Amazon Asked FCC To Reject Starlink Plan Because It Can't Compete, SpaceX Says (arstechnica.com) 45
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Amazon's attempt to block proposals for the next-generation Starlink system is a "delay tactic" and a continuation of Amazon's strategy of "hinder[ing] competitors to compensate for Amazon's failure to make progress of its own," SpaceX told the Federal Communications Commission yesterday. "Amazon's track record amply demonstrates that as it falls behind competitors, it is more than willing to use regulatory and legal processes to create obstacles designed to delay those competitors from leaving Amazon even further behind," SpaceX told the FCC in its filing. Approving Amazon's request would hurt consumers by denying them "access to faster-moving competition," SpaceX said.
Amazon last week urged the FCC to reject an update to SpaceX's Starlink plan because it "proposes two different configurations for the nearly 30,000 satellites of its Gen2 System, each of which arranges these satellites along very different orbital parameters." Amazon contends that the SpaceX request violates a rule requiring applications to be complete and have no internal inconsistencies. Amazon's request would prevent the commission from seeking public comment on SpaceX's application, SpaceX said. "The commission should recognize this gambit for the obstructionist tactic that it is, reject Amazon's request, and quickly put the amendment out for public comment," SpaceX said. The public-comment process will allow "any issues [to] be fully vetted," SpaceX said.
Amazon last week urged the FCC to reject an update to SpaceX's Starlink plan because it "proposes two different configurations for the nearly 30,000 satellites of its Gen2 System, each of which arranges these satellites along very different orbital parameters." Amazon contends that the SpaceX request violates a rule requiring applications to be complete and have no internal inconsistencies. Amazon's request would prevent the commission from seeking public comment on SpaceX's application, SpaceX said. "The commission should recognize this gambit for the obstructionist tactic that it is, reject Amazon's request, and quickly put the amendment out for public comment," SpaceX said. The public-comment process will allow "any issues [to] be fully vetted," SpaceX said.
How far is this going to go? (Score:5, Insightful)
First we have the Bezos lead attempt to block the SpaceX Lunar Lander program. Now we have Amazon trying to prevent Starlink from going forward. What's next? Is Bezos gonna ride his cock rocket into Musk's launch facility like a cut scene from Dr. Strangelove?
I'd hope at some point the courts would just tell Bezos to either compete or get out of the way. The whole point of competition is you have to have something that actually comes close to the other guy or you aren't actually competing. What the heck does Amazon have that would even come within a country mile of Starlink?
I really hope we don't see all the progress made by SpaceX disappear in a cloud of Amazon/Bezos lead lawsuits and regulatory manipulation. I want to see a Starship fleet before I die, dammit.
Re:How far is this going to go? (Score:4, Insightful)
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That certainly seems to be the case here. They want to get the New Glenn rocket operational, and then they can launch their Project Kuiper satellites and compete with Starlink, so they're trying to delay Star Link. From a business standpoint, I can't really blame them for trying.
Suing over a lost government contract is pretty much standard procedure for multi-billion-dollar contracts. Amazon was likely right about the Jedi contract not treating them fairly. And they were probably the second choice for N
Re:How far is this going to go? (Score:5, Funny)
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They are as bad as each other. SpaceX doesn't care about pollution or the environment, hasn't done the work to figure out what the consequences of its plan will be.
At least they get results I guess, but they are both billionaires in a dick swinging contest at the end of the day.
Re: How far is this going to go? (Score:1)
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Oh please. If the USA had not cared about pollution or the environment in the 60's they would have gone ahead and launched Project Orion.
Re:How far is this going to go? (Score:5, Insightful)
SpaceX doesn't care about pollution or the environment, hasn't done the work to figure out what the consequences of its plan will be.
The universal broadband our corporate masters couldn't deliver for over thirty years, sucking on the public teat. That's the consequence everyone here wants. If the public really cared about pollution, or the environment big coal would have been demolished decades ago. Instead on the cusp of getting what we want a few get all upset about a few rockets with their crocodile tears.
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I'm all for universal broadband, but Starlink has some major limitations that mean people who are stuck with it will still be getting second class broadband. The speed and latency is mediocre and likely to get worse as more users come online, for example. The receivers use a lot of power too, between 120W and 160W.
There are real concerns about what de-orbiting so many satellites will do. Nobody thought too much about it in the past because the numbers were small, but when you have thousands of them being bu
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Re: How far is this going to go? (Score:2)
We should be delivering fiber everywhere there's an electricity meter. Having reliable internet access is about as important to the economy as roads, and should be just as publicly funded to enable our economy to scale higher in the long term.
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You can't use public funds to help people living in the country. That's communism. Or so I've been told any time I make the mistake of mentioning it as a possibility.
