Comment by __MatrixMan__
4 hours ago
You don't have to actually have an orbiting datacenter for the idea to work. You just have to convince enough people. Once you've done that, you can claim that regional regulations don't apply to your data because the data is in orbit. Its not like somebody is gonna go up there and catch you in the lie.
Out-of-regulatory-reach is what they'll actually be selling. It can be on earth, it just has to be sufficiently hidden such that you can claim that it's in space.
I don't think that's the purpose and if it is, it's obviously trivially solvable. The US can and does simply assert jurisdiction all over the globe. There's no reason it can't or wouldn't extend that to orbit.
That conversation goes like this:
US: Stop doing that thing with your data center
X: It's in space, you can't tell us what to do
US: Yes we can
X: <Say OK> or <Go to jail>
The US already claims jurisdiction on all launches from US and NZ (Rocket Lab). Every one of these had to get approval from the US to launch.