The Internet Isn't in the Cloud. It's on the Ocean Floor
The article explains that the internet's physical infrastructure consists of a vast global network of undersea fiber-optic cables on the ocean floor, which carry nearly all international data traffic, contrary to the popular "cloud" metaphor.
Background
Most internet traffic — web pages, streaming video, financial trades — travels between continents not through satellites, but through a vast, hidden network of fiber-optic cables laid on the ocean floor. These undersea cables are owned by consortia of telecom and tech companies like Google, Meta, and Amazon. The article discusses how this physical infrastructure is increasingly contested: geo-politically (e.g., China's involvement, US-China tensions), logistically (cables are vulnerable to ship anchors and natural disasters), and strategically (control over data routes is now a matter of national security and corporate power). The "cloud" is a marketing metaphor; the real internet is a tangible, fragile, and geopolitically significant network of cables running across the seabed.