Two arrested in Congo after Google Loon mobe balloon meets terra firma more than 1,000km from operating area Two people were arrested in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) after the crash of a Google Loon internet connectivity balloon baffled local officials who had no idea the craft was overflying their country. The balloons pack power and connectivity equipment for Google's African mobile connectivity experiment. Operated …
Makes no difference who you buy it from. You can choose to have the Chinese, Russians, or the 5Eyes listening in on your comms. Your chances of installing a fibre-optic network without that these days are mostly non-existent. The Congolese obviously chose the Chinese, who undoubtedly paid the most kick-back to the corrupt government officials who approved the purchase. And before you start on about corruption elsewhere, look at your own government wherever you are. Almost all of them are a bent as a 9 dollarpound note.
"Almost all of them are a bent as a 9 dollarpound note." And so their corruption is equally of interest to everyone, and equally worthy of mention.
Note how many times a novel method of oppression/corruption in one place is emulated by the other scurrilous authorities. Forewarned and all that.
Yup but I was thinking wider. China now owns a lot of stuff. Including lots of Africa (natural resoirces) something like 40% of American arable land, lots of London etc.
To mangle the phrase, They maybe bastards but unfortunately they are not our bastards.
Can't see this ending well for Western interests which means our futures are looking increasingly more like life is in China - it's sphere of influence is only going to get bigger and that includes buying our politicians and eventually culture. Better dust off those Mandarin study books... The Lingua Franca is going to be changing.
Wait, wait...I know this story...
There was some kind of civil war between the richer inner planets and the poorer outer planets, there was a spacecraft, a small crew making change running (semi) legal transport...there was a guy who had a lot of guns; no really, a lot of guns, some of which he slept with, and he also had a town named after him, but it was a girls name?
...gǒushǐ...
This post has been deleted by its author
I am as yet unconvinced about the "useful", to me it feels about as "useful" as Microsoft's early offers of cheap software to developing countries: there is always a heavy payback later.
As for the "controlled" landing BS, I suspect they hired a marketing executive from a small company in the same country who had to come up with similar excuses for a product called "737 MAX"..
"SCPT is currently rolling out a fibre-optic national backbone network – with controversial support from China"
One is a company who makes its money spying on you. One is a government who spies on you. What's the difference?
Anon, because I've gotta feeling somebody's watching me, and I got no privacy....
Well, gravity does win all arguments. And remember, balloons move at the whim of the winds. I'm assuming they use altitude control to maintain an operations area; they change altitude to pick up a course changing wind.
Given that, the guidance system probably died and it drifted south west to its final resting place. I'm amazed that goggle didn't bring it down in Kenya. They must not be monitoring these things very closely if it was able to drift over 1,000 km!
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2025
