Starlink Smuggling Beats Blackouts

Clandestine networks are smuggling consumer Starlink satellite terminals into Iran, allowing people inside to reconnect despite an official national internet shutdown. Human rights groups estimate tens of thousands of devices are already in use, and Tehran is criminalizing possession and distribution with multi‑year prison terms. — Private satellite internet and informal smuggling networks can materially undermine state censorship and reshape the balance between authoritarian control and citizens' access to information.