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War in space? Time to update space law
The UN wants to prevent an arms race in space. How? By reforming international space law, which hasn't been updated in more than 50 years.
The current treaty was negotiated during the Cold War, when only two countries — the US and the Soviet Union — had viable programs. Ratified by 111 countries, it bans space nukes and grants all countries the right to peacefully explore space — including the Moon.
The 1967 Outer Space Treaty also says countries can’t claim sovereignty over celestial bodies. But that was before private space exploration by the likes of Richard Branson or Jeff Bezos.
The UN thinks it's time to update the law with more concrete rules and norms not only to prevent conflict, but also to regulate things like future mining on the Moon.
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Amazon satellites and Project Kuiper: next steps in Big Tech space race
Marietje Schaake, International Policy Director at Stanford's Cyber Policy Center, Eurasia Group senior advisor and former MEP, discusses trends in big tech, privacy protection and cyberspace:
Amazon is to launch its first two internet satellites in 2022. Is Big Tech leading the new space race?
Well, yep. In many ways it is. Amazon is not only launching its CEO up there, but also satellites that would offer internet access for people all over the world, and that is a combination with infrastructure on the ground. This way, Amazon will try to open up more access and markets for its own services in developing countries that are yet untapped.
Is Amazon the only tech giant pushing the space frontier?
Well, not at all. Project Kuiper, which is named after the Dutch astronomer and planetary scientist Gerard Kuiper, is not the only corporate space adventure. Commercial space development is growing and companies will, on the one hand, see to control more of their own infrastructure and access, or they see commercial interests in providing such services to others. Elon Musk's SpaceX has 10 satellites as part of its Starlink telecom consolation, but we also see defense companies like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon launching commercial satellite service. The question that does rise, is what the consequences will be for the public interest and security considerations in this vast public sphere around the earth.
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Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space flight & the new space race
Ian Bremmer shares his perspective on global politics this week with a look to outer space, in a special edition of (Out of The) World In 60 Seconds:
Was today's Blue Origin space flight a big deal for humankind, or just a big deal for Jeff Bezos?
I'm not sure the space flight itself was such a big deal for humankind, but I do think the advances in space technology, which are increasingly stepping up, they're much quicker. I mean, reusable rockets that land exactly where they took off. That's very different from the space shuttle a couple of decades ago, and very exciting in terms of the ability to not just engage in space tourism, but explore both what's outside of our Earth and beyond. So yeah, I think the fact that's being driven by the private sector is a big deal for the United States, a big deal for the planet. I, having said that, the planet that we're right now all on, is the one that matters, I think, the most to everybody for the foreseeable future.
Did Richard Branson steal Jeff Bezos' thunder?
No, I don't think he did. I think more relevantly, Richard Branson saved his company, Virgin Galactic. They had a problem. One of their planes or rockets, if you will, had malfunctioned. There were huge delays, and now suddenly they showed right before Bezos. They got an enormous amount of media attention. Branson's always been a genius at that. I'm much happier that he decided to apply himself to outer-space travel or near-space travel and tourism rather than trying to run for political office, frankly. It's better aligned towards that, and I think it will get more attention to space. Frankly, as someone who always loved space stuff and dinosaurs, when I was a kid, I think that's a good thing.
Will this flight have geopolitical implications like the 20th-century Space Race?
Sort of in the sense that in the United States, NASA has long been seriously underfunded. A lot of scuttled missions, not a lot of grand vision and ambition like we used to in the days of the Apollo missions. The Chinese, the Indians, the Emiratis are doing a lot more of that than NASA is, but the United States is still, in many ways, way out in front of the space race because of Jeff Bezos, because of Elon Musk. In fact, I'd argue that it's the guy that's not in the headlines this week or last week that matters most for space. That's Elon. He's kind of dominating near-Earth orbit. The truly interesting thing about Elon Musk though, and this is geopolitical, is that SpaceX is really an arm of the American military. It's like over 90% of all of their contracts are with NASA and the Pentagon, while Tesla is doing enormous business with high tech in China, with Chinese partners. And the ability for Elon to engage in that geopolitical balancing act. It is probably the most problematic business model out there of all of the advanced tech players. I'm not sure it's sustainable and I'm not sure which one he's going to choose. So we'll see where that goes.
