German hackers build diy satellite array for uncensored internet

There’s more than one way to stick it to The Man. There’s civil disobedience, subversive propaganda, political art, outright violent revolt – each possessing its own degree of difficulty and consequence. In a decidedly 21st-century twist, team of German hackers bent on fighting the powers that be has chosen a rather ambitious means of taking the power back: building a hacker-owned-and-operated space program, complete with a constellation of communications satellites beaming uncensored Internet to users on the ground.

The Hackerspace Global Grid was borne out of a call to action at the Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin, where hackers of all stripes gather to mull the issues of the day as they relate to their craft. Hacker activist Nick Farr–motivated by legislation like the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S.–called on the community to contribute to a project that would remove the power of censorship from governments and corporations by creating an uncensored Internet in the free frontier of space.

Source

I don't think it will be long until someone copyrights this too...

But lets hope they succeed in creating some free uncensored internet ...

reply to post by AlexIR


Good lord that's fantastic lets see if othe hackers can duplicate what is done..how fantastic would that be..

as long as they can keep China or the US from blasting their SATs out of the sky all the power to them. But the conspiracy buff in me gives them one month of operation before being taken out lol....but I'll keep my fingers crossed for them just in case it helps lol

why haven't some of these likeminded people considered creating their own nation, with their own government?
that would be something much much more, with limitless potential.

reply to post by AlexIR

I particularly enjoyed the little bit of spin the BBC gave it at the end of the linked article.

And there’s also a touchy legal issue at play here, as the BBC points out. The unregulated nature of space means the Hackerspace group can do what they want. But should a nation like China decide it doesn’t want uncensored Internet streaming to its shores from space, there’s nothing really stopping it from blasting the satellites out of the sky either.

Like the west isn't trying to block the internet at all. Oh no....

The U.S would claim it was causing interference or something like that and shoot it down. or it would do a disappearing act. or they claim it is a threat to national security. as it would enable terrorists to communicate uncensored

Actually, they are creating a ground array of antenas that will provide internet, kind of like a radio.

reply to post by SupersonicSerpent

Or maybe they'd just use a larger/heavier satellite to "nudge" it out of orbit. They do shoot them down with missiles, I think I saw it go by on ATS once, a unresponsive satellite news item. Maybe Virgin will be offering satellite launches soon, it all seems to be hotting up out in space. Meanwhile, no flying car still.

A lot of satellites use the IP protocols these days, it would be funny if the US, China and other nations satellites are used in this network. Would make anyone think twice before shooting anything down.

reply to post by AlexIR


Psst. This is at least the third time around for this, but I'll again ask the question I asked of the first one.

Shouldn't they be building a rocket first, or coming up with multimillions to buy a Russian one?

reply to post by Aliensun


They are hackers, they don't need to launch their own satellites.

They will hack existing satellites.

reply to post by JohnnyTHSeed

And I'm sure about 5 minutes after hacking into any satellite, commercial or military, small black vans will start arriving in large numbers outside your location...

Hacking is stealing no matter how you justify it. Hacking is an invasion of privacy no matter how it is justified.

If they carry it to the level of using satellites that do not belong to them, once again it is stealing.

This sounds like what it likely is; childish actions by childish minds.

Now put that talent to creative use, you would have something. Otherwise its just kids being kids and criminals being criminals. That hardly justifies the glamorization of what they do.

I suspect that if the Hackers computers were hacked, they would scream like babies about the invasion of their privacy and theft of their secrets.

How about we launch Congress into space???

Then SOPA won't have a chance.

Let Freedom Ring!!! (the Earth)

reply to post by Blaine91555


Highly improbable that they will hack satelites and propagate free internet arround the world.

Its their machine and technology so they can easily censor it or monitor it.

Originally posted by Blaine91555
Hacking is stealing no matter how you justify it. Hacking is an invasion of privacy no matter how it is justified.

My sentiments exactly! Why are hackers whining on about privacy when by definition all hackers do is invade other people’s privacy.

I know that some may consider hackers to be modern day Robin Hoods, but that’s brainless stupidly. Whether it’s your personal details nicked from Sony or commercial secrets stolen from a company to give someone else an advantage. It’s still invading privacy.

Hypocrites

Regards

wouldnt it be better to build on already existing amateur radio sateillite?
why build an infrastructure that already exists?

i think APRS is the closest we have to this right now.

reply to post by paraphi


The complete destruction of any semblance of privacy could in the end create a more private world.

"Privacy" as it popular used is bad for you or I but good for the governments.

Destroying the "privacy" of the governments, their respective agencies and their enforcers illustrates that if for them privacy is simply a pipe dream then what is it for any of us?

Which effectively destroys just about any and all "tech" infiltration, investigation or incarceration.

So much of "tech" related government action or legislation requires a certain amount of willful ignorance. As in "a computer said it so it must be true." From the USPS to the DMV to the town clerk all the way up to the CIA, FBI and the POTUS we are all operating under this false assumption that anything "tech" is infallible and pure. Which is true in practice as long the population you are preaching this too remains ignorant enough to support the assertion.

When the reality couldnt be further from the truth. These "hackers" illustrate this regularly.

We can go to war because a computer says its okay. We can lock you up because a computer says its okay. We can impose draconian and useless legislation and overwatch because a computer says its okay.

Is it really okay? Even when the computer is full of #?

reply to post by Kr0nZ


Because its difficult to transform information into radio waves especially at the speeds needed today thats why they need to build a new way.

reply to post by Blaine91555


A hacker by definition does not mean someone is breaking into other peoples equipment, the term hacker was adopted by the MSM to refer to anyone using nefarious means to gain access to something, but it has two meanings

hack·er/ˈhakər/
Noun:

1. An enthusiastic and skillful computer programmer or user.
2. A person who uses computers to gain unauthorized access to data.

When you have hacker group meetings, these are referring to the first type, highly skilled individuals, it is not a meeting of criminals, as much as you would like to spin it.