Starlink is a centralized internet provider just like all the others.

It's nice to have multiple options, backups, and redundancies, but don't be lulled into thinking that you can hook up to Starlink and trust that you'll never get surveilled, censored, or booted.

Musk in particular is absolutely willing to play ball federal authorities and would without question provide backdoor access to at least allow surveillance.

Nitter link: https://nitter.net/elonmusk/status/1562956451538014209

Could this end the need for satellite phones?

it absolutely makes no sense, other than providing backbone for the cell towers themselves, there's no f'in way mobile phones are directly receiving that signal.

So he could replace microwave backbone with his satellites which would be pretty cool for rural areas.