Jeff Bezos has a solution for work-life balance
In the wake of the pandemic, we're all trying to figure out what work-life balance even means anymore. Here's what a few of the most powerful people in the world have to say about it.
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The climate cost of Big Tech’s space obsession
Should wealthy individuals and nations shoulder more of the burden in addressing climate change? Pulitzer Prize-winning climate journalist Elizabeth Kolbert argues that Big Tech leaders like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk should shift more of their focus to fighting for our own planet's survival, instead of space exploration. "We're doing as much as we can to make life difficult on planet Earth for ourselves. But there's virtually nothing we could do to make it as difficult as life on Mars, where there's, among other things, no oxygen." Kolbert, the author of Under a White Sky, discusses why it's so crucial for a few rich countries to bear most of the climate burden, since they're also the biggest emitters. Her conversation with Ian Bremmer is featured in the upcoming episode of GZERO World, airing on US public television stations starting this Friday, April 16. Check local listings.
Twitter hack mystery; does two-factor authentication make you safe?
Nicholas Thompson, editor-in-chief of WIRED, helps us make sense of today's stories in technology:
Whoa Twitter! What happened this week?
Well, on Wednesday, a whole bunch of prominent Twitter accounts, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Apple, started tweeting out a Bitcoin scam. The same one. It said, "send money to this address and we'll send you back twice as much." Clearly a fraud. But what was interesting about it is that it wasn't like one account that had been compromised. A whole bunch of accounts have been compromised. Meaning most likely someone got access to a control panel at Twitter. The big mystery is how they got access to it? And why, if they had so much power, all they did was run a stupid Bitcoin scam?
How can we keep ourselves safe? Is two-factor authentication the only option?
Two-factor authentication, you need two things to get into your account, your cell phone and your password, is absolutely essential. With this hack, though, that wouldn't have helped you. The only thing you could possibly have done is have deleted your Twitter account. Which is a reminder, remove all the accounts you don't use, all the accounts you don't want, move all the applications with access to the accounts that you want. Basically, constantly, constantly clean out your barn.
Law Enforcement & Tech; Facebook Staff Concerns; Musk vs Bezos
Nicholas Thompson, editor-in-chief of WIRED, helps us make sense of today's stories in technology:
What kind of technology is law enforcement using in their standoff with protesters?
A lot of technology to try to find out who's who, like face recognition software and license plate readers. Protesters, meanwhile, are using a lot of encrypted messaging, trying to kind of do the opposite.
What is going on at Facebook and how will Mark Zuckerberg address the concerns of his employees?
A lot of his employees, and we don't know exactly what percentage, are frustrated that Zuckerberg isn't doing what Twitter is doing and blocking Donald Trump's statements if they're potentially false or could maybe be read as inciting violence. It's time, many Facebook people think, for Zuckerberg to take a stronger stand. Zuckerberg has not. Partly because he's a strong believer in free speech, partly because I don't think he wants to get on the bad side of the president.
Why are tech industry leaders Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos feuding and should it concern consumers?
They are feuding because Amazon may have briefly blocked a book about the coronavirus from a controversial author who has sort of extreme views about the coronavirus that are shared by Musk. So, Musk got upset and he tweeted that Amazon should be broken up. I actually think the feud also probably has something to do with a long feud between SpaceX and Blue Origin. But in any case, I think it's a tempest in a teapot and it should not concern consumers.
More Tech Companies Buy Media Companies: Media in 60 Seconds
Tech companies could provide media companies with business models that work.
It's Media in 60 Seconds with Isabelle Roughol!
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