#safe space enforcer

[ghost-bxrd]

because apparently it bears repeating:

No ship/character bashing on this blog! You’re just tempting me to write exactly that content out of spite.

#and no bashing of a character does not include making them morally gray/evil in a prompt jfc #and no I do not want to talk about how this ship is wrong this is FICTIONAL just let people have fun pls #yeah there are some things I myself do not read usually but if I come across it anyway I’ll just back away quietly and let others have fun #please let’s just be respectful of one another #if you wish to avoid certain content just filter the appropriate tag #saying this again because some people drop by my ask box with.. not nice things to say about ships etc #safe space enforcer #ghost talks

[void-botanist]

Rose's Kiss Week Day 6: Home Alone

OCs: Sierra Callawel and Ian Carlisle (Spinder's oldest sister and her husband)

Words: 1189

Content warnings: none

Notes: Ian's canid form is a common raccoon dog. It is also well-known that shifting to that form makes you itchy.

When Sierra looked up from her computer, she could see the full moon hanging too-large over the faraway trees outside her window.  She’d lost track of time.  Ian would be transformed, now, and she hadn’t seen him at all.  She locked her computer and stood up.  The kids were out, so making a circuit of the house wouldn’t draw them out of their rooms and interrupt the nice night she wanted to spend alone with her husband.

“Ian?” she called as she started up the stairs.  “Where are you?”

She heard a mournful squeaky-toy noise from somewhere down the hall and smiled to herself as she went to find the source of it.  When she flipped on the light in her bedroom, she got a louder and angrier squeak from the bed, where a golden brown and black fluff of a dog was burying his little face under his front paws.

“Sorry,” she said, going to turn on her bedside lamp before turning off the overhead light.  He didn’t raise his head until she sat down on the side of the bed, and then he tried to crawl in her lap immediately.

Laughing, she held him back gently and got fully onto the bed, leaning back against the headboard before she let him snuffle his way into her space.  He seemed content to put his paws across her legs and rest his head on them, but she scooped him up all the way, holding him close against her.  His response was to put his paws on her arm and set his head there instead.  He was probably just tired after transforming, but he always looked so cute and sad in his dog form, and it made her want to hug him tighter.  So she did, pressing her cheek to the top of his fuzzy little head and then kissing him there.  He let out a longer squeak, stretching his neck out further, and as she petted his head she followed his gaze to the brush he’d set out for her.  Oh, of course.  Grabbing it was a bit of a stretch, and she almost dumped him out of her arms accidentally, but once it was in her hand she settled him in her lap and began running it through his fur in long strokes, head to rump.  Instantly he was a dog-shaped puddle in her lap, his only reaction little snuffles of pleasure.  

When she paused to pull out the mat of hair that had collected in the brush, he rolled over onto his back, cradled in her crossed legs.  She scratched behind his ears while she drew the brush along the contours of his ribcage and haunches and arms.  He didn’t even tense as she carefully brought it over his neck and chin.  As soon as she set the brush aside, though, he was getting back out of her lap, jumping down onto the floor with a cacophony of clicking nails and pausing in the doorway to look back at her.  She smiled and followed him back downstairs to the kitchen, where he waited by the table while she got their dinner out of the fridge: sliced chicken, lentils, and a touch of cranberry sauce.  For him, at least.  She could have as much as she wanted.  His was already in a bowl, so once she pried off the lid she set it in front of him on the floor.  He wagged his tail but didn’t move.  While she made her own plate from the main bowls of food, she saw him bend down and sniff his bowl, his eyes never leaving her.  

“You can start without me,” she said.  

He made a sound somewhere between a shriek and a growl and sat straight again. With a laugh she returned the food bowls to the fridge and brought her plate to the table.  

“Blessed be the fruits of the earth, and us among them,” she said, and he squeaked out the same cadence before shoving his face in his bowl.  She ate with half an eye on him inhaling his food, mostly because his enthusiasm was adorable.  

