Satellite Dishes Banned In Turkmen Capital For Being 'Ugly'

from the progress-without-aesthetics-just-isn't-worth-it dept

Tue, Dec 4th 2007 1:18pm — Mike Masnick

In the US, the FCC has made it clear that landlords or homeowners associations cannot stop you from installing a satellite dish (of a certain size) in an area that is wholly controlled by the home occupant. This was after some homeowners associations tried to bar the installation of dishes and antennas due to aesthetic reasons, which the FCC felt would hold back progress in various services. Apparently, that sort of thinking has not reached the former Soviet republic of Turkmenistan, where the Turkmen leader Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has ordered that satellite dishes be banned in the capital city of Ashgabat for being "ugly." Yes, the progress of information services and technology should always take a back seat to aesthetic value.

Filed Under: kurbanguly berdymukhamedov, satellite dishes, turkmen

21 Comments

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Aesthete, 4 Dec 2007 @ 2:02pm

Ugly?
Heck, in my neighborhood you can't drive down the dtreet in one of those Honda Elements ... for the same reason!

;-)
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Witty Nickname, 4 Dec 2007 @ 2:06pm

CFL
I wonder if you can use a CFL there.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Dec 2007 @ 2:20pm

"Yes, the progress of information services and technology should always take a back seat to aesthetic value."

Agreed.
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You are being Naive, 4 Dec 2007 @ 2:22pm

Read between the lines
You are being naive if you think this law has anything to do with aesthetics. The Turkmenistan government is censoring information. Satellite dishes provide easy access to information sources the government can't control so they are trying to eliminate the access point. The 'ugly' part is the censorship going on here.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Dec 2007 @ 2:27pm

I'd suggest that your apparent condemnation of another culture in another country for making their own lifestyle choices is more than slightly arrogant and patronising.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Dec 2007 @ 2:31pm

"You are being naive if you think this law has anything to do with aesthetics. The Turkmenistan government is censoring information. Satellite dishes provide easy access to information sources the government can't control so they are trying to eliminate the access point. The 'ugly' part is the censorship going on here."

This is another possible explanation but could also smack of paranoia, difficult to tell which. The article above, if accurate, suggests that it's only the capital city where they are banned, not the entire country.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Dec 2007 @ 2:33pm

Good point, anonymous coward. Everyone knows that part of the world as a renowned reputation for intellectual freedom. And when has anybody ever heard of a dictatorship censoring information. Gee whiz.
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dorpass, 4 Dec 2007 @ 2:41pm

Re:
Yes yes, it's ALL about culture. Has nothing to do with censorship, not like that particular republic or any other one around it is known for censorship! Good lord, replacing patronizing for idiotic is hardly an improvement.

The need to censor only exists in the capital because of the large percentage of the country's population residing in it. The rest are spread out too thin and too far to matter.
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homowner, 4 Dec 2007 @ 2:52pm

HO associations
my homeowner association tried to ban my 18" dish because it had to be toward the front of the house to get access, not the back. They ordered it removed. I went to a junk yard and found one of those old 6 foot sat. dishes, painted it pink and set it up im ny front yard. The association decided the 18" dish could stay.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Dec 2007 @ 2:53pm

Re: Re:
Not to mention large parts of the country outside of the capital don't have electricity much less TV's and satellite dishes.
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LOL, 4 Dec 2007 @ 2:57pm

Yeah, no history of censorship in this beacon of free-press and speech. Sheesh some of you people are really, really stupid.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/23/asia/AS_GEN_Turkmenistan_Niyazovs_Legacy.php
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TheDock22, 4 Dec 2007 @ 3:03pm

Re:
I have to second this. A bunch of technological devices are ugly and intrusive. Especially satellite dishes. I wish they could come up with something better than a big disc sticking off of someones house.
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GeneralEmergency (profile), 4 Dec 2007 @ 3:35pm

Could be worse...
The edict could have been:

"It is against the Law to insult Turkmenistaniness."
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fred, 4 Dec 2007 @ 3:41pm

Re: Read between the lines
if it was censorship than dont you think they would have made them altogether illegal it sounds more like a powerful man in a small country went a little to far
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Dec 2007 @ 3:59pm

They must have huge antennas/dishes then. Biggest one I see nowadays is maybe a foot in diameter over here. Doesn't detract all that much from the appearance of a home/neighborhood to be honest. On some homes it's scarcely noticeable.

People must be looking for these things just to bitch about it. For some reason, not surprised something like this passed in Turkey.
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Lucretious, 4 Dec 2007 @ 4:02pm

This isn't a black and white issue. the problem is that 1.) you are dictating to people what they can and can't do with their physical property. This isn't entertainment/copyright-land. These are people who may have worked several jobs in order to buy some income property. Many of the so-called sat. dish techs dont have the slightest clue about structural integrity or where it is appropriate to install a dish. I've seen new vinyl siding hacked up, thousands in damage to peoples ceilings due to bad installs that cause roofs to leak, etc. They will install these things without the slightest regard as to aesthetic appropriteness, they'll slap them on wherever it is most convenient for them at that moment. What about the owner who just spent thousands in restoration to a beautiful converted Victorian house which were converted to apartments? Is he supposed to let some asshole come by and destroy his property value?

I'm sure there are other ways the sat dish industry that can come up with something that doesn't require dozens of cheap, shitty looking dishes hanging off a house.
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dorpass, 4 Dec 2007 @ 4:08pm

Re: by Lucretious
"I'm sure there are other ways the sat dish industry that can come up with something that doesn't require dozens of cheap, shitty looking dishes hanging off a house."

I know! Like may be, cancel a physics law or two. Gone to school lately?

By they way, Lu, where did you find a "beautiful converted Victorian House" in Turkmenistan? You do know that this article is about Turkmenistan, right?
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Lucretious, 5 Dec 2007 @ 2:17am

I know its about Turkmenistan. I'm speaking in generalities. Also as far as the dish suggestion a possible solution may be the use of a single central dish using signal splitting tech to feed various apartments? Is that really out of the realm of the law of physics? Could it be that the single dish thing is simply more cost effective for the dish network to use rather than spend some extra money to find a solution to slapping these things on everywhere like election stickers ?
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Dec 2007 @ 6:52am

"I'd suggest that your apparent condemnation of another culture in another country for making their own lifestyle choices is more than slightly arrogant and patronising."

Why should this article be different than any other article here?
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dorpass, 5 Dec 2007 @ 9:19am

Re:
Coward, you meant to say "Why should this article be any different than any of the comments I (as a Coward) post here"
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bigmannyc, 8 Mar 2009 @ 1:35pm

satellite dishes banned
hello i was wondering if this law may apply to a housing project apartment (multiple dwelling) in nyc with no balcony ,only outside window attachment , my mother lives in one and about a year ago i went and installed my own dish standard 18" dish to the window guards , and a month later the housing landlord had sent her a letter or placed it under the apartment door , stating : "please remove the dish from the building wall" then, off course my mom who does not have a fighting bone in her body quickly gave in and told me to remove it. so this time around i tried to install it inside the apartment to the wall near the window on hopes of getting the signal from inside since some places have been able to get the signal up close to a window , but now she says that her friend and neighbor "blabbermouth" said that her friend had it inside and had to remove it? how can you be denied to have your dish? let alone inside youre apartment? what kind of friends and neighbors are those? i for shure would not have any like that !.
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