A recent terms of service change for Starlink allows that company to train its AI models on customer data.

Starlink updated its Global Privacy Policy on January 15, according to the Starlink website. The policy includes new details stating that unless a user opts out, Starlink data may be used “to train our machine learning or artificial intelligence ⁠models” and could be shared with ‌the company’s service providers and “third-party collaborators,” without providing further details.

A previous version of the privacy policy, an archived version from November and reviewed by Reuters, did not ‍contain language about AI training on Starlink data.

So what exactly does this mean?

Hostile Networks

Probably not as much as you think.  If you’re using your web browser to go to your bank, Elon Musk is not going to be able to scan your accounts.  If you’re composing an email on Gmail, shopping on Amazon, or watching PornHub, these are all encrypted https connections.

Starlink will be able to get information such as the customer’s geolocation, usage patterns, and some traffic data, such as how much data the user consumes, as well as where and when.  But Starlink already has this information.  All they’re saying is they’re going to train on it.

• Your source IP
• The server’s IP and port (which is usually 443)
• Some crypto metadata, such as your TLS version, which cipher suites, etc.
• Some obvious traffic info such as how long you connect, how many packets are transferred, etc.
• Because of quirks in browsers and operating systems, it’s usually possible to identify the operating system and browser in use

But they can’t see the URL you’re going to, what kind of request is being made (GET, POST, etc.), cookies or the data that’s sent back and forth.

The recent Starlink TOS change is more about covering legal bases to use data they already have than a new level of spying.

raindog308

Raindog308 is a longtime LowEndTalk community administrator, technical writer, and self-described techno polymath. With deep roots in the *nix world, he has a passion for systems both modern and vintage, ranging from Unix, Perl, Python, and Golang to shell scripting and mainframe-era operating systems like MVS. He’s equally comfortable with relational database systems, having spent years working with Oracle, PostgreSQL, and MySQL.

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