How ‘world’s largest’ sub-sea cable could boost internet resilience for billions | BBC News

now a ship is preparing to set sail from France to lay the next section of the largest ever subc internet cable the two Africa cable is an incredibly long 45,000 kilm and it stretches around the entire continent but even as the world celebrates ambitious projects like these getting more people online Internet freedom is on the decline around the world here’s our cyber correspondent Joe tidy the two Africa subc internet cable is the larg ever built 45,000 km long it stretches all the way around the continent it promises to bring a huge boost in Internet capacity and resilience to billions of people in Africa and Beyond in Cal France a team is preparing to set sail to lay the next section of the line and this is what two Africa and all sub internet cables look like about the same width as a garden hose and inside protected by that plastic coating there’s all these really really thin Optical fibers and it’s on these that your emails and social media posts travel under the oceans around the world at the speed of light it’s subc cables like these that have helped the world get connected in recent years 70% of us are now online breakages are common but thanks to a sophisticated system of re-rooting most of the time we don’t really notice however the bigger threat to internet connectivity comes from governments themselves 2023 saw more deliberate internet shutdowns than any previous year with India in particular regularly shutting citizens off from getting online and according to Freedom House internet censorship surveillance and website blocking has risen for 13 years in a row globally this map is from the latest Freedom index from the organization the redder countries are less free and the Bluer ones are most free recently Iran and Myanmar have declined the most with China remaining the worst online environment according to researchers experts say the trend is only going in One Direction because tools for internet control have become abundant and governments are far less squeamish about using them the idea that the internet is a global space it’s going to be the same everywhere you know that was always a bit of a fantasy but it also was sort of this knee-jerk libertarianism that was based on a incorrect understanding of how the technology actually works GI politics 2 is threatening the status quo in unlikely places the us one of the champions of the open internet is taking the unprecedented move of banning one of the world’s most popular apps Tik Tok due to security fears about the Chinese owned company so even as incredible Feats of engineering are helping to connect us the internet is more splintered and fractured than ever before Joe tidy BBC News

A ship is preparing to set sail from France to lay the next section of the largest ever sub-sea internet cable.

The 2Africa cable is an incredible 45,000 km long and stretches around the entire continent.

But even as the world celebrates ambitious projects like getting more people online, internet freedom is on the decline around the world.

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44 comments

  6. Pakistan 6th Country IQ Qamar who's stand with space 🌌🚀🇵🇰🇨🇳🇷🇺🌝 next 6munth pakistan Traveling moon space by own technology but Unity mession other countries Pakistan connct Success NASA

  9. More scams from scums? More propaganda into the free world from dictators? More internet connection without national borders, more one-sided hateful ideological invasions from dictatorial regimes that have firewalls against the west, more hateful-ideology-instigated destructive riots in the west.

    Every responsible parent should not give a smart phone to their children under 18. You don't want to unleash your children into the world full of strangers some of whom are predators constantly on the hunt for their next victim.

    Every responsible government should have a law that prohibits social media companies from promoting their apps to minors.

    Every government in the free world should have a law that forbids the presence of a foreign governmental entity that does not allow their citizens to have free access to global internet.

    The west has allowed one-sided online invasions from hostile dictatorial regimes for too long. Enough is enough!

  16. That map made me proud to be Canadian.

    Yes, even with all of our anti-vax, "F* Trudeau," fascist populist, truck convoy, etc. enthusiasts, we're at least maintaining a legitimately (philosophically) liberal position thus far. (Perhaps the spirit of J.S. Mill's "On Liberty" is still alive here?)

  17. Out of 55 African countries only 14 are linked by this project, All of north africa and the sahel rejected the project only egypt and sudan are linked. The cable starts from france goes all the way around africa and finishes in the UK, one of the cable partners is facebook, i wonder why the african countries see it as a security threat and a spy cables more than anything….

  20. Be very careful when doing this because china have a history on cutting Taiwan water cable according to the investigation and history of China doing this without leaving Google in on the China server.

  21. So why don't you have the courage to oppose Putin's dictatorship and re-election! Demonstrations and protests! In Europe, in the United States, and around the world, we can launch protests against Putin's dictatorship!

  25. The huge stupidness are to involve countries WITH NON-DEMOCRATIC TRADITIONS to western DEMOCRACY WORLD: that’s not working, even corking in opposite direction,- YOU ARE ONLY INCREASE THE POWER OF YOUR EXISTENTIAL ENEMIES!

    Like You was giving the China a lot of technologies and NIW CHINA ARE YOUR ENEMY (in conjunction with russia and Iran)!

  27. Rom 3:23
    For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

    Rom 6:23
    For the wages of sin is death;

    Psalms 9:17
    The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.

    Acts 8:37
    And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

    Rom 10:9
    That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

    Corinthians 15:3-4
    For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

    Ephesians 2:8-9
    For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
    '
    '
    '
    ,

  29. It’s funny how the British media literally show a map of countries that restrict Internet access in the countries that don’t and in the map the red countries are highlighted as countries that restrict Internet access for the citizens. I saw turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt and the last I checked they were so called Allies of the West. Yet, the whole spoke about China and Myanmar

  30. Wait for Jesus Christ's 2nd coming and the world will experience absolute peace in a thousand years because God's word is love of one another and human being is evolving towards peace loving species embedded in coded DNA which will mark complete departure from animalistic behaviors.

  38. @BBC News There are literally people in the US soon to be having their internet disconnected and India, Germany and the US are becoming LITERALLY authoritarian. The UK is at a crossroads, either we stand for secular liberal democracy or we follow the US and the other 2 as they self harm (marginalising free thought and constructive dissent) in the name of good intentions. PS Please note the BBC can not condemn genocide as that is a political position but it must report government policy without reference to the majority of world opinion or it will offend our New York born unelected Prime Minister.

  39. "ITS THEIR GOVERNMENT. ITS THE GOVERNMENT OF THE RICH. ITS THE GOVERNMENT OF WALLSTREET OF THE OIL GIANTS OF THE DEFENCE CONTRACTORS.

    NOT ONE MORE BOMB DROPPED NOT ONE MORE BULLET FIRED NOT ONE MORE SOLDIER COMING HOME IN A WHEELCHAIR NOT ONE MORE FAMILY SLAUGHTERED.

    NOT ONE MORE DAY OF US IMPERIALISM". – MIKE PRYSNER

    In EVERY invaded/conflict/war torn location there are always 1000+ years of Western Colonial Exploitive Corrupt Energy Companies drilling and mining that nation by the back door. GLENCORE. BLACKROCK.

  43. I find it surprising that a video titled to be about the largest sub-sea cable in the world hardly spends a few seconds on the details of the cable itself (not even bothering to mention how long it would be, once completed and show on the map its route) and instead consists majorly of covering the political aspect of Internet restrictions. Whoever wrote the title needs to do a better job! Or maybe even BBC is resorting to click baiting!

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