On the way back to bed she carried him up the stairs, letting him jump down on the bed before she got into her pajamas.  He didn’t stay on the bed, though, since she had to go to the bathroom to brush her teeth and he apparently had the energy now to not let her leave his sight.  He brushed against her ankles where she stood in front of the sink, hopped in the bathtub, and started rolling around on the textured treads on the bottom of it.  That was why he was accompanying her.  He’d told her before that there was something sublime about the feeling of the bathtub treads specifically that he really couldn’t explain.  He didn’t feel that way about them in human form.  She didn’t care as long as he didn’t leave his fur in the tub, though she was often the one who cleared it out to take a shower anyway.  But it was worth it to see him being so happy in there.  When she left the bathroom, he followed, and she scooped him back onto the bed.  He curled up right next to her while she read her book for a bit.  After she turned out the light, he yipped along with her presleep prayer, and she gave him a last pet on the head before relaxing into the dark.

At the crack of dawn the sudden weight on the bed woke her.  In the light that sifted around the edges of the curtains she could see Ian, now fully human, getting under the covers.  He turned his back to her—he might not even remember that his transformation always woke her up—but she came over to him anyway, putting a hand on his side as she kissed his shoulder.  When he shifted onto his back, she kissed his scratchy cheek, then gave him a peck on the lips before leaning back on her elbow to look at him.  There was always something a little canine about him to her, but it was stronger when he’d just come back—the way he blinked at her like a sleepy dog melded with the way he still smelled of fur.  And it was his smell, because he smelled the same if she met him in the middle of the hallway, or raiding the fridge downstairs.  After he took a shower it would fade, but for now she breathed it deeply.  She could never explain it to anyone but him, but these were the hours when he smelled most like himself, like her Ian.    

His hand slipped into the curls at the back of her head, guiding her into a deeper kiss.  She wrapped an arm around his warm chest as he smoothed his other hand over her shoulder.  He kissed her a second time, then ever so gently pushed her away.  

“Okay, I’m sleeping now,” he said with a tired smile.

She caressed his cheek, then laid back on her side of the bed.  “Goodnight.”

RKW taglist: @jezifster @kk7-rbs @vacantgodling

Shifters taglist: @outpost51 @kk7-rbs

#Sierra is generally known to be caring but sharp and humorless. then there's moon nights #I love what this implies about their two adopted shifter children who very likely have the same moon as Ian #there are other places they go and feel safe shifting. I don't know where but. Spinder's probably been there #I wonder if there are shift clubs. idk how you could possibly enforce that though #I have been forever changed by Patricia Taxxon's On The Ethics of Boinking Animal People btw #even though this clearly is not “boinking” or really even “animal people” I now aspire to write stuff like this in a sensory way #beyond that I also think it's interesting how people inhabit liminal spaces with the things they enjoy #it's most obvious in kink but shifters do a lot of the lifting for me lol #I guess the reason I have never committed to making shifters have anthro animal forms is I don't have anything interesting to do w that #but having a person cross the line between how we treat husbands and how we treat pets...that's intriguing #still working out the details of being in canid form tho #also don't ask me what their religion is I don't know lol #c: Sierra #c: Ian #rose's kiss week #rose writ

[neighbourhoodtwo]

the pervasiveness of anti-trans rhetoric in this country is insane like do you even know why you're saying the things you're saying? do you know what you're implying? have you thought about it at all?

#this is about something my dad said over the summer that i keep thinking about but also in general people are saying mad shit #'womens bathrooms are a safe space' for who??? which women get to feel safe? i sure didn't. #'maybe it should be illegal to be in the wrong bathroom' now how will you enforce that #also people go into the wrong one accidentally all the time lmao. no one dies we just go 'sorry mate this is the ladies/gents' and move on #and like. i'm not quoting a terf this is from my dad (a 'both sides' kinda guy) like. what are you saying. this is madness. #youre normally intelligent. whats happened here.

