Something I find interesting about this: what does it mean for countries who monitor and filter/block content (think China)? Presumably since this isn't using their national infrastructure they would lose all control of it, no? I wonder how those countries would respond to SpaceX wanting to let their citizens use the service. Unless I'm missing something it seems to me like they wouldn't really be able to stop it.
Most likely SpaceX will do what those governments require. It's trying to charge for the service, after all, and that means going through normal financial channels.
I'm imagining a super narrow directional beam pointed at the satellites. You cannot jam that, and even detecting it would mean you need to be really close.
A bad actor could also use a super narrow beam pointed at the satellite as a jamming signal that saturates the receiver, which prevents reception or even damages the satellite. Depends on the power.
A government still can get control practically. They cannot stop the service itself but can regulate payments from their citizens to the service. It is like online casino.
Of course, there may be some loopholes for payment and some citizens who access the service as well as online casino.
One example of a loophole: Pay with Bitcoin/have someone on the outside of censorship pay for the service and you pay them, then you connect with those paid for credentials.
I would imagine that they wouldn't be able to sell the hardware in china without a contract to redirect traffic through a terrestrial station that's inside the great wall. I doubt that's feasible.
