One of the Terms of Service For Starlink is that You “Recognize Mars as a Free Planet

In May of 2019, SpaceX began launching its Starlink constellation with the launch of its first 60 satellites. To date, the company has launched over 800 satellites and (as of this summer) is producing them at a rate of about 120 a month. By late 2021 or 2022, Elon Musk hopes to have a constellation …
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Well this is nuts. And a violation of the Outer Space Treaty, if I'm not mistaken.

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Originally Posted by parallaxicality

Well this is nuts. And a violation of the Outer Space Treaty, if I'm not mistaken.

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Hah, that’s amusing. As the article says, the terms might change after they get past the beta. I can’t imagine many private citizens would care, but it just might restrict government contracts, even if irrelevant in practice for decades at least.

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Originally Posted by parallaxicality

Well this is nuts. And a violation of the Outer Space Treaty, if I'm not mistaken.

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I think the space treaty merely says that countries cannot claim planets and things, and this is saying that you agree that it doesn't belong to any earth-based entity, so I don't think it really violates it. However, I don't think that private citizens have the right really to make that kind of recognition. But in a sense it's like companies that sell you the names of stars. They don't really have any right to name stars, but on the other hand, anyone can call a star anything they want (I mean, I can call the moon "durba" and there is nothing that anyone else can do about it except stare at me funny...) So I think it's probably meaningless.

I'm reminded of one of my old favorite "Peanuts" cartoons. Sally is in front of class giving a report.
"'Butterflies are free'; what does that mean? It means you can have as many as you want and you don't have to pay for them."

He can make Starlink members give voting rights to goldfish and recognize Musk as Emperor and it does mean anything.

At this rate, Musk is going to building a secret lair in a volcano shortly. Maybe we should call Starlink users "minions"?

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Originally Posted by Van Rijn

....the terms might change after they get past the beta.....

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Until then, you will not be hearing how the beta testing is going - due to another term of service for the beta testers....

the beta testers' agreement:

"The Starlink Services and details like internet speeds, uptime, coverage, and other performance specifications are confidential and proprietary to SpaceX. You may NOT discuss your participation in the Beta Program online or with those outside of your household, unless they are SpaceX employees. You must not share anything on social media about the Starlink Services or the Beta Program. This applies not only to public forums, but also to private accounts and restricted groups. Do not provide access or information about Starlink Services to the media or allow third-parties to take pictures of any part of the Starlink Kit."

Lots of rural folk interested though!

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Originally Posted by Cougar

Until then, you will not be hearing how the beta testing is going - due to another term of service for the beta testers....

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I won’t? I already have! See:

SpaceX Starlink users provide first impressions and unboxing pictures

I linked to this article previously in the SpaceX thread. Well, at least this provides a good example of how closely these terms are followed. It probably reduces the number of people showing off their hardware and talking about their experience, so probably it is of some use to the company.

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Originally Posted by Jens

So I think it's probably meaningless.

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Federal government contracts are the only things I could imagine it might affect. Since some of the terms for using the service contradict a treaty that the US is obligated to follow, it might cause some issues. Mind you, my bet is that for their part, SpaceX would ignore the conflict, but it could cause some embarrassment for Federal entities to agree to contract terms they can’t follow, even if they are silly and unenforceable beyond SpaceX cancelling or not allowing certain contracts.

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Originally Posted by Van Rijn

I won’t? I already have! See:

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Great! Thanks!

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"[The beta tester] told Ars that he uses Starlink at home in North Idaho and that he conducted his test at the Hayden Creek Shooting Range in the Idaho panhandle's Coeur d'Alene National Forest."

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I recently moved to about 60 miles from Coeur d'Alene. :)

But Mars isn’t free; it’s bound to the Sun.