[dreamliners]

i havent read the book but im choosing to believe what someone else on here which is that eddie was 18 and therefore capable of changing and maturing. we meet him at almost 20 or he already was 20 🤷🏽‍♀️ something like that.

the eddie we know, joe's eddie still exists in tv canon, so its not like we're losing anything there, maybe we can link the missing two years and think he became more reclusive after the book ends. maybe something else but dont hate if people genuinely like the book even if in bits and pieces or entirely.

personally, i'll take the bits and pieces and run with it but im not gonna hassel about it. i've read so many au's and fanon that i adore about our fav metalhead that its all gravy to me. either way i think its kinda sweet how much we adore a character that we feel the need to be protective.

however, dont be a dickhead and claim its out of love. theres a fine line and sometimes people cross it.

#fandom is meant for bonding not blocking #but dont be one of those people cant acknowledge a character's flaws #also yes societal boundaries are often times expected to be enforced even in fandom #while fandom is escapism it is also safe spaces #stranger things #eddie munson #flight of icarus #joseph quinn #joe quinn

[ravenkings]

honestly, i do actually think that snapchat, tiktok, and instagram access should be limited to people who are over 18

#and tbh even if that would be difficult to enforce it would at least give kids/teens the idea that it's ~forbidden~ in some way #which might be a temptation but at the same time would let them know that these are not ~safe~ spaces as it were #bc they aren't and my concern with a lot of ~kids these days~ is that they fundamentally don't understand that #and the danger that poses #social media #text

[stupidusernamepolicy]

Might delete this later but bear with me because im sick of seeing this ao3 blowback every year. The ire people aim at ao3 for existing as a non-profit with no sponsor other than its users (who the ire is also aimed at for throwing money its way) rather than the systems that make it impossible for a literal archive of fanworks to exist without donation is baffling.

Ao3 needs funds because otherwise it would need ads and be subject to the censors that every site on the internet is forced to submit to. You know, the whims of the same corporations that first made it impossible to say "gay" on youtube without getting demonetized and then lead to OF, a site for indie sex workers, almost getting denied all payment support from legit banks? Those systems.

This capitalist way of things is the reason why ao3 runs on donations, and why people keep needing to put up fundraisers for basic expenses.

You have a common enemy. Dont shit on an organization that fights for the right of fandom to exist in any real, permanent, centralized capacity, an organization that everyone knows about, getting money, rather than an individual that's limited by the confines of only some people knowing them.

Uplift, boost and donate to the people who need it. But dont 1) feign ignorance at why ao3 is getting so much attention and 2) act like the site is only there for quote unquote 30 year old white women writing drarry rpf.

Make no mistake; if ao3 falls, not only do we lose a library of alexandria of fiction, but there's a good chance that Fandom as a whole goes back into illegality. The right of creative writing, drawing, anything based on copyrighted work will regress 20 years.

Yall want your cake and eat it too; its either ads or donations. And seeing how every site in existence is going to shit because of ads, I much prefer donations.

Your rage at your friends and family and random people dying in poverty is warranted and justified. You should be mad. You can even be infuriated at the amount of money ao3 gets. But rallying against ao3 in response to it being one of the only sites that can exist without ads is counterproductive at best and actively harmful at worst.

#admin rambles #and dont even try to say 'oh bht ao3 supports xyz' #buddy its an archive. i dont like that either but thats how it is and how it needs to be. #slippery slope is usually a logical fallacy but the current political landscape has proven it is real here. #enforcing censors will more often than not hurt innocent creators than it will actually 'fix' the unsavory stuff existing #please get your head on straight #it is so infuriating to see people go yes we want sites sponsored by real people #we want a safe and free space for stories of all kinds and we want freedom from corporate meddling #that mental wellbeing and creative outlets and community are all important facetd of survival under capitalism #and then start spitting venom when a real site like that exists #newsflash! good things still require money. they dont exist in a vacuum.

