Russia can fine citizens for using SpaceX’s Internet Starlink. Here’s how Elon Musk’s service poses a threat to authoritarian regimes.

• Russian citizens and businesses can be fined by the state for using SpaceX’s Internet Starlink.

• Analyst John Byrne told Insider that it was easier for Russia to fine citizens than Starlink.

• “The satellite potentially changes roles because the government doesn’t control space,” Byrne said.

• Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.

The Russian government can impose fines on individuals or companies for using Internet Starlink developed by US company SpaceX, according to local reports.

The new law, proposed by the Russian legislature, the State Duma, aims to prevent citizens from accessing the internet through one of Elon Musk’s hundreds of satellites.

Ordinary users could be charged between 10,000 and 30,000 rubles ($ 135-405), while legal entities could have to pay up to one million rubles ($ 6,750-1,500) if they use the western satellite service, according to Popular Mechanics. .

In response to local reports, Musk tweeted: “We’re just trying to get people to Mars. Any help would be greatly appreciated.”

After launching a record 143 satellites into orbit on Sunday, SpaceX is slowly moving towards its goal of enveloping Earth with up to 42,000 Starlink satellites to provide super-fast internet.

So far, the space company has sent 944 satellites into service in space using its reusable Falcon 9 rockets.

This takeover of the skies poses a threat to authoritarian regimes like Russia. John Byrne, a telecommunications technology service manager at GlobalData, told Insider that it was difficult for Russia to penalize the ISP, but “it’s easier to sanction, or at least to threaten to amend, your own citizens “.

Byrne said a government was able to control the rights to operate a cellular internet service, adding that if China asked its network operators to ban certain sites through this internet medium, it would be easy.

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“Satellite can potentially turn the situation around because the government does not control the space; therefore, the government has a much harder time regulating satellite content,” he said.

That said, governments have the right to regulate vertical space, for example when planes travel in their designated airspace.

Starlink involves low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, which operate at a much lower altitude than traditional satellites but much higher than cellular service. With that in mind, the question is whether or not they will be considered under government control, Byrne said.

Read more: The space industry will grow by more than $ 1 trillion over the next decade, according to Bank of America. Here are the 14 stocks best placed to take advantage of the boom.

Russia plans to develop its own satellite internet constellation called Sfera, which could launch in 2024, IntelliNews reported in November. The project, which is expected to cost 1.5 trillion rubles (about $ 20 billion), would likely allow the country to continue to monitor domestic internet traffic, Byrne said.

According to Byrne, if Russian citizens use Musk’s satellite constellation, the country could be prevented from monitoring their internet traffic like it does with cellular service. He added that this could eventually worsen tensions between the United States and Russia.

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