Footprint
Modern satellites have such tightly defined footprints, that you really need to be near your target.
The further away you are requires such huge antenna with no guarantee of reception.
NZ is a tad out of the way.
New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) – the nation's signals intelligence and infosec agency – will retire its Waihopai satellite communications interception station because it's no longer needed. "The nature of telecommunications has changed, and other needs and capabilities have overtaken the sort of …
Just make sure you don't use morse code. The NSA already has a front operation monitoring it 24/7 for subversive activities.
That link gives this interesting message:
If you try to run this site in Internet Explorer 8, you may need to try to turn on the compatibility view mode.
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Some users have reported problems with Internet Explorer when viewing this site. We have not been able to reproduce the problem in tests with Internet Explorer 7. Firefox and Chrome run with the site with no apparent problems.
I remember reading a story a few years back about truckers in South America using mostly-defunct analogue satellites with home-made transceivers, as free, long-range, CB radio.
(ETA: here it is)
With so many underwater cables and internet backbones tapped, the problem today is sort out junk from good intel. And storage for all that was collected.
Imagine - that funny cat picture collected 2 weeks ago and discarded? Was a plot to hit Pentagon headquarters, with instructions hidden in crypto + steganography.
Of course, street teams tapping specific fiber for high-value targets will still be applied for a looooong time. Word.
like Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore do, the UK spies might be more interested.
For more detailed information on this hardship post check out: “Secret Power: New Zealand’s Role In The International Spy Network” by Nicky Hage; https://theintercept.com/2015/03/07/new-zealand-ironsand-waihopai-nsa-gcsb/; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicky_Hager.
The USA even has a base at Christchurch Airport.