In Ars Technica: 500-mile NEPTUNE Canada cabling brings Internet to the ocean floor
"University of Washington Oceanography Professor John Delaney first proposed the idea for NEPTUNE in the mid-1990s, sensing the Internet’s then-rapid proliferation would have larger implications than simply connecting home and office PCs. He suggested "distributed robot-sensor networks throughout the oceanic environment" would soon observe the seas continuously in ways that researchers on boats with precious little sea time could scarcely imagine or afford."
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