# 3 undersea cables cut in 3 days ... coincidence, or prelude to some action? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 2, 2008, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923 "2008-02-02T00:03:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/1 "2008-02-02T00:03:52Z")
[Third undersea Internet cable cut in Mideast](http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/02/01/internet.outage/?iref=hpmostpop) > [@](#): > > (CNN) – An undersea cable carrying Internet traffic was cut off the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai, officials said Friday, the third loss of a line carrying Internet and telephone traffic in three days. > art.dubai.gi.jpg > > Dubai has been hit hard by an Internet outage apparently caused by a cut undersea cable. > > Ships have been dispatched to repair two undersea cables damaged on Wednesday off Egypt. > > FLAG Telecom, which owns one of the cables, said repairs were expected to be completed by February 12. France Telecom, part owner of the other cable, said it was uncertain when repairs on it would be repaired. > > Stephan Beckert, an analyst with TeleGeography, a research company that consults on global Internet issues, **said the cables off Egypt were likely damaged by ships’ anchors.** > > The loss of the two Mediterranean cables – FLAG Telecom’s FLAG Europe-Asia cable and SeaMeWe-4, a cable owned by a consortium of more than a dozen telecommunications companies – has snarled Internet and phone traffic from Egypt to India. > > Officials said Friday it was unclear what caused the damage to FLAG’s FALCON cable about 50 kilometers off Dubai. A repair ship was en route, FLAG said. Interestingly, it appears that Iran’s traffic has been [severely impacted](http://www.internettrafficreport.com/asia.htm) (i.e., cut to zero). So, is this just coincidental? Or is someone (the U.S. military or the IDF comes to the top of my list) trying to hamper communications in advance of some military action? ---
**Author:** ![Anomalous\_Reading](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Anomalous\_Reading](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anomalous_Reading)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/2 "2008-02-02T00:07:49Z")
I half wonder if there isn’t some non-anchor explanation. I am rather dubious that a country would go to THAT much trouble to knock out internet for… a week? I’m waiting to hear of some natural cause that wasn’t foreseen or detected. Three lines all by boat anchor stretches credibility. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/3 "2008-02-02T00:09:03Z")
It’s not only Iran that’s been affected. Everyone from Egypt to India. I would not jump to conclusions (although no doubt some people will). This same thing happened to us 5 1/2 years ago. A cable was cut undersea somewhere near South Korea. The entire region was down for a week. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/4 "2008-02-02T00:12:25Z")
Maybe someone is knocking them down so that they can install wiretaps without being detected? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/5 "2008-02-02T00:20:46Z")
I really don’t expect Bush to take military action against Iran for the remainder of his term. I was worried about it, but I think he finally understands he’s shot his bolt. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/6 "2008-02-02T00:33:03Z")
Hhmmmm…the Web is viewed as a source of Western Cultural Contamination" by some radicals in the M.E., or so I’ve inferred by various SDMB Threads. ---
**Author:** ![gouda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@gouda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gouda)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/7 "2008-02-02T06:14:03Z")
Wednesday was the worst for us - most people I know had zero email access that day, with very few other websites opening. Most people weren’t aware of the reason till much later in the evening, which made it even more frustrating. By Thursday, most ISPs had made alternate arrangements for net traffic - I still couldn’t access any email, but more websites were working. Access speeds were reminiscent of the dial-up days! By Thursday night, everything was back to normal. ---
**Author:** ![Poor\_College\_Student](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Poor\_College\_Student](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poor_College_Student)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/8 "2008-02-02T06:19:11Z")
[QUOTE=riker1384] Maybe someone is knocking them down so that they can install wiretaps without being detected? [/QUOTE] Conspiracy theory…GO! I do admit that the “three anchors, three cables, three days” official story is improbable and should be questioned, though. ---
**Author:** ![oldboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aca169/32.png) [@oldboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldboy)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/9 "2008-02-02T12:22:02Z")
[QUOTE=toadspittle] [Third undersea Internet cable cut in Mideast](http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/02/01/internet.outage/?iref=hpmostpop) Interestingly, it appears that Iran’s traffic has been [severely impacted](http://www.internettrafficreport.com/asia.htm) (i.e., cut to zero). So, is this just coincidental? Or is someone (the U.S. military or the IDF comes to the top of my list) trying to hamper communications in advance of some military action? [/QUOTE] one wonders as there hasnt been anything in the news lately about irans nuclear intentions. calm before the storm? ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/10 "2008-02-02T14:31:32Z")
