Episode #006 - The Internet

English In this episode of The Internet, hosts Neil and Rachel delve into the fascinating realm of undersea internet cables, uncovering their significance in our digital age and examining potential security concerns.

Spanish: El Mundo Oculto de los Cables de Internet Submarinos
Description: En este episodio de 'El Internet', los presentadores Neil y Rachel exploran el fascinante mundo de los cables de internet submarinos, revelando su importancia en nuestra era digital y examinando posibles preocupaciones de seguridad.

French: Le Monde Caché des Câbles Internet Sous-Marins
Dans cet épisode d' 'Internet', les animateurs Neil et Rachel plongent dans le domaine fascinant des câbles internet sous-marins, dévoilant leur importance dans notre ère numérique et examinant d'éventuelles préoccupations en matière de sécurité.

Chinese (Simplified):
海底互联网电缆的隐秘世界

在《互联网》节目的这一集中，主持人尼尔和瑞秋深入探讨了海底互联网电缆的引人入胜世界，揭示了它们在数字时代的重要性，并审视了可能存在的安全问题。

Arabic:
عالم كوابل الإنترنت تحت البحر المخفي
Description: في هذه الحلقة من 'الإنترنت'، يقوم المضيفان نيل وراشيل بالتنقل في عالم كوابل الإنترنت تحت البحر المثير، مكشوفين أهميتها في عصرنا الرقمي وفحص المخاوف المحتملة بشأن الأمان.

Russian:
Скрытый мир подводных интернет-кабелей
Description: В этом выпуске 'Интернета' ведущие Нил и Рейчел погружаются в увлекательный мир подводных интернет-кабелей, раскрывая их значение в нашей цифровой эпохе и исследуя возможные проблемы безопасности.

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Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Learn UK English but podcast. Goodmorning Rachel, Good morning Neil. How
are you. I'm doing well andhow are you? I'm really good,
thanks Rachel. To kick things off, let me ask you what would you

(00:25):
do if the Internet suddenly stopped?Meaning if you couldn't connect to the internet.
Wow, Neil, That'd be quitethe challenge, wouldn't it. It's
hard to envision life today without theInternet. I'll tell you a small story.
When I was a kid, Ihad a history teacher who used to
task us with imagining a life postsa hypothetical world ending event. How would

(00:49):
we find our food? How wouldwe treat simple illnesses? We'd have to
revert back to the methods of ourgrandparents, who use natural remedies and grew
food in their backyards. But withoutsupermarkets and preserve food, how would we
feed ourselves? We need to learnall the knowledge that humans have gathered over
a millionaires. That's something quite aninteresting perspective, right. Absolutely. The

(01:14):
first thing I do when I wakeup is connect to the Internet. You
can find a piece of information online. Any form of communication today involves a
mobile device, internet or email.True, so be challenging. I think
living without the Internet in today's agewould be nearly impossible. Absolutely. Now,
Rachel, another question, how soondo you ask for the Wi Fi

(01:38):
password when you visit a relatives place? Almost immediately upon arriving, especially to
check if I've got any new messagesor notifications. And it's not just relatives,
When I visit doctors' offices or evena food corp, my device automatically
connects. That's on point, Rachel. Were you aware that ninety nine percent

(02:02):
of the international Internet data is transmittedvia cables at the ocean floor? Really,
so we're talking about five optics,yes, Rachel. We often think
that the Internet is omnipresent, butin reality, much of it lies deep
beneath the oceans, spanning across continentsby the ocean fascinating absolutely, And these

(02:27):
cables are laid by specialized ships knownas cable layers. It must be a
gun twin task installing fiber optics cablesacross the vast expanse of the ocean,
across entire continents. It's no smallfeet, it's intricate. They must be
careful to avoid coral reefs, sunkenships, fish spawning grounds, and other

(02:52):
ecologically significant habitats. We've got tobe mindful and respectful of whatever lies in
our path. Indeed, the diameterof a cable in shallow waters is about
the same as a shoulder cans.That's surprisingly small. I'd assume it'd be
massive. Well, the cable indeeper water is much thinner, almost the

(03:15):
size of our marker. Astonishing.Back to the initial set of questions,
are these UNDECEA cables at risk?Precisely that's alarming. The US suspects Russia
might be devising plants to server theseInternet lifelines. My goodness, and why

(03:36):
do they suspect Russia? It mightbe a plan for a prospective conflict,
but have they found concrete evidence?As per military sources consulted by The New
York Times recently, there is growingconcern about increased Russia naval activities near crucial
submarine cable areas. That makes itmore serious than a mere hunch than monitoring

(04:00):
suspicious activities. Right, the USbelieves that Russia is identifying vulnerable points to
understand where they could cut if theydecide to. Do you think they're actually
investigating how to severe these cables?Experts acknowledge the threat. According to some
sources, there's a genuine interest inthis kide of activity. Intriguing. Have

(04:27):
you heard that the UK wants tocreate a submarine cable from the UK to
the US without involving the US orany American companies? Tell me more,
do you recall Edward Snowden who blewthe whistle on the US for espionage.
Absolutely, he ran that site whatwas his name? Wikiliks right, WikiLeaks.

(04:53):
So this NSA professional revealed that theUS authorities were spying on British officials,
including the UK's Prime minister. Iremember it was a significant revelation and
quite the diplomatic strain. Spine onother nations, let alone its prime minister,
feels like a breach of trust andrespect. Absolutely, it's complicated.

(05:17):
It's hard to know who to trust, be it the Russians all the Americans,
because both are engaged in spionage activities. Seems like everyone's into espionage these
days. Yes, and some nationshave developed capabilities to intervene with underwater cables.

(05:41):
How do they intervene? The UShas been doing it for years?
How do they actually sever them?They focus more on espionage, so they're
in the preparatory phase. We reallydon't know what the future holds completed and
cutting off the Internet would be anextreme moved. Without a doubt, our
online society wouldn't stand the chance.Kids these days are born with innate digital

(06:06):
literacy and the job market involves aroundit. What's your prediction, Neil,
I believe, as mentioned earlier,that surveillance is key spying. In other
words, precisely the moment they findan opportunity to cut the cables, they
will do so and let things unfold. All right, Rachel, we've reached

(06:28):
the end of our podcast today.Hopefully our listeners have gleaned some insights about
the Internet and the world without itany parting words. I hope pat chat
was informative for our listeners. Tillnext time. Until next time, Rachel,
goodbye, goodbye. Thank you fortuning in to Learn UK English by

(06:51):
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(07:11):
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