Circe is a submarine communications cable that connects network switches in the United Kingdom with those in Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. It was built at a cost of US$1 billion by Viatel in the late 1990s and measures up to 8,700 km in total length.1 According to a 1998 Bloomberg Businessweek article, Circe is one of the first cross-border fibre-optics networks in Europe.2
In 2013, media reports revealed that communication passing through Circe is being secretly monitored by the British intelligence agency GCHQ as part of its ongoing surveillance project.3
References
References
- Ganitsky, Joseph. "REVISTA LATINOAMERICANA DE ADMINISTRACIÓN, 27, CLADEA, BOGOTÁ: 2001" (in Spanish). University of the Andes (Colombia). Retrieved 29 August 2013.
Viatel estaba invirtiendo m á s de US$1.000 millones en el desarrollo, construcci ó n y operaci ó n de la ultramoderna red Paneuropea Circe de 8.700 kil ó metros que unir á sus 40 ciudades m á s importantes.
- "Viatel: A Cheap Telephone Call". Bloomberg Businessweek. June 21, 1998. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
Viatel is building a fiber-optic network called Circe that would link its switch in Britain with switches in Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands--thus creating one of Europe's first cross-border optics network.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - "British Officials Have Far-Reaching Access To Internet And Telephone Communications". Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved 29 August 2013.