Silicon Valley exploits time and space to extend frontiers of capitalism | Evgeny Morozov

Satellites, drones and balloons can make global connectivity a reality - but this space race is about profits not altruism

The US Congress quietly passed an important piece of legislation this month. The Space Resource Exploration and Utilisation Act - yet to be signed by Barack Obama - grants American companies unconstrained rights to the mining of any resources - from water to gold. The era of space exploration is over; the era of space exploitation has begun!

While the 1967 Outer Space Treaty explicitly prohibits governments from claiming planets and other celestial resources, as their property, Congress reasoned that such restrictions do not apply to the materials found and mined there.

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