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#ElonMusk’s #Starlink Expands Across #WhiteHouse Complex
Starlink, the satellite internet service operated by #Musk’s #SpaceX, is now accessible across the White House campus. It is the latest installation of the Wi-Fi network across the govt since Musk joined the #Trump administration as an *unpaid* [if you don’t count all the extra contracts he’s gotten] adviser.
#law #USpol #NationalSecurity #InfoSec #technocracy #broligarchy #kleptocracy
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/us/politics/elon-musk-starlink-white-house.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=p&pvid=08504AF5-44B4-4B40-977F-61893CA9733D
…#Trump WH ofcls said that #Starlink had “donated” the service &…had been vetted by the WH Counsel’s #ethics lawyer.
Fmr ofcls were unclear about how such a donation could work.
Clare Martorana, fmr chief #information officer during the #Biden admin, said typically people cannot simply give #technology to the govt.…The WH’s chief information officer would need to sign off on a new system to ensure it was properly secured, as would the chief information officer at GSA.
…The WH is the latest govt property on which #Starlink now operates.
In recent weeks, Starlink was also set up at the #GSA, which has served as a hub for #Musk’s government-shrinking efforts…
While several #FederalAgencies contract w/Starlink, the satellite service is typically used to provide internet access in emergency situations & to remote locations — not at federal buildings in DC, which already have ample internet options.
…It was…unclear if #Starlink communications were #encrypted. At a minimum, the system allows for a network separate from existing WH servers that people on the grounds are able to use, keeping that data separate.
“It’s super rare” to install Starlink or another #internet provider as a replacement for existing govt #infrastructure that has been vetted & secured, said Jake Williams, a VP for R&D at Hunter Strategy, a #cybersecurity consultancy. “I can’t think of a time that I have heard of that.”
@Nonilex It’s a work-around so Trump can talk to Putin offline
@Nonilex
How better to exfiltrate government data than using one's own satellite ISP. Oh, *you* don't have your own satellite ISP? What a shame...
If I wanted to siphon off all gov't data and I owned a satellite based network that's how I'd do it, too.
@Frances_Larina @Nonilex and if I had the ability to decrypt satellite communications, I would make sure that the landline communications were dysfunctional.
In WWII, Enigma needed radio messages to decrypt-a core act of resistance sabotage was to destroy telephone and telegraph lines to force more use of radio.
@Nonilex I hope they realize that satellite comms can be significantly degraded during events such as heavy rain.
Bringing in and creating dependencies: Collecting data is then just a by-product of being there. All Musk has to do is find a good plan to get rid of Trump without upsetting his lapdogs.