[honeyhotteoks]

If you make a subscription though it would only be fair if it did mean we would get benefits like chapters earlier otherwise i think the discord should be free

i mean i think the way i've seen patreons and things like that designed in the past would have some kind of a donation tier, but honestly i haven't thought that far into yet.

i do agree additional written benefits make sense, like access to chapters early or access to rough drafts or maybe even a few of my abandoned works.... but my concern is more that i would have people sign up and pay a monthly fee expecting monthly consistent content, and i'm nervous that the pressure would mean i'm writing more slowly or that i would rush to put out work before i was happy with it.

i really wouldn't want to take advantage of people's money in that way if i couldn't consistently deliver, so i totally agree i just worry about letting y'all down.

as far as the discord goes.... that's a fair point but i think if i were to do it, i would probably have it be part of a donation. creating a discord server and moderating it is more work that i think people think. i would really want to make sure the server is a safe space for people to talk and share their opinions, but i don't know all of my readers personally so there's a chance something like a discord gets messy and i'd have to moderate it more intentionally.

i don't talk about my real life on here often, but truly finding the time for that would be hard. i work ~50+ hours a week most weeks and my job is challenging and client facing. i'm also learning an entirely new skill right now which eats into my personal time. this plus maintaining healthy irl friendships, my relationship with my partner, and keeping up with regular life maintenance means my free time has to be spent on writing or i'd never publish anything. finding time for moderating a discord would be a bit more of a chore, so if i were to create it i would need to put it behind a pay wall for my own sanity lol

#i hope this makes sense #and i mean i'm not putting anything together right now i'm truly too busy #but it's definitely an idea #especially when i get closer to ITA2 later this year or publishing more one-shots #and a discord would be fun but i am concerned about it #plus that would be a space that i'd have to enforce no minors and i have questions about how to do that properly and safe #anyways if anyone runs a discord server hmu LOL #answered anon #honeyhottoeks thoughts

[unheavenlycreatures]

vent in tags

#vent.txt #.txt #anyways i am terrified 4 my life rn el oh el #the anti-queer (and specifically anti trans) legislation here is just getting worse and worse #and now there is talk of like. enforcing the state borders to keep people from seeking political adylum elsewhere #which #uhhhhhh #what #also all of the anti-trans harassment post n//ash//ville has me incredibly nervous #and it feels like there isnt anyone to talk to abt it #i have therapy on monday so i guess i can talk to my therapist abt it then #i have been wanting to stay until it is safe for me to leave #but it is looking less and less likely that it will be even remotely safe for me either way #and i am wondering whether its worth it to just grab whatever i can and book it before it gets any worse #im scared at home and im scared in public #and im scared in conservative spaces (most spaces rn) and im scared in queer spaces #so it feels like nowhere is safe

[soup-mother]

Wish ppl could understand that maybe trans women might not want to be around men either. like the problem with "women and afab" style spaces is who they're deciding falls into that category and excluding trans women, not the inhent idea of having somewhere away from (primarily cis) men. we still exist in this stupid gender system and it still empowers men to be shit. we can't just pretend it isn't there and that "trannies have got to be comfortable around men or they're enforcing the gender binary". trans women are allowed to want to be in a space without men, can you maybe think of a few reasons why trans women might not feel safe around men?? or why we might enjoy being explicitly welcomed as women??

#my post #transmisogyny #t slur

[oflgtfol]

im beyond pissed right now so they took away ALL free commuter parking on campus for fall semester except for the one huge lot that requires a bus ride to get to main campus from there, and over the summer i normally park at the smaller commuter lots closer to main campus so i dont have to take a bus ride just for my volunteer shift, plus it cuts down on the amount of time i have to commute since im leaving right from work and have to rush so much to begin with. so im already running late today, by 5 minutes but as i said i already have to rush so five minutes is A LOT, and its all bc this lady pulled me over and spent twenty minutes talking to me about cricut machines right at the end of my shift. so im already 5 minutes late and i go to pull into the normal parking lot i go to and THEY ALREADY TRANSITIONED IT TO THE PAID COMMUTER OPTION. even though fall semester doesnt start until MONDAY!!!! and i literally do not have the twenty minutes or so to spare to drive alllll the way to the free lot and then take a fucking bus so i had to go to the metered parking next to the PREVIOUSLY FREE commuter lot. i spent $10 on this bullshit. just to park for three fucking hours. im so beyond pissed

