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Watching the impact on the network through downdetector today has been interesting. If I wanted to be conspiratorial I'm reminded of Room 641A. https://en.wiki

Watching the impact on the network through downdetector today has been interesting. If I wanted to be conspiratorial I'm reminded of Room 641A. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A

drtillberg 6y ago
Upon seeing the reports of the location of this specific real-world incident I researched to try to find an article I know exists describing how indestructible those windowless telecommunications hub buildings are. Isn't there an article somewhere describing how they're hardened against unconventional military attack? Visually the Nashville structure seemed very very well reinforced. As for the NSA angle, this location was not on the list published by the Intercept in 2018.[1] [1] https://theintercept.com/2018/06/25/att-internet-nsa-spy-hubs/ https://theintercept.com/2018/06/25/att-internet-nsa-spy-hub...
- b1c837696ba28b 6y ago
  The Evolution and Special Features of Bell System Telephone Equipment Buildings: https://archive.org/details/bstj58-2-427 https://archive.org/details/bstj58-2-427
- tyingq 6y ago
  I was surprised how effective pretty primitive homemade shaped charges are.
- wil421 6y ago
  The NSA’s building in NYC is one of the windowless telecom building called Titanpoint and can withstand and an atomic blast on NYC. [1] As you said the building in Nashville if it’s not even on your list. I guess it’s worth speculating. https://theintercept.com/2016/11/16/the-nsas-spy-hub-in-new-york-hidden-in-plain-sight/ https://theintercept.com/2016/11/16/the-nsas-spy-hub-in-new-...
jrockway 6y ago
What sort of conspiracy are you imagining here? Someone exploded an RV in an entertainment district so that AT&T had an excuse to disable service while the NSA installed wiretaps? I think that as investigations unfold, that will not end up being what happened. Just a guess though.
- Ancapistani 6y ago
  Given what little we know, targeting the AT&T infrastructure could be a reasonable guest a motive. The blast itself didn’t seem to take the hub offline; there was a broken water main followed by AT&T being refused access to the building by emergency response. It appears that things started cascading a few hours later, presumably once the generator fuel was exhausted.
  - myrandomcomment 6y ago
    Sensible call on the generator fuel. Thanks for thinking of it.
    - jcims 6y ago
      I would think buried utilities, they lost power?
      - Retric 6y ago
        Power loss could have been from the blast, which destroyed underground water pipes. Or they may have turned off power to the area for safety reasons.
  - kitteh 6y ago
    Back when I worked in a CO the engineering goal was to be able to run the building load on gen for at least 24 hours straight before getting fuel trucks. We had weekly gen tests to validate things were working as expected. It could be that they had to de-energizd some equipment to perform inspection and work within the facility. I know our facility had a number of procedures on how to de-energize parts of the building and inhibit the generators from feeding that area (a lesson learned in the Hinsdale CO fire years ago). During Hurricane Katrina a number of us had to invent a procedure for de-energizing non critical equipment to reduce power load in order to keep critical services running for an extended period of time since it was clear we werent going to get utility and resupplies for awhile.
viraptor 6y ago
That would require both an "agency ready to do uncontrolled explosion in public" conspiracy and "they can't splice fiber quickly enough"... anti-conspiracy?
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

drtillberg 6y ago

Upon seeing the reports of the location of this specific real-world incident I researched to try to find an article I know exists describing how indestructible those windowless telecommunications hub buildings are. Isn't there an article somewhere describing how they're hardened against unconventional military attack? Visually the Nashville structure seemed very very well reinforced. As for the NSA angle, this location was not on the list published by the Intercept in 2018.[1] [1] https://theintercept.com/2018/06/25/att-internet-nsa-spy-hubs/ https://theintercept.com/2018/06/25/att-internet-nsa-spy-hub...

b1c837696ba28b 6y ago
The Evolution and Special Features of Bell System Telephone Equipment Buildings: https://archive.org/details/bstj58-2-427 https://archive.org/details/bstj58-2-427
tyingq 6y ago
I was surprised how effective pretty primitive homemade shaped charges are.
wil421 6y ago
The NSA’s building in NYC is one of the windowless telecom building called Titanpoint and can withstand and an atomic blast on NYC. [1] As you said the building in Nashville if it’s not even on your list. I guess it’s worth speculating. https://theintercept.com/2016/11/16/the-nsas-spy-hub-in-new-york-hidden-in-plain-sight/ https://theintercept.com/2016/11/16/the-nsas-spy-hub-in-new-...

jrockway 6y ago

What sort of conspiracy are you imagining here? Someone exploded an RV in an entertainment district so that AT&T had an excuse to disable service while the NSA installed wiretaps? I think that as investigations unfold, that will not end up being what happened. Just a guess though.

Ancapistani 6y ago
Given what little we know, targeting the AT&T infrastructure could be a reasonable guest a motive. The blast itself didn’t seem to take the hub offline; there was a broken water main followed by AT&T being refused access to the building by emergency response. It appears that things started cascading a few hours later, presumably once the generator fuel was exhausted.
- myrandomcomment 6y ago
  Sensible call on the generator fuel. Thanks for thinking of it.
  - jcims 6y ago
    I would think buried utilities, they lost power?
    - Retric 6y ago
      Power loss could have been from the blast, which destroyed underground water pipes. Or they may have turned off power to the area for safety reasons.
- kitteh 6y ago
  Back when I worked in a CO the engineering goal was to be able to run the building load on gen for at least 24 hours straight before getting fuel trucks. We had weekly gen tests to validate things were working as expected. It could be that they had to de-energizd some equipment to perform inspection and work within the facility. I know our facility had a number of procedures on how to de-energize parts of the building and inhibit the generators from feeding that area (a lesson learned in the Hinsdale CO fire years ago). During Hurricane Katrina a number of us had to invent a procedure for de-energizing non critical equipment to reduce power load in order to keep critical services running for an extended period of time since it was clear we werent going to get utility and resupplies for awhile.

viraptor 6y ago

That would require both an "agency ready to do uncontrolled explosion in public" conspiracy and "they can't splice fiber quickly enough"... anti-conspiracy?

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]