DailyTech - Two Ships Impounded After Investigation into Undersea Cable Cuts

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Internet Two Ships Impounded After Investigation into Undersea Cable Cuts
Shane McGlaun (Blog) - April 14, 2008 1:25 PM

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41 comment(s) - last by SandmanWN.. on Apr 16 at 9:18 PM

Two sailors face charges over cut undersea cables

The world may finally be close to getting some answers on what exactly caused the five undersea cables providing the Middle East with Internet and telephone service to be mysteriously severed. While one cable was reportedly cut by an abandoned anchor, the cause of the other cable cuts was unknown.

VNUnet reports today that two people are being held in connection with the undersea cable cuts. A pair of ships has been impounded in Dubai after Reliance Globalcom, owner of some affected cables, used satellite images to identify the two ships as being in the area at the time the cables were cut.

The two ships are the MV Hounslow and the MV Ann. One of the ships was released after the Korean owners agreed to pay compensation for the break. Exactly which ship was released and the amount of compensation paid for the release is unknown at this time.

The second ship is still impounded and a pair of sailors from the Iraqi-owned vessel could face trial. A Reliance Globalcomm official told The Hindu, “The matter has been brought to the notice of appropriate authorities which are taking necessary action.”

Claims are that the two ships ventured into a forbidden area and then dropped anchor during a storm where they snagged the cables and severed them. What role the two men being held played in the severing of the cables is unknown at this time.

DailyTech reported on the first pair of cut undersea cables in Late January 2008, the third cut cable was in early February, the forth cut cable was reported the same week as was the fifth cut undersea cable. In all the undersea cables cut bandwidth to the Middle East by around 80%.

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$$$

By therealnickdanger on 4/14/2008 2:07:07 PM , Rating: 5

quote:
One of the ships was released after the Korean owners agreed to pay compensation for the break.

I would really like to know how much money that was...

RE: $$$

By boogle on 4/14/2008 2:16:19 PM , Rating: 2

Looks to have been $60,000: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infotech/Inter...

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RE: $$$

By amanojaku on 4/14/2008 2:27:54 PM , Rating: 4

quote:
During police interrogation, an official of the Korean ship admitted that the vessel was passing through the area and agreed to pay USD 60,000 as damages, the report said.

$60K in damages?!? That's nothing! That sounds more like a fine than damage compensation. Even if the link was only out for a day I could see that being worth much more...

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RE: $$$

By rebturtle on 4/14/2008 2:41:00 PM , Rating: 5

Apparently not everyone overinflates their prices like we do. Besides, duct tape is fairly cheap.

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RE: $$$

By afkrotch on 4/14/2008 3:54:32 PM , Rating: 2

$60k is not really damage compensation, but more of a fine, to me. You have to look at it overall. Costs for repairs, cost in lost profits for other companies, etc.

If your job was to walk back and forth between offices delivering memos and someone comes along and breaks your ankle. It's obvious you'll still be able to deliver the memos while using crutches, but you do it at a slower rate. This would affect more than just you walking around. Whatever those memos contain can be millions of dollars worth of profit for a company. The slower they get distributed, the slower the company makes money.

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RE: $$$

By SandmanWN on 4/14/2008 4:09:37 PM , Rating: 3

Not to belittle you or anything but it was their lines that were damaged. If 60,000 is all it took for them to turn the other cheek then thats all they wanted man. Just get over it.

I just wanted all the pathetic loser conspiracy theorists that posted in the other topics to step up to the plate and admit they were morons. I know, fat chance right...

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RE: $$$

By HighWing on 4/14/2008 6:13:21 PM , Rating: 1

quote:
I just wanted all the pathetic loser conspiracy theorists that posted in the other topics to step up to the plate and admit they were morons.

Not to say that your wrong, but there were a total of 5 cut cables and so far only 2 ships are being blamed. And none of the articles specifically state if these 2 ships made all five cuts or even if they definitely did cut them. Remember only one was definitely confirmed as being cut by an anchor. Therefor, it is still possible that the other cuts could have been made by sabotage, if even after the first accidental cut, saboteurs went out and cut the others. And of course you know the conspiracy theorists will just say this is a cover up anyways.

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RE: $$$

By Owls on 4/14/2008 7:09:50 PM , Rating: 5

$60,000 is only the cost of a 20' long Monster Cables.

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RE: $$$

By Samus on 4/15/2008 4:43:44 AM , Rating: 1

or a few pairs of Dre's 'beats'

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RE: $$$

By SandmanWN on 4/15/2008 7:34:27 AM , Rating: 2

-One cable cut by a dropped anchor.
-At least two cut by these two ships.
-One that had been cut for quite some time, the one off the coast of India. The ISP never announced the problem as the line was unused, which could simply be their way of getting someone else to pay for their repairs to a completely unrelated event.
-That only leaves one left and it really isnt that much of a stretch as all these lines run along the same shipping route.

But you are probably right, thats too much for those very lowly people to come in and say they were wrong.

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RE: $$$

By mindless1 on 4/15/2008 4:21:45 AM , Rating: 2

It's common sense, random events don't all happen non-randomly, all within a tiny period of time.

