Did you know that the underseas cables only transfer data between continents?
Did you know that the Internet is a network of networks, linking the networks on each continent with the others?
Did you know that most traffic is terrestrial, through fiber optic cables inside each continent?
How many essential functions within each continent depend on data from a different continent? (helpful hint: virtually none).
Any interruption of undersea cables would just segment the Internet. There would be no blackouts within the network of each continent themselves. It would be an inconvenience, but not that serious in terms of our daily lives.
Edit: also, satellites served the same purpose as undersea cables in the past, but are really slow in comparison, and they only have a small fraction of the bandwidth. That is why satellites are not used much anymore. The new StarLink low earth orbit satellites are meant to be more competitive for certain uses... but won't replace fiber-optic cables for most traffic.
Do you realize that if the Atlantic fibers got cut, it would pretty much take out the global financial system within a matter of hours. Not that I care but it would fuck things up on a level we have never experienced.
Who gives a shit about the "global financial system"? I don't. Also, as pointed out above, there are alternative communication mechanisms that are good enough for most of the necessary functionality.
95% of US GDP and trade occurs within the North American continent. I will say it again - cutting the undersea cables would be an inconvenience, not a serious problem.
Did you know that the underseas cables only transfer data between continents?
Did you know that the Internet is a network of networks, linking the networks on each continent with the others?
Did you know that most traffic is terrestrial, through fiber optic cables inside each continent?
How many essential functions within each continent depend on data from a different continent? (helpful hint: virtually none).
Any interruption of undersea cables would just segment the Internet. There would be no blackouts within the network of each continent themselves. It would be an inconvenience, but not that serious in terms of our daily lives.
Edit: also, satellites served the same purpose as undersea cables in the past, but are really slow in comparison, and they only have a small fraction of the bandwidth. That is why satellites are not used much anymore. The new StarLink low earth orbit satellites are meant to be more competitive for certain uses... but won't replace fiber-optic cables for most traffic.
Do you realize that if the Atlantic fibers got cut, it would pretty much take out the global financial system within a matter of hours. Not that I care but it would fuck things up on a level we have never experienced.
Who gives a shit about the "global financial system"? I don't. Also, as pointed out above, there are alternative communication mechanisms that are good enough for most of the necessary functionality.
95% of US GDP and trade occurs within the North American continent. I will say it again - cutting the undersea cables would be an inconvenience, not a serious problem.
They're also information choke points too where all countries information to others can be monitored in a centralized spot