What lies beneath: the growing threat to the hidden network of cables that power the internet

[Still Waters]

Last month large parts of Tonga were left without internet when an undersea cable was broken. It’s a scenario that is far more common than is understood.

Modern consumers have come to imagine the internet as something unseen in the atmosphere – an invisible “cloud” just above our heads, raining data down upon us. Because our devices aren’t tethered to any cables, many of us believe the whole thing is wireless, says Starosielski, but the reality is far more extraordinary.

Almost all internet traffic – including Zoom calls, movie streams, emails and social media feeds – reach us via high speed fibre optics laid on the ocean floor. These are the veins of the modern world, stretching almost 1.5 million km under the sea, connecting countries via physical cables which funnel the internet through them.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/09/what-lies-beneath-the-growing-threat-to-the-hidden-network-of-cables-that-power-the-internet