Gunshots Slow Down The Internet... Again

from the really-need-to-do-something-about-all-that-gunplay dept

Tue, Aug 21st 2007 7:15pm — Mike Masnick

Back in 2005, we had quite a story about how DSL lines in New Mexico were apparently knocked offline due to "random gunfire." That story got even more bizarre when a guy who was playing online poker at the time, blamed the outage on him going "all in" on the wrong hand (he claims he went all in just as the DSL turned off, but when it came back, it went in on a different hand). However, it still struck us as interesting that random gunfire could impact your internet service. Apparently, it wasn't an isolated case. The latest is that random gunfire is being blamed for a general slowdown in the internet, after fiber-optic cables near Cleveland were "sabotaged by gunfire." Who knew that gunfire and internet wiring were such a dangerous combination?

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Filed Under: fiber optics, guns
Companies: level 3, teliasonera

20 Comments

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Hoeppner, 21 Aug 2007 @ 7:47pm

well the electical companies around here have to replace those ceramic things that they hang the wires from every year around public hunting areas north of us. a good deal of the shape is designed to deflect bullets do they don't get to the part that the wire is actually hanging from.
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- Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased), 22 Aug 2007 @ 8:51am
  
  Re: Hoeppner
  Hunters shoot at the insulators (ceramic things) intentionally. The insulators don't protect wires, they prevent electricity from flowing to places they shouldn't. The shape has nothing to do with deflecting bullets. If random gunfire was a problem, they would make bulletproof insulators (FYI - they don't). Now, a hunter hitting a 1/2 inch diameter conductor from the ground has got to be difficult.
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Witty Nickname, 21 Aug 2007 @ 7:54pm

Al Gore
So THAT is why Al Gore hates guns! They slow down his invention!
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- name, 22 Aug 2007 @ 1:04pm
  
  Re: Al Gore
  hahaha
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Tip your waitress, 21 Aug 2007 @ 8:08pm

I've heard of cyber terrorism, but this is ridiculous!

Thank you ladies and gentlemen, I'm here all week.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Aug 2007 @ 8:24pm

Well, the secret voices coming from my router are telling me to do things with guns ......
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Aug 2007 @ 8:33pm

Just another bogus argument to ban guns.

Guns don't slow down the internet - people do.
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- Anonymous Coward, 21 Aug 2007 @ 9:15pm
  
  Re:
  Edit:
  
  Guns don't slow down the internet; people from Second Life do.
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GoblinJuice, 21 Aug 2007 @ 9:17pm

Bust a cap in yo line, biatch! =D
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The Swiss Cheese Monster, 21 Aug 2007 @ 9:49pm

I think we need more trigger locks on guns.
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- Anonymous Coward, 21 Aug 2007 @ 11:30pm
  
  Re:
  No, no, you need confirmation boxes.
  
  "Your gun is trying to fire. Cancel or Allow?"
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Aug 2007 @ 1:07am

I suppose
Perhaps the bullets may be cutting cabling.
I think the solution here is buried cables.
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RandomThoughts, 22 Aug 2007 @ 5:31am

We need more trigger locks on people.
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- Nasty Old Geezer, 22 Aug 2007 @ 8:20am
  
  Re:
  I am in favor of both types of gun control:
  
  1 -- Keep guns away from people who should not have them (criminals, unsupervised children, drunks, and mentally unstable persons)
  
  2 -- 3 inch groups at 100 yards
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  - Anonymous Coward, 22 Aug 2007 @ 12:59pm
    
    Re: Re:
    "1 -- Keep guns away from people who should not have them (criminals, unsupervised children, drunks, and mentally unstable persons)"
    
    This practically eliminates all lawyers and politicians from owning guns. Hey thats probably good!
    
    "2 -- 3 inch groups at 100 yards"
    
    Come on you can do better than that...
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Rational Beaver, 22 Aug 2007 @ 8:16am

Sabotage indeed!
FTA: "When technicians pulled up the affected cable" (i.e. it was buried), and "The damage affected a large span of cable, more than two-thirds of a mile [1.1 km] long".

Sounds like somebody's got a bone to pick with the interwebs.
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- Petréa Mitchell, 22 Aug 2007 @ 8:50am
  
  Re: Sabotage indeed!
  I asked the nearest gun-control opponent for thoughts on how someone would end up shooting at and managing to hit a buried fiber-optic cable, and the best scenario we could come up with was a bored person with a powerful shotgun taking potshots at some small animal. Weak, I know, but not as hard to believe as someone taking the time and trouble to figure out exactly where the cable was and shooting it up intentionally.
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  - Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased), 22 Aug 2007 @ 8:54am
    
    Re: Re: Sabotage indeed!
    Communications companies are notorious for burying their cable shallow.
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sezer, 14 Apr 2008 @ 8:43pm

fiber cabling
Fiber optic cable -- technical support -- information web site - - http://fiberoptic-cable.blogspot.com
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- jaky, 1 Dec 2008 @ 4:26am
  
  Re: fiber cabling
  Hunters shoot at the insulators (ceramic things) intentionally. The insulators don't protect wires, they prevent electricity from flowing to places they shouldn't. The shape has nothing to do with deflecting bullets. If random gunfire was a problem, they would laptop AC adapter make bulletproof insulators (FYI - they don't). Now, a hunter hitting a 1/2 inch diameter conductor from the ground has got to be difficult.
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