Globe Banner recently published an article examining companies exerting control over the fiber optic cables that make the internet work. While the cost associated with this has been lowered, concerns about companies controlling the infrastructure of the internet are being heard.
Fiber optic cables carry 95% of international internet traffic and link together most of the data centers across the world that are responsible for ensuring it functions correctly.
Fiber optic cables responsible for linking together countries across oceans are run underwater, and currently total more than 800,000 miles in length. These cables were previously controlled and used primarily by governments and telecommunications companies.
Cathryn Grothe of Freedom House.
| LinkedIn
Recently, however, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, Meta (formerly Facebook) and Amazon have become significant users of these cables. They account for 66% of the world’s usage of undersea fiber optic capacity, an increase of 56% from 2012.
These four companies are planning to become the owners and primary financiers of cables, a shakeup in the industry that could previously only be afforded by large telecommunications companies and governments. As of 2010 only Google had ownership in any cable, and it was part-ownership in a single cable connecting the United States and Japan. By 2024 the four companies combined are estimated to have an ownership stake in more than 30 of these cables.
Cathryn Grothe, a Freedom House research assistant, said such concerns are legitimate.
“Those who own and control the internet infrastructure, whether that be the government itself, government-controlled entities, or private companies like Facebook and Google, have a responsibility to uphold internet freedom,” Grothe told Globe Banner. “We know that internet freedom is more likely to flourish in a diverse telecommunications market with strong competition.
"Findings from Freedom House’s Freedom on the Net 2021 report show that competition fosters a more resilient information ecosystem that can help protect privacy and can encourage companies to create innovative products that protect fundamental freedoms and tackle online harms,” she added.
She said these companies could end up tangled up with countries without a strong tradition of free exchanges of information. That could force them to make difficult choices with far-reaching impacts.
“Unfortunately, when the government directly owns the infrastructure or can easily pressure private companies to comply with their demands, internet freedom is often the victim,” Grothe said. “Restricting access to the internet or blocking online content during protests or elections, for example, is easier in countries where internet infrastructure has historically been centralized under the government or where laws require ISPs to comply with censorship orders.
"Companies that want to protect the data and privacy of their customers may also face challenges in countries that lack strong data protection legislation or where local laws require ISPs and tech companies to collect and share user data with government entities,'' she added.
Telecom companies have complained about the amount of usage coming from these four tech companies. Other critics have said that it may be a bad idea to allow the delivery routes of the internet to be controlled by companies that use them.
However, the cost of transmitting data using these undersea cables has decreased for everyone, worldwide, thanks to the involvement of Big Tech companies in laying cables. Capacity to transmit data internationally increased by 41% in 2020 alone.
Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft have argued that they are investing in the space to increase bandwidth across the world, especially developing countries. However, another reason may have been the increasing costs they faced when buying bandwidth.
Many of these cables being built are collaborations between Big Tech companies. Microsoft and Meta joined Telxius to build a cable from the United States to Spain. Amazon signed on to use a part of that cable in 2019. Sharing cables and having access to multiple routes is essential to ensure that daily internet use is not interrupted by damages to one cable. Sharing these cables with telecom companies also helps preserve the claim that big tech companies are not in themselves telecoms.
“We’re not a carrier, we don’t sell any of our bandwidth to make money,” Kevin Salvadori, vice president of network infrastructure at Meta, told the Wall Street Journal. “We are and continue to be a major buyer of submarine capacity where it’s available, but in places it’s not available and we need it, we are pretty pragmatic, and if we have to invest to make it happen, we’ll go do that.”
Google, however, alone among big tech companies owns its own undersea cables. While that number currently totals three, it is projected to reach six by 2023.
“You have to imagine this investment will ultimately make them more dominant in their industries, because they can provide services at ever-lower costs,” Joshua Meltzer, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who specializes in digital trade and data flows, told the Wall Street Journal.
Grothe said the firms who control more and more fiber optic cables need to make difficult but important value judgments.
“The bottom line is that international companies should not seek to operate in countries where they know they will be forced to violate international human rights principles,” she said. “For those that do, maintaining access to information and protecting online speech and privacy should be prioritized. If governments order ISPs to shut down the internet or block content, infrastructure owners should use all available legal channels to challenge such requests from state agencies.
“To ensure the privacy of online users is protected, ISPs and tech companies should minimize the amount of data they collect, sell and use, and clearly communicate to users what data are collected and for what purpose,” Grothe added.
The primary goal of Freedom House, a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization, is to “vigorously oppose dictators and oppression, and strengthen democracy around the world,” according to its website.
“Freedom House is founded on the core conviction that freedom flourishes in democratic nations where governments are accountable to their people, the rule of law prevails, and freedoms of expression, association, and belief, as well as respect for the rights of women, minority communities, and historically marginalized groups are guaranteed,” it states.