this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2025
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Wait, why is the White House using Starlink to ‘improve Wi-Fi’? (www.theverge.com)
submitted 11 months ago by remington@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org
15 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated the system was implemented "to enhance Wi-Fi connectivity on the complex," citing poor cellular service in some areas and overloaded Wi-Fi networks. ... instead the outlet writes that the White House is having its Starlink service piped from a government data center miles from the compound.

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[–] Butterbee@beehaw.org 101 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

"Let’s set aside the obvious conflict of interest and ethics questions at play here —" You can't, and you shouldn't.

"We can even skip over the security implications pointed out by a cybersecurity expert in the Times piece. " You can't, and you shouldn't.

"As a practical matter alone, there’s no obvious reason to add another ISP in order to improve Wi-Fi coverage" It doesn't take an entire paragraph to figure out what's going on here let alone an entire article.

As someone from north of the USA border.. PLEASE stop this man from stealing your country, Americans.

[–] Hirom@beehaw.org 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Adding a second ISP can provide resiliency and ensure a critical infrastructure stays connected even when 1 ISP fails.

I would be surprised if the White House didn't already have such resiliency.

My speculation is they just want to avoid red tape and circumvent the restriction and strict access control applied to existing connections.

[–] NoForwardslashS@sopuli.xyz 85 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Something no IT professional has ever said: "let's improve the Wi-Fi quality by putting the router 500km away".

[–] leisesprecher@feddit.org 15 points 11 months ago

The cool air in the upper atmosphere cleans the waves, though. Obviously that doesn't work horizontally, everybody knows that.

[–] Sibshops@lemm.ee 65 points 11 months ago

The answer is easy. Corruption.

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 29 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

They could have easily made up an excuse like "contingency in case of a terrorist attack where national infrastructure is damaged" or something that's actually believable and feasible, lol

[–] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It’s a military fortress housing the head of one of the most militaristic nations on Earth. It has redundancies.

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 11 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I think it would make more sense if (their excuse was that) this was just another redundancy

[–] orbitz@lemmy.ca 4 points 11 months ago

There are so many better options to whatever they said, like there are so many better options for a properly run government. These days I just assume this is how the the US people (as a whole, I know many do not want this) want their government run, which is troubling but expected nowadays, unfortunately.

[–] 667@lemmy.radio 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

They’re letting the terrorism button cool off a bit, considering its basically not been let up since September 2001.

[–] cecilkorik@lemmy.ca 25 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Merchandising, merchandising! Where the real money from the coup is made!

[–] i_am_not_a_robot@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 11 months ago

Or so it can be turned off in later to sabatoge a more competent government.

[–] Sunshine@lemmy.ca 13 points 11 months ago

Elon is securing those government contracts!

[–] sepi@piefed.social 13 points 11 months ago

Because it's all computer

[–] OpenStars@piefed.social 2 points 11 months ago

You... don't want to know (if you know what's good for you, capiche?:-P)