3 ms·
As an undergrad I had a job working as a ecologist for the Highways Agency in the UK. My job was to perform endangered species surveys and supervise roadworks s
by Blahah 12y ago
As an undergrad I had a job working as a ecologist for the Highways Agency in the UK. My job was to perform endangered species surveys and supervise roadworks sites to make sure they didn't cause (too much) ecological damage.
One job I worked on was resurfacing 12 miles of road in Somerset. At one stage I was supervising a crew as they dug out a trench beside the road overnight. After a couple of hours, a blacked-out 4x4 rolled up to the site and out get three guys in suits demanding to see the site manager.
It turned out the JCB bucket had damaged the tunnel housing a major national fibre-optic link and they had detected the damage. We uncovered the damaged concrete housing and they had a crew come out to repair it.
Moral of the story: at least in the UK, the integrity of cable networks is remotely monitored. I wouldn't assume the NSA can easily tap into a major fibre-optic cable without being detected.
- junto 12y agoInteresting story. Maybe those guys in the dark glasses and suits weren't the cable provider, but the NSA! The fibre provider hadn't noticed.
- Blahah 12y agoHah, I didn't consider that! I expect that GCHQ happily share the data with the NSA so they don't need to get it from direct taps. So I think it's more likely they were who they claimed to be.
- us0r 12y agohttp://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jun/21/gchq-cables-secret-world-communications-nsa http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jun/21/gchq-cables-secret... Google and Yahoo did not notice (or at least pretended not to know): http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-infiltrates-links-to-yahoo-google-data-centers-worldwide-snowden-documents-say/2013/10/30/e51d661e-4166-11e3-8b74-d89d714ca4dd_story.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-in... I'm sure many more exist.