Old lady digs up cable, cuts off a whole country from Internet

[Lebon14]

An elderly woman in Georgia is facing a prison sentence after reportedly causing internet services in neighbouring Armenia to crash.

The country found itself offline for hours on 28 March after cables linking Georgia to Armenia were damaged.

A Georgian interior ministry spokesman said a 75-year-old woman had admitted damaging fibre-optic cables while scavenging for copper.

She has been charged and reportedly faces up to three years in prison.

"Taking into account her advancing years, she has been released pending the end of the investigation and subsequent trial," spokesman Zura Gvenetadze told AFP news agency.

She had been searching for copper in the Georgian village of Ksani.

The cables, owned by the Georgian Railway Telecom company, serve eastern Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

All three wholesale internet providers in Armenia - ArmenTel, FiberNet Communication and GNC-Alfa - were unable to provide their usual service on the evening of 28 March, Armenia's Arka news agency reported.

Services were eventually restored after midnight.

Source : BBC.co.uk

Wow... A single wire to connect internet to a country?? Wow, that is hum... stupid planning. Also, scavenging copper in your backyard? Wow... Also, doing prison for breaking a cable is very severe imo. A fine would have been enough...

Anyway, I don't know what to add... maybe a huge facepalm?

FYI : Quote is whole article.

 

[seekermeister]

I didn't read the article, but your quote says that she admitted what she did, which implies that she knew what the cable was for. I agree that a person shouldn't be imprisoned for digging in their own yard, but the cable shouldn't have crossed a yard in the first place, yet if she did this intentionally, she deserves more than a slap on the wrist. When something of this kind is so poorly planned out, they should have expected something like this.

 

[smarteyeball]

A fine would have been enough...

And how much scavenged copper would it take to pay for a fine... ?

 

[cyclic]

...........and apparently it was part of the fibre optic backbone which is why it caused so much havoc. Not much salvage I don't think.

 

[Fantail]

Was wondering why spam died off a bit one day.

 

[vierasniper]

A fine? Call the Firing Squad. Just one cable? Ridiculous