#its already bullshit to remove all free commuter parking except for the massively inconvenienced one #and then its like. straight up mind boggling to enforce that change before the fall semester even started #did they just switch the signs early or did it actually change ?? i have no idea #and im not getting my first ticket just for this stupid parking situation so whayever i’ll pay $10 to be safe #instead of god knows how much these traffic cop vultures would have me pay #brot posts #i have gone my entire college career thus far avoiding having to pay for parking #by carefully deciding which free commuter lots i park in at what times #but now all bc of this bullshit ‘premium’ commuter parking #theyre making people pay to park in previously free lots and then forcing anyone who relied on those to then pay for metered #literally fuck everything you greedy bitches i hate everything #ITS ONLY $10 in the grand scheme of things but thats $10 i shoukdnt have had to pay!!!! #ive been parking in this lot all summer no problem !! #and its bullshit that theyre gonna enforce this in between semesters ! #theyre gonna enforce this over the winter too aka when NO ONE IS AROUND !!! #ehen i volunteer over the winter im gonna have to take the god damn bus over this shit #when this PREVIOUSLY FREE lot i normally park in between semesters will be absolutely empty #what a waste of time and space and money #UGH !!!

[dronepikachu]

GeminiTay Appreciation Week! 🧡

hello everyone! it's finally time for us to show Gem just how much we appreciate her!

i've provided prompts for both artists and writers for each day (dec 18th-dec 24th) !

you can choose to skip a day if you feel that you're unable to continue, that's completely fine! we don't enforce these types of events :D

just remember to credit me for the idea and use either #geminitay appreciation week or #gemweek so we can all see your work!

further hate or bullying will not be tolerated here. this is a safe space and it should continue to be one.

now that that's out of the way, enjoy yourselves and have lots of fun with it! <3

tag list:

@summerlycoris @theminecraftbee @geminitay-quotes @pocket-sized-nightmare @navigatorbree @daisy-bugs @soul-lime @slitheringstars @azurecake16 @smallishdruid @annalini-linez @whereishoney @ultimate-queen-of-fandoms2 @rainy-weather-supremacy @faenemy @tumblerosestudios @nudgeling @watching-listening-takin-notes

(apologies if the tags don't seem to work, i have no clue why it doesn't properly notify someone :C )

#dronepikachu art #geminitay appreciation week #gemweek #mcyt #trafficblr #hermitcraft #hermitcraft fanart #my art #mcyt fanart #art #hermitblr #geminitay #geminitay fanart

[vouam]

One of my posts made it to twitter so thank you Besma!! Love your account and followed you for a while 💖

But wow this response.

Having gender dysphoria as a male is not being victim to patriarchy. It’s patriarchy that:

- enforces a socialised gender binary

- allows males to identify as whatever gender they please, including infiltrating female safe spaces

I do agree that gender dysphoria starts in childhood for some. And I have no issue with men presenting in ‘feminine’ ways. The problem is when you label femininity as womanhood.

This was the basis of my original post, being a woman is not an identity, feeling, or something you change to.

Female oppression is something no one wants. No woman identifies with socialised femininity because it is oppressive and created by patriarchy. It’s VERY telling that those who do identify with socialised femininity are ones who have lived lives where patriarchy is designed to benefit you.

