By: Douglas DeBettencourt
Many people are familiar with billionaire Elon Musk, whether it is for leading the electric car industry, buying Twitter, or flying civilians to space. However, Elon Musk has made headlines recently for different reasons when he announced he was activating Starlink satellite internet service in Iran. This decision came as an effort to combat the Iranian government who has shut down their citizens’ access to internet when protests broke out over the death of Mahsa Amini. Although people seem to either strongly support or criticize Musk and Starlink’s capabilities in Iran, it seems to be good for society when billionaires use their own resources and technology to try and combat repressive regimes.
On Tuesday, September 19, Mahsa Amini was arrested in Tehran by the Islamic Republic’s morality police for violating their hijab rules. The 22-year-old Iranian woman was traveling with her family to visit relatives. The Iranian authorities enforce strict dress rules for women, which have been in place since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. Amini was allegedly violating a hijab rule which requires women to cover their hair with a headscarf, and their arms and legs with loose clothing. After being arrested, Amini was eventually taken to a hospital where she died after being in a coma for three days. Although Iranian officials claim Amini died from a heart attack, her family members claim she was beaten by authorities which has been supported by witnesses who claim Amini was beaten in the police van after being arrested. Amini’s death has led to large demonstrations in Tehran and Kurdistan. Protesters have been taking to the streets throwing rocks at Iranian police, burning hijabs in public, and even some women cutting their hair in opposition to government actions. This has not only led to the arrests of more than a thousand protesters, but at least a dozen people have been killed by police in response to the protests. Another measure the Iranian government has taken is shutting down internet communications in parts of Tehran and Kurdistan, shutting down Iran’s largest mobile phone operator, and even blocking social media apps like Instagram and WhatsApp. This is where Starlink may have the potential to help aid the suppression of information during this time in Iran.
Starlink, a division of SpaceX, is the world’s first and largest satellite constellation made up of about 3,000 low orbit satellites. It was developed “to deliver high-speed internet services to the world, particularly remote and rural locations.” While most geostationary satellites which provide service for traditional internet services consist of a single satellite and orbit the planet at 35,786km, Starlink consists of thousands of satellites and orbits the Earth at 550km. The problem with traditional satellites is that the round-trip data time between the user and satellite (known as latency) is often too high to support tasks like streaming, online gaming, and video calls. The increase in satellites and the lower orbit provided by Starlink reduces the latency from around 600+ ms for traditional satellites to about 20 ms for Starlink satellites. To use Starlink, one simply needs a kit which includes the Starlink terminal and base, a router, a power supply, and cables. The terminal is self-orientating and will connect to the internet as long as it has clear view of the sky. This is how Starlink has the potential to be used in Iran amidst the government shutting down internet access to their citizens.
The U.S. Treasury Department approved a request by Elon Musk to allow an exception to the sanctions against Iran. There are sanctions imposed against, “Iran and any person or entity that does business with Tehran,” which would have prevented Musk from activating Starlink in Iran without this exception. Starlink has been activated during emergencies in the past, including in Ukraine after Russia invaded and in the South Pacific islands of Tonga after a volcanic eruption. The current exception was granted in an effort to expand the range of internet services available to Iranians, according to U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo. Although this is an effort to expand access to the internet, there is debate as to how much of a solution Starlink can be to the Iranians during this time.
Although this exception from the Treasury Department and the activation of Starlink has the potential to help combat the suppression of internet access in Iran, Tehran still has repressive tools for communication and using Starlink is not as simple as flipping a switch. In order for Starlink to work, there need to be terminals set up in the country to get service from the satellites. Getting these terminals into the country is a difficulty that some think may prevent Starlink from being a real solution for the Iranian people.
Allthough a great idea on the surface, getting Starlink up and running in Iran is proving to be more difficult than when Starlink has been activated in other countries like Ukraine. Unlike when Starlink was activated in Ukraine and the Ukranian government brought terminals into the country, the Iranian government views the Starlink terminals as a security threat and they would need to be smuggled into Iran to be used. This is immensely more challenging because the Iranian government is actively working against Starlink to prevent its services from being deployed, whereas in Ukraine, the government was accepting of the help. According to Todd Humphreys, an engineering professor at the University of Texas, “the smuggling in of stations at scale makes Starlink an impractical solution…and…creating DIY versions will not likely be an option.” It seems that Mr. Humphreys may be correct based on pushback from the Iranian government and the complex nature of building a terminal yourself seems unrealistic.
Another issue is that Iran has accused the United States of violating Iran’s sovereignty by revoking some of its internet-related sanctions to allow Starlink to be activated. This could lead to Starlink facing “legal and regulatory ramifications if it were to meaningfully advance its plans without the cooperation of the Iranian government.” It seems that if the Islamic Republic filed a complaint, that it may be credible since Starlink is offering services over Iran in violation of international regulations and is going against Iran’s sovereignty. If successful, this would shut down all Starlink activity in Iran. This is yet another difficulty that was not faced previously in Ukraine due to the cooperation of the Ukrainian government.
Even with all this criticism, some are hopeful that Starlink could be a potential solution for the Iranian people during this time and at least want to try to get terminals into Iran to give the citizens access to the internet again. Although some of these critiques are valid in saying that activating Starlink is not as easy as some may have thought initially, there does not seem to be others offering up different solutions. Until someone can provide a different and easier solution, it seems good for society to have people like Elon Musk using their resources to try to help combat repressive regimes.
Student Bio: Douglas DeBettencourt is a second-year day student at Suffolk University Law School. He serves as a staff member for the Journal of High Technology Law, a fellow in the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project, and President of Suffolk University Law School’s Chapter of the Federalist Society. Douglas received a Master of Science Degree and Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice with a minor in Mathematics from the University of Tampa.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog are the views of the author alone and do not represent the views of JHTL or Suffolk University Law School.
