0 Map of the Week 1-16-2012:Underwater Internet

The Internet’s Underwater Paths:  Interactive map.  (Image: TeleGeography/2011 PriMetrica, Inc./Global Bandwidth Research Service/Europa Technologies/Geocentre Consulting/INEGI/Tele Atlas/Google)

“Ever wondered how your email can cross the vastness of the ocean and be delivered almost instantly, anywhere in the world? It's all down to a network of fibre-optic cables that link up the continents and transmit terabits of data every second.

Thanks to TeleGeography, a US telecommunications research firm, you can now view these submarine cables on an interactive map and get a sense of the physical infrastructure that keeps the internet going.

The map shows 188 active and planned submarine cables, along with their landing points. Clicking a cable gives you more information, such as its name, its length, who owns it and where it meets land. Clicking a landing point will also tell you which cables terminate at that location.

The map is only a stylised representation, so the real cables and landing points may lie in slightly different locations.  That should protect cables from thieves, who have caused communications outages in south-east Asia, but it won't help ships avoid breaking cables by dropping anchor.” From: http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2011/09/interactive-map-shows-the-inte.html
          Now that I am far away from most everyone I know, and communicate mainly through the Internet, this has taken on more than the usual importance for me! 

  

The Internet cable map bears a startling, but, I suppose, somewhat unsurprising, similarity to this much older (110 years older!) map of telegraph lines under the oceans.  

Detail: Map of the Week 1-16-2012:Underwater Internet

0 Map of the Week 11-14-2011: Internet Black Holes

Internet Black Holes

From: Reporters without Borders, http://en.rsf.org/more-than-25-000-people-have-08-11-2006,19651.html and http://en.rsf.org/nawaat-reporters-without-borders-11-03-2011,39776.html

        Continuing in our cartographical exploration of  Freedom of the Press, (and Freedom of Information, in general, see http://geographer-notes.blogspot.com/2011/09/map-of-week-9-5-2011-growth-of-us.html) from a couple of months ago, this week's Map of the Week shows countries in the world where access to the full Internet is severely restricted.  

        “The fight for online freedom of expression is more essential than ever. By creating new spaces for exchanging ideas and information, the Internet is a force for freedom. In countries where the traditional media are controlled by the government, the only independent news and information are to be found on the Internet, which has become a forum for discussion and a refuge for those who want to express their views freely.

However, more and more governments have realised this and are reacting by trying to control the Internet. Never have so many countries been affected by some form of online censorship, whether arrests or harassment of netizens, online surveillance, website blocking or the adoption of repressive Internet laws. Netizens are being targeted by government reprisals. Around 117 of them are currently detained for expressing their views freely online, mainly in China, Iran and Vietnam.”  Text from http://march12.rsf.org/en/

You can download the full report with the list of countries considered to be “Internet Enemies,” and also those countries “under surveillance” at the web site above.  Surprisingly, amongst the “usual suspects” are also countries such as Australia and France, and if the UK government has its way, it may soon be joining the list.  In the wake of the recent riots in the UK, the government is considering banning certain uses of social media. 

And this is a mapped database showing BLOGGERS who have been threatened, arrested, or killed.  Unbelievable.  From: http://threatened.globalvoicesonline.org/
On the interactive map at the website, you can click on the icons, and each blogger's story comes up about their arrest, imprisonment, or murder.  

Detail: Map of the Week 11-14-2011: Internet Black Holes