> He might even offer the SpaceX internet service for free in some extreme cases, such as
> Iran, Cuba, North Korea. (the tiny ground-stations might have to be smuggled in.)
Assuming the priority of North Koreans people is to get high-speed internet from satellite may be a bit bold... I would rather believe their priority now is more getting money for food, healthcare etc...
Also, how much would cost a ground station? How they would get access codes ? And How they would 'smuggle' and 'hide' such expensive ground stations This is totally absurd for a country like North Korea for instance. Also , again, There exists already many internet by satellite access, fully bidirectional so what that would change ?
Besides, since Iran and North Korea are under heavy embargo , I do not see how Starlink could be granted the right to provide internet to such territories. Control is easy ... The uplink of the ground station provides good satellite geolocation (DTO.DFO,...)
I would rather believe in a net of SW radio using data transmission (like PSK-31 and others) . Slow indeed but the ground sttaion can be realtively easily manufactured by engineers with local resources and that can be totally operated without governements.