Or an organization using this as a very large horse head in the bed to extort protection monies from major industries reliant on internet communications … these outages affected not just India to Egypt but also many international interests that farm information to those regions. Yes it sounds like a Bond plot line but agreed that 3 in 3 days stretches credulity. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/11 "2008-02-02T15:30:58Z")
My understanding is that tapping a fiber optic cable is almost impossible. Still, anyone who figures out a way to shut down communications to the ME could make a fortune in the stock markets! ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/12 "2008-02-02T15:33:16Z")
Before we say that it stretches credibility, won’t we first need to know what the typical rate at which these things are damaged is? Can anyone provide a reliable cite on such information before we say that it’s necessarily intentional? 3 is still small statistics to me. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/13 "2008-02-02T16:05:21Z")
[QUOTE=threemae] Can anyone provide a reliable cite on such information [/QUOTE] A quick perusal of “undersea cable” lifetime on the internets, suggests that 25 years is a typical design life. Breaks happen at the rate of a few a year worldwide, mostly due to earthquakes. I don’t see any [appropriately placed earthquakes](http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/) in the Mediterranean or Persian gulf over the past week. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/14 "2008-02-02T16:10:31Z")
[QUOTE=Poor College Student] Conspiracy theory…GO! I do admit that the “three anchors, three cables, three days” official story is improbable and should be questioned, though. [/QUOTE] Easily explained using the magic anchor theory. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/15 "2008-02-02T16:18:03Z")
[QUOTE=Tapioca Dextrin] Easily explained using the magic anchor theory. [/QUOTE] It could also be a comment misunderstood by a reporter. “What happened to the cable?” “Well, gee, I dunno, way down in the water like that. Sometimes a ship anchor can cut them, though.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/16 "2008-02-02T16:30:32Z")
[QUOTE=Squink] A quick perusal of “undersea cable” lifetime on the internets, suggests that 25 years is a typical design life. Breaks happen at the rate of a few a year worldwide, mostly due to earthquakes. I don’t see any [appropriately placed earthquakes](http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/) in the Mediterranean or Persian gulf over the past week. [/QUOTE] How exactly do they repair such a cable, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/17 "2008-02-02T16:47:41Z")
My first thought was ‘AQ suddenly got smart!’. I’m not seeing the advantage to the US to cut internet to the entire region (including India)…but I certainly see how a terrorist group could see a BIG advantage in doing something like this, especially as a trial balloon to see what effect it would have. That said, I seriously doubt that is what happened. I don’t know if it was boat anchors or something else, but I think it was some kind of accident or fuckup. For all we know the cables weren’t cut at all but some other infrastructure related problem at the peering level between long haul ISPs in the region happened (I’ve seen large scale router problems happen before because some bean counter wanted to push something out before it was fully tested). [QUOTE=guizot] How exactly do they repair such a cable, anyway? [/QUOTE] I assume they will use divers and do FO splices and then re-wrap the cable to prevent the sea from further corroding it. I’ve seen land line cuts anyway and I assume the techniques are similar, except for the whole dive suit and water thingy. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/18 "2008-02-02T16:51:15Z")
[How Do You Fix an Undersea Cable?](http://www.slate.com/id/2156987) > [@](#): > > If the faulty part of the cable is less than about 6,500 feet down, the crew will send out a submersible tanklike robot that can move around on the sea floor. A signal can be sent through the cable to guide the robot toward the problem spot. When the robot finds the right place, it grabs ahold of the cable, cuts out the nonworking section, and pulls the loose ends back up to the ship. Of course, for all I actually _know_ about the subject, they may be using sharks with lasers on their heads nowadays. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/19 "2008-02-02T17:17:57Z")
[QUOTE=Anomalous Reading] I half wonder if there isn’t some non-anchor explanation. I am rather dubious that a country would go to THAT much trouble to knock out internet for… a week? I’m waiting to hear of some natural cause that wasn’t foreseen or detected. Three lines all by boat anchor stretches credibility. [/QUOTE] Cloverfield? ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/20 "2008-02-02T20:38:57Z")
[QUOTE=ralph124c] My understanding is that tapping a fiber optic cable is almost impossible. [/QUOTE] I’m no expert, but I think the idea is that you can’t tap into the signal without breaking the fiber. There’s no electromagnetic field like there would be around a wire. But I assume you could install tapping equipment with either a repeater or a splitter of some sort, to tap into it and still have the signal go through. The problem is that you would have to cut the cable in order to do this, so service would be interrupted and they would know something happened, unless you managed to cut the cable in an “accident” and then you tapped it somewhere else while it was awaiting repairs. At least that’s the theory people were throwing around on Slashdot. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923.md?page=2)