Issue Watch point: infrastructure owners withhold essential services as bargaining leverage

Summary

This issue is the second watch point from the report's story about technology firms as geopolitical actors. Private owners of communications technology and infrastructure could restrict essential services to those who depend on them. They might do so as a means of leverage during conflicts or negotiations. The concern follows from the report's finding that most submarine cables, cloud data centres and low earth orbit satellites are privately owned. Ownership of infrastructure thus becomes a potential bargaining tool rather than a neutral service. Among its security implications, the report later adds that essential services could be put at risk by foreign or unpredictable owners of critical internet infrastructure.