When the first transoceanic telegraph cables were laid in the mid-1800s, rapid communication between continents became possible. The advent of fibre-optic submarine cables in the 1990s catalyzed a global digital revolution. Today, a network of > 1.7 million kilometres of fibre-optic cables crosses the oceans, carrying more than 99% of all digital data traffic worldwide and trillions of dollars in financial transactions. These...