Never mind that the telecoms have been getting repeated public funds to do just that over the decades and have just used it to line the corporate coffers or give bonuses to the execs just so they can say they need more funds to do what they promised. Jesus Christ America is backwards.
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At least they get results I guess, but they are both billionaires in a dick swinging contest at the end of the day.
It's obvious that SpaceX has the bigger space dick, and SpaceAmazon is space jealous.
Re: How far is this going to go? (Score:2)
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First we have the Bezos lead attempt to block the SpaceX Lunar Lander program. Now we have Amazon trying to prevent Starlink from going forward. What's next? Is Bezos gonna ride his cock rocket into Musk's launch facility like a cut scene from Dr. Strangelove?
I notice that anytime someone mentions Bezos, they also mention a dick. It's like a dick has become Bezos' personal logo. Maybe slashdot needs a new icon for Bezos stories.
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Between the rocket and the fact he sorta looks like one, it's a hard image to shake.
Seen this before (Score:5, Interesting)
Growing up around white trash culture I've seen this many times before. A guy would have a girlfriend and she'd dump him at some point. If she showed interest in any other guy the jilted lover would then threaten and fight the new guy. The jilted lover knew he wasn't going to get the girl back, but that didn't matter. The point was to save himself the pain of seeing "his" girl with another guy.
You'd think Bezos would have enough money at this point to quit being white trash.
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AKA Bucket of crabs.
Re: Seen this before (Score:2)
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To be fair, I think Bezos upbringing was middle class so I'm not sure silver spoon is applicable.
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Middle class America is world class silver spoon. Just an FYI.
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Never fear. We're working on wiping out the middle class as fast as we can. In another couple decades we won't have to have the spoiled middle class clogging up our conversations.
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Can confirm. Middle class and already wiped out.
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Hold my place! I'm right behind you!
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By threatening to beat up a new guy, he's basically punishing her for leaving him. Very pathetic but well, we are men.
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Yeah, it’s a twofer. Get back at the girl while making it difficult for any guy who may be interested in her.
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Though some may consider this kind of talk racist, I completely support calling out harmful cultural norms and helping people move past them. That's how humanity improves itself.
Amazon better be careful what it wishes for (Score:2)
It seems to me that the strongest suit that Amazon could play here was an anti-Trust approach. And yes it is the case that if a company manages to corner the market through meritorious tech development to the point where nobody else can get into that market they leave themselves open to anti-Trust action.
Just ask IBM. At one point they had to carve off a big section of their business and just hand it to CDC. For decades they were required to fund lawsuits against themselves. They had that much domi
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""If they manage to use the courts and regulatory bodies to hamstring SpaceX..."
Bought right into the bullshit, huh? Who says they are doing that? Musk.
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Well, the ex parte filing referred to in the article was sent to the Secretary of the FCC, and was signed by:
Mariah Dodson Shuman
Corporate Counsel
Kuiper Systems LLC,
an Amazon subsidiary
You can read it for yourself here:
https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp... [arstechnica.net]
Blue Origin strategy (Score:2)
1. Develop the best product.
Failed.
2. Bribe government officials for contracts.
Failed.
3. Slow down or trip up the competition.
Attempting..
I wonder how this would work (Score:3)
if thousands of closed book stores, video stores and other businesses sued Amazon because they "Can't Compete"
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It would work if they had an army of lawyers working pro bono.
AT&T (Score:3)
AT&T is trying to pull the same crap [fiercewireless.com] because their failed merger with Time Warner Inc saddled them with a lot of debt and made them less able to compete with Verizon and T-Mobile in acquiring 5G spectrum.
Suddenly, AT&T cares about competition.
You know what ... (Score:2)
Title of this story reads like line from Dilbert (Score:2)
To Court And Beyond... (Score:2)
Amazon is becoming the Oracle of Spaceflight. If you can't beatem', sue 'em
Astronomy issues (Score:1)
It's probable that Bezos is doing this for a purely financial reason -- but this might be a good thing.
Most people don't have money to stand up against Elon Musk ... and he's willing to flout regulations and/or societal norms. Like his "not a flamethrower" or calling high end cruise control "autopilot" when can't actually do what people think of as being an autopilot.
But Starlink has been quite a bit of a dick move on his part, because of how many and how shiny they are. And how low they are while they're
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Definition of autopilot noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
autopilot noun
(also automatic pilot)
a device in an aircraft or a ship that keeps it on a fixed course without the need for a person to control it
I do have one and it does exactly that.
If anyone buys a very expensive device without reading what it's capabilities are but relying of what THEY THINK it does, they are stupid.
F* nerds with telescopes, there are more people needing cheaper & faster internet available everywhere than bore
What is different in space vs on Earth (Score:2)