiche hidden in shoe heels? Obviously every terestial Internet data path is being sniffed. And you can bet rural personal uplinks and even dish TV logo-ed urban apartment balcony dishes are suspected of being covert alternatives to all the flash in personal electronics and body cavities as ways to get data back to China, albeit not with the much more useful near real-time capabilities of Earthline VPN feeding covert terrestrial uplink dishes. Why Russia is making a The new regulation law about down links is just theater. Putin Angle-ing for a Netflix board seat?
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The location of the US/UK/commercial sat network getting that unexpected uplink can be detect over time by Russia.
The USA and UK would just suggest their new spies now use a commercial account and send out spy "data" like any normal person using a commercial service.
Some data like so many other accounts, on a free ad supported email service.
The task of an embassy worker, NGO, charity worker, tourist giving spy ha
The Democratic People's Republic of Russia (Score:5, Interesting)
Those who don't learn from ... (Score:2)
... history are bound to repeat it; those of us who do are bound to predict it. © CaptainDork.
Russia is in a place similar to Germany after WWI: They were once great and a superpower and a force to be reckoned with.
Like Germany then, Russia wants to rise from the ashes. One way to do that is to refurbish the country from within by participating in a global economy and working to lift sanctions from just about every kid on the block.
Another way is to go full isolationist, spending money it doesn't have
this is about Crimea (Score:2)
remember that the invasion of Crimea started by installing a new internet cable and severing the one that went thru Europe.
This is exclusively to prevent well intentioned Ukrainian (and from other Russian controlled territories) ISPs from bypassing the new Russian-monitored cables.
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false,
the invasion of Crimea started by the U.S. CIA meddling in regional affairs. CIA: Destabilizing the world on your tax dollar
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no, through actual operatives working in foreign countries. Look it up, it's historic fact.
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... North Korea's dynastic dictator-baby who literally has dissidents executed with flamethrowers and grenade launchers in public ...
I'm no fan of North Korea but reports like that should be taken with a grain of salt. The story about Kim's Uncle being executed by a pack of man eating dogs turned out to be a hoax (well, actually, it originated as a satirical post on a Chinese social media network) and a number of other similar stories have turned out to be exaggerated. Like for example the story of general Hyon Yong-chol who was supposedly executed with a quad barrelled 23 mm anti-aircraft gun for “dozing off” at official ev
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There's plenty to hate the regime (and the man) for without resorting to hysterics. Every time I hear about how bad he is for killing family members I wonder what those family members would have been like if they were in charge of NK, and how long he would have lived if he didn't target them. But keeping their people in poverty, on the other hand, is inexcusable.