SpaceX Starlink TOS: the parties recognize Mars as a free planet

https://twitter.com/jevon/status/1321255763810111490

by tosh • 6 years ago

62 15 6 years ago

You know you’re good at marketing when your terms of service go viral.

bawolff• 6 years ago

I wonder what the legal precedent here is from an international law perspective. Are courts likely to agree with that? (Not that they can do much about it if they don't)

teruakohatu• 6 years ago

The Outer Space Treaty bans nations from claiming a celestial body or stationing weapons of mass destruction on them.

swarnie_• 6 years ago

Nations yes, what does it say about corporations making claims?

perilunar• 6 years ago

Mars is a Harsh Mistress.

selfhoster11• 6 years ago

It's all fun and games until we laugh our way into something from The Outer Worlds.

3PcabNCC• 6 years ago

That should apply in orbit and on the Moon as well. I want Earth governments and their laws to have as little influence in space as possible. There is at least a chance that we can escape statism and live with less coercion and more voluntary cooperation in space.

ryan_j_naughton• 6 years ago

less coercion and more voluntary cooperation in space

The state isn't the only form or coercion. Given the high cost of accessing space and the extreme resource constraints, space is likely to be dominated by multinationals and billionaires.

Some forms of feudalism where serfs must pay rent for their land or otherwise starve are technically still a free market, just one where the market power is extremely asymmetric.

"Voluntary cooperation" implies options and a liquid competitive market. If your Mars colony is going to die and you ask mine for resources to bail you out, and I condition that on being the supreme emperor of your colony, that rapidly degrades.

Further, there is no reason to believe firms won't engage in straight up theft and warfare. If you just captured an asteroid that has enough rare earth metals to collapse the prices on Earth and space isn't governed by our laws, then many companies would be funding a mercenary army to take that asteroid from you.

SpaceX Starlink TOS: the parties recognize Mars as a free planet

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