Submarine infrastructures as common pool resources

Resumo

Some 400 submarine cables weave an invisible yet crucial network for our

connected

world. 1.3 million kilometres long, they are essential to the prop

er functioning of the

Internet and account for 99% of intercontinental trade. Intern

ational backbone

providers play a key role in global connectivity in interconn

ecting national and

international networks into a complex network of submarine hi

ghways, which make

the Internet not as decentralized as it is commonly said. In fact, su

bmarine cables

belong to a few private companies operating without any ident

ified regulatory agency

or international norms. The industry of submarine cables has exp

erienced an

enclosure movement with consequences for the physical structure l

ayer and the

logical infrastructure layer as well. This movement has led to der

egulation in the

telecommunication sector, which explains why we need to thin

k another governance

of Internet infrastructure, if we want to address key issues such as mo

nitoring

network interferences for protecting human rights violation, developing

affordable and

inclusive connectivity and providing a platform for gather

ing deep-ocean and seabed

data for a range of environmental issues. This article demo

nstrates that, in order to

address these distinct issues, we need to develop a comprehensive

approach of

submarine infrastructures managed as common-pool resources and

governed by

supranational regulations.