this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2025
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On the rooftop patio of the General Services Administration headquarters, an agency staffer recently discovered something strange: a rectangular device attached to a wire that snaked across the roof, over the ledge and into the administrator’s window one floor below.

It didn’t take long for the employee — an IT specialist — to figure out the device was a transceiver that communicates with Elon Musk’s vast and private Starlink satellite network. Concerned that the equipment violated federal laws designed to protect public data, staffers reported the discovery to superiors and the agency’s internal watchdog.

The Starlink equipment raises a host of questions about what Musk and his efficiency czars are doing at GSA, an obscure agency that is playing an outsized role in the Trump administration’s quest to slash costs and bring the federal government to heel.

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[–] floo@retrolemmy.com 53 points 1 week ago (1 children)

What do you mean “why?” Because: fascism. That’s why. And this has been extraordinarily obvious from the very beginning.

[–] SaltSong@startrek.website 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I think a more interesting question would be "how."

[–] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago

Because enough morons voted for republicans while enough democratic votes were being discarded or disenfranchised.

[–] SpicyLizards@reddthat.com 39 points 1 week ago

For those who are wondering also:

GSA oversees many of Uncle Sam’s real estate transactions, collecting and paying rent on behalf of almost every federal agency. It helps manage billions in federal contracts. And it assists other agencies in building better websites and digital tools for citizens.

It is so important because it is “a choke point for all agencies,” said Steven Schooner, a George Washington University law school professor who specializes in government contracting. “They can, in effect, stop all civilian agencies from purchasing, period. That’s everything.”

Sounds like it's been a government property fire sale leading up to this.

[–] lmuel@sopuli.xyz 29 points 1 week ago

Starlink straight to Russia, lovely

[–] quetzaldilla@lemmy.world 26 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Cut the cables.

Sabotage their efforts.

[–] LMDNW@lemm.ee 17 points 1 week ago

The stooges are just as bad as their masters. Luigis need to visit them all.

[–] Tedesche@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

So at what point does this fucker get charged with treason?

[–] n1ck_n4m3@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

Even if he did, Trump would just pardon him

[–] boreengreen@lemm.ee 6 points 1 week ago

Seems like a huge security oversight.