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Comment by NSUserDefaults

15 hours ago

Satellites?

Satellite operators are still required to comply with the Federal Wiretap Act (and equivalent in every other country of the world).

The result is a less-than-optimal network that requires routing communications through a ground station (where it can be intercepted) even when it's technically feasible (and optimal) to use point-to-point communications.

The resulting technical solutions (at least) double the bandwidth and processing required by the network, and bandwidth/processing are critical resources for communications satellites. These requirements can make or break the economic feasibility of a proposed system.