#radblr #radical feminism #radical feminist safe #radical feminists do interact #gender critical #radical feminist community #terfsafe #gender abolition #terfblr

[torchwood-99]

Eowyn and Gothic Horror

I've ranted about the interpretation that Eowyn's rejection of gender roles was a symptom of her sickness, caused only by Grima's manipulations. An interpretation that doesn't hold to either Gandalf's speech in the Houses of Healing, when he specifies how the liberties denied to Eowyn and allowed to Eomer and her male peers played a crucial role in her depression, or when we see how Eowyn was really vindicated in her decision to ride to battle by her victory over the Witch King. A victory that wins her incredible renown and respect.

I think this reading comes about because people see the significance of Grima's contribution to Eowyn's despair, and think he is the sole source of it.

But Eowyn was not dissatisfied with her role and her enforced position in the house because of Grima's manipulations. She didn't rail against sexism because Grima played with her head and "poisoned" her traditionally feminine role for her.

Grima was able to prey on Eowyn, manipulate her and drive her to despair, because of the sexism that forced Eowyn to remain stuck in the house.

Look at the speech Gandalf gives Eomer about Eowyn's sufferings. The very first thing he mentions is the fact that Eowyn was denied the freedoms and opportunities Eomer had. The suffering that follows stems from that first initial injustice.

Because of that first injustice, Eowyn was rendered vulnerable, and Grima was able to exploit that. That isolation, that limited freedom, that unhappiness about her lack of choices, left her free game for Grima to take an already bad situation, and make it far worse.

Thinking about Eowyn's experience in Meduseld, what the impact of being confined to the domestic sphere did to her, and what is left her vulnerable to, makes me think of Gothic horror, and the role of sexism and domesticity in that genre too.

Eowyn's situation before the novels is that of a classic Gothic heroine. A fair, beautiful woman, trapped inside a decaying house, and preyed on by an awful monster, who hungers after her beauty and longs to possess her. Or else, destroy her.

Domestic settings and isolation are pretty crucial themes in the gothic genre, and for that reason it has historically been seen as a woman's genre. It taps into a pretty universal fear of what happens when home ceases to be a safe space, a fear that historically, has a particularly great resonance for women.

Whereas traditionally home is a refuge and respite for men from the world, the home is the woman's only true acceptable sphere. And yet even there she is subordinate. Therefore, she is vulnerable. With no place in the outside world, she has no escape, no respite, no refuge. If home becomes an evil, she is trapped. And because she has no place in the social sphere, she has no voice either. She is invisible, she is overlooked, her sufferings and her contributions are passed over,

Eowyn is isolated. Eowyn is vulnerable. Eowyn is overlooked. And because Eowyn is isolated and vulnerable and overlooked, Grima is able to get his hooks into her and drive her to despair. She is a wild animal, trammelled and caught in a hutch, a predator's helpless prey. But Grima didn't put Eowyn in the hutch. Eowyn was already there. Grima just took advantage of that.

Even after Grima is gone, Meduseld is still a place Eowyn longs to escape, and while its evil is purged and she does return, it is only for a short while. Grima's defeat is not enough to make Meduseld a place where Eowyn can find real happiness or fulfilment. On its own, it still represents a role for Eowyn that she wishes to move beyond.

The healing counterpoint to Eowyn's gothic castle of horrors, the hutch she was caught in, is in escape, and in a return to nature.

Eowyn's entire romance with Faramir takes place within the gardens of the Houses of Healing, where we see Eowyn start to recover from her ordeal. It takes place on the open, in the garden, on the ramparts, with much notice given to the sky and the sun and the elements around them.

(Also, the Houses of Healing themselves are not a domestic setting, but a public one, and there we see women working alongside men and holding authority.)

Eowyn's happy ending, her great escape, climaxes with her decision to go with Faramir to Ithilien.

Ithilien is the exact opposite of a hutch. It's descriptions are filled with natural imagery, and is known as the Garden of Gondor. It is a place for growth and fresh starts. A place of freedom. A place for a wild thing.

