Book Title: Research Handbook on Intelligence and International Law

Publisher: Edward Elgar

Abstract: Ninety-nine per cent of the world's telecommunications are transmitted through submarine fibre optic cables. Daily services we take for granted, such as Internet banking, email, and social media, are facilitated by submarine cables that are often no bigger than a garden hose. Among the multiple functions cable infrastructure provides, they can also be used to collect intelligence. First, cables are used by states to conduct underwater surveillance to enhance maritime domain awareness (including detecting submarine activity). Second, states can intercept the data flowing through cable infrastructure, described as the ‘tapping’ of cables for the bulk interception of data. Given international law's traditional obliviousness to intelligence collection in peacetime, it is unsurprising that there are no explicit international rules governing the use of submarine cables for either intelligence collection for underwater surveillance or intelligence collection for the data that passes through such cables. To this end, this chapter examines the possible applicability of different international legal frameworks that may govern the use of submarine cables for intelligence collection, ranging from the law of the sea, intelligence law, international telecommunications law, and human rights law (which may be implicated to the extent that data intercepted from submarine cables includes citizens’ private communications).