Ever since Concord granted capsuleers the privilege to build & deploy depots, they have been popping up all over the place.
Busy systems involving trade, mining, jobagents and transport are overrun with numerous depots. This causes a large amount of safety hazards. These safety hazards include, but are not limited to: travelhazards, increased collisiondangers, space-littering, illegal trades, etc.
Gatherings of a dozen or more depots are usually referred to as 'space-slums' or 'tent-cities' due to the fact their icon represents the pictogram of a tent or shack.
This is most apparent in the large tradehubs, like Jita or Amarr, where entire space-slums, composed of dozens, some even say hundreds of depots have been constructed around the stations. Traffic Control is furious as this means even more work for their overworked employees.
At Jita, Traffic Control has held several strikes already, closing down the gates for anyone wishing to enter the system, infuriating the traders and clients!
There have been demands from capsuleers and locals alike for the State to step in, either to bring Jita Traffic Center back in line or take action against the 'space-slums'. As the economy is affected, it's suspected the State will step in, but in which way is unclear, due to the power capsuleers have.
To show the gravity of the situation, there have been reports that the Amarr Traffic Control has announced strikes as well if the uncontrolled deployment of depots continues unabated. Disruption of the heart of the Amarr Empire traffic is practically unheared. The very fact ATC has been pondering the idea of shutting down Amarr for traffic has caused a small upheaval in the Empire as the Homeworld should always be in connection with the Divine Empire.
Concord so far has released no statements yet, but there's rumors abound that they're looking into regulations to confine Depot deployment around high traffic area's. A precedent in this is the Anchored Can-case. They were once seen everywhere, till Concord forbid the anchoring of them at any Surveillance level security (this is security 0.8 and up!). There is a possibility that Depots will fall under the same rule, but as of right now, this is mere speculation.
Aurora News Network will keep you informed should Concord alter any laws concerning Depot deployment!
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