When Faramir suggests that he and Eowyn live in Ithilien, he reasserts again and again that they will go there if it is Eowyn's will. Both Tolkien and Faramir put emphasis on the importance of Eowyn's will, and Eowyn's right to freedom of movement.

In his plans for their future, Faramir talks of "us" and "we", removing the separation between men (belonging to the social sphere) and women (belonging to the domestic), and speaks of Ithilien as a shared dwelling place for both of them. Faramir only distinguishes between himself and Eowyn when he puts importance on Eowyn's will, and at the end, on Eowyn's influence.

At the close of his speech, Faramir says all things will grow with joy in Ithilien, if Eowyn is there. Returning Ithilien to its former glory, allowing it to bloom once more, is to become Faramir's life's work, and still it is Eowyn's influence he puts centre stage. Far from being kept confined to the domestic sphere, relegated to being Faramir's home support while he dominates the rehabilitation of Ithilien, Faramir places Eowyn's work and Eowyn's significance at the heart of their future together.

Eowyn goes from being shut in the house, where everything around her was decaying and falling to ruin, to being freed to stand in the heart of nature, where there is a chance for influence, growth, and fresh starts.

#Lotr #Lord of the Rings #Eowyn #Faramir #Grima Wormtongue #Farawyn #Faramir-x-Eowyn

[reasonsforhope]

We’ve just taken a major step toward cleaning up space junk.

On Monday, October 2, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US issued its first fine for space debris, ordering the US TV provider Dish to pay $150,000 for failing to move one of its satellites into a safe orbit. 

“It is definitely a very big symbolic moment for debris mitigation,” says Michelle Hanlon, a space lawyer at the University of Mississippi. “It’s a great step in the right direction.”

But it might be more than just a symbolic gesture by the FCC. Not only does it set a precedent for tackling bad actors who leave dangerous junk orbiting Earth, but it could send shock waves through the industry as other satellite operators become wary of having their reputation tarnished. While the $150,000 FCC fine was modest, Dish’s share price fell by nearly 4% immediately following its announcement, pushing the company’s $3 billion valuation down about $100 million.

The FCC’s action could also help breathe new life into the still-small market for commercial removal of space debris, essentially setting a price—$150,000—for companies such as Astroscale in Japan and ClearSpace in Switzerland to aim for in providing services that use smaller spacecraft to sidle up to dead satellites or rockets and pull them back into the atmosphere...

Another hope is that the FCC’s fine will encourage other countries to follow suit with their own enforcement actions on space junk. “It sends a message out of America taking leadership in this area,” says Newman. “This is starting the ball rolling.”

Today there are more than 8,000 active satellites, nearly 2,000 dead satellites, and hundreds of empty rockets orbiting Earth. Managing these objects and preventing collisions is a huge task, and one that is becoming increasingly difficult as the number of satellites grows rapidly. The worsening situation is largely due to mega-constellations of hundreds or thousands of satellites from companies like SpaceX and Amazon, designed to beam the internet to any corner of the globe...

Hanlon says there are further measures that could be taken to discourage companies from failing to dispose of satellites properly. “Honestly, I would love to see that if you don’t meet your license requirements, you’re banned from launching for a number of years,” she says. “If you’re driving under the influence you can have your license revoked. These are the kinds of measures we need to see.”

Chris Johnson, a space law advisor at the Secure World Foundation in the US, says the loss of reputation for Dish about the satellite situation might be worse than any fine it could have received. “They promised to remove it and they didn’t,” he says. “It’s like the first operator of a car to get a speeding ticket.”

The fall in the company’s share price appears to be indicative of that reputational damage. The fine may not have been as severe as it could have been, but the FCC’s actions can be seen as a warning to other companies to tackle space junk. “This is going to be on their record and their reputation,” says Johnson. “It’s not trivial.”

-via MIT Technology Review, October 5, 2023

Always nice to see steps taken to tackle a problem BEFORE it causes incredibly massive issues

#space #space debris #united states #fcc #technology #big tech #satellite #astronomy #good news #hope