IDG Contributor Network: What matters more: Controlling the Internet's wiring, or its data? Both

In an interesting move, Facebook and Microsoft have forged an alliance to lay a new fiber optic cable under the Atlantic Ocean. Putting aside the environmental concerns this raises for many (including those of us inhabiting islands), it also raises questions about how control of the Internet — and the data belonging to its users — is basically a prize in a multi-strand tug of war involving technology companies and broadband service providers from here to Spain and back.

So, why does it matter who controls the building of Internet infrastructure? How does that relate to who controls user data? And what’s the implication for businesses that rely on Internet technology to deliver their products and services?

Google — part of Alphabet, Inc. — organizes the world’s data and, it could be argued, knows more about the average person than the average person knows about their closest friends and relatives. The company also accounts for more than 10 percent of all advertising spend globally. In holding the most information on, in, and about the Internet, Google could be the most powerful company on the planet.

Google also is involved, through one of the Alphabet companies, in the delivery of Internet services. The company has been experimenting with and investing in satellite and balloon technology (Project Loon) that could deliver Internet access to even the remotest regions of Earth — just as its existing Google Earth satellite project delivers images of those same regions, as well as eerily accurate photography of addresses such as your own.