Re:Iraq blocks Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Instagram, s...
by JohnFen on Wednesday October 02, 2019 @05:43PM
(#21141082)
Things like Starlink won't remove a government's ability to cut off internet access. The radio signals aren't hard to jam.
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Re:Iraq blocks Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Instagram, s...
by beamatronic on Wednesday October 02, 2019 @05:54PM
(#21141172)
We need one that uses lasers
Re:Iraq blocks Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Instagram, s...
by tonyarkles on Wednesday October 02, 2019 @05:59PM
(#21141208)
Not to be too cynical, but it’d be pretty straightforward to at least tell where the ground-based terminals are if they’re shooting lasers into the sky. Not sure if laser-based systems use IR or UV or what (presumably whatever has the least amount of atmospheric attenuation), but airborne cameras could likely pick it up pretty quick.
And for the most brutal dictators: laser-guided bombs are already a thing...
Re:Iraq blocks Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Instagram, s...
by DuskStar on Wednesday October 02, 2019 @07:26PM
(#21141876)
Why would an airborne camera be able to pick ground-based lasers up easily? Wouldn't you need to fly directly between the satellite and the ground terminal?
Same goes for laser-guided bombs - those home in on where the laser pointer is pointing, not the pointer itself.
Re:Iraq blocks Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Instagram, s...
by GauntletWizard on Thursday October 03, 2019 @07:00AM
(#21145611)
Deflection. It's pretty easy to spot a laser pointed straight up, because it's deflections create a visible trail of the beam. Have you ever shined a laser pointer in a foggy room, or seen the lightshows that do so? That.
Re:Iraq blocks Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Instagram, s...
by DuskStar on Thursday October 03, 2019 @01:05PM
(#21149207)
Right, but presumably you'd be using a wavelength that's scattered a bit less than that.
Re:Iraq blocks Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Instagram, s...
by debatem1 on Wednesday October 02, 2019 @06:03PM
(#21141243)
Remember that you don't jam transmitters, you jam receivers. Blinding an on-orbit receiver is easy regardless of whether you use lasers or radio because you know exactly where it has to be at any given time.
Re:Iraq blocks Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Instagram, s...
by joombaga on Wednesday October 02, 2019 @05:58PM
(#21141204)
Why? Are lasers hard to "jam" (I'm using quotes because it seems weird to use "jam" with optical media, but maybe that's just me)?