Consider an example closer to home. Suppose every morning all your trees are covered with toilet paper. You clean it all off but the next morning there it is again, 5 times in a few days. There is no toilet paper anywhere else, only in your trees and nobody elses.

Which is more likely, that someone deliberately did it, or that it randomly happened from different events? Without a toilet paper factory and a big accident recently we can reasonably assume you would think someone chose to do it.

I suppose no matter what happens you would think nobody ever has motivation to do something destructive? Which planet do you live on anyway?

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RE: $$$

By SandmanWN on 4/15/2008 7:25:08 AM , Rating: 2

one small problem with your mindlessness. it happened to more than one cable owner on this occasion so your example is completely inaccurate.

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RE: $$$

By SandmanWN on 4/15/2008 8:13:11 AM , Rating: 2

oh and to correct your example...

-It would be more like you are a landlord of several buildings on a street that is filled with man other landlords. One night one of your buildings gets TP'd. The 2nd night a house not belonging to you gets TP'd on the same street. The third another random victim on the same street. And on the Fourth night another random victim on the same street. And finally on the fifth night it just so happens the randomly get one of your other houses way down on the other end of the street, but not the one they started with. Get it Einstein?

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RE: $$$

By mindless1 on 4/15/2008 10:18:59 AM , Rating: 2

Not at all inaccurate, the commonality is the cables and region, a group of things in a place, kinda like your trees in your yard.

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RE: $$$

By SandmanWN on 4/15/2008 10:30:22 AM , Rating: 2

Uhm, No. Their were multiple cables owned by multiple companies across an entire shipping route that spanned from Mediterranean Egypt to India, which is hardly one specific region.

Not exactly a row of trees in one yard, so yes its inaccurate to say the very least.

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RE: $$$

By mindless1 on 4/16/2008 6:12:28 AM , Rating: 2

I never said a "row of trees". Sorry but you know am I right, this wasn't one fish, one rock and one bird, it was several nearly simultaneous cables cut. It is astronomical what the odds would be to have this happen.

If you feel otherwise, please show us one time ever that even two were cut as close together as the furthest two here, in the same period of time, by accident. If you can't show two, five would be a ridiculous assumption.

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RE: $$$

By SandmanWN on 4/16/2008 9:18:55 PM , Rating: 2

Sorry man but you are still off base. 1 was cut by abandon anchor and another had been down for quite some time and was only reported after all the hoopla.

So if you can't even portray an accurate account of home many lines are actually involved here then how do you expect anyone to take you seriously but rather a loony conspiracy nut.

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RE: $$$

By Shadowmaster625 on 4/16/2008 10:34:50 AM , Rating: 2

Why dont you just admit you are a moron arguing for the sake of arguing?

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RE: $$$

By SandmanWN on 4/16/2008 9:14:50 PM , Rating: 2

How about you admit you're a moron with no argument.

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RE: $$$

By Shadowmaster625 on 4/16/2008 10:41:57 AM , Rating: 2

5 cables got cut. It's a mystery. Period. Saying "conspiracy theorists are wrong" doesnt make any sense. Wrong about what? That 5 cables were cut? All I remember is some people asking questions. This article raises even more questions... Why do people like you always have to pat yourself on the back for being a good little trusting minion? What exactly are you saying? "Oh I'm so much better than those conspiracy theorists because they had the common sense to ask questions while I was too afraid to do anything except poke fun at them." Idiot. Go take your fluoride and your mercury and sit in front of the tv and watch the value of the dollar drop to zero. Be a good little minion and cheer with glee.

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RE: $$$

By bryanW1995 on 4/14/2008 4:21:09 PM , Rating: 5

no, no NO. YOU HAVE TO use gorilla glue instead of duct tape when it's in salt water... I thought everybody knew that...

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RE: $$$

By MrPoletski on 4/14/2008 10:57:42 PM , Rating: 3

PRITT STICK FTW!

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RE: $$$

By Ananke on 4/14/2008 6:50:46 PM , Rating: 2

It's a fine. Similarly, if you were late with 5 billion acquisition check sent by FeDex, but not delivered on time, FeDex is not liable for the death that your business will incur. Same, nobody is liable for lost revenues that you decide to use exactly that optic cable at that particular moment.
However, is the cost of repair so low? $60,000. Maybe was just a scratch

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RE: $$$

By AnnihilatorX on 4/14/2008 5:45:30 PM , Rating: 2

Compared to the amount of GDP loss because of the Internet connection problem to companies in various countries, $60,000 is nothing :P

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RE: $$$

By isorfir on 4/14/2008 2:20:29 PM , Rating: 3

I'd say to just make then replace it with a Cat 5e cable from the local hardware superstore. No harm done.

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RE: $$$

By WileCoyote on 4/14/2008 2:29:45 PM , Rating: 3

quote:
I'd say to just make then replace it with a Cat 5e cable from the local hardware superstore. No harm done.

They did but all they had in stock was Monster brand Cat5e cable, hence the $60,000 charge.

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RE: $$$

By sliderule on 4/14/2008 6:07:19 PM , Rating: 5

Good thing all these guys did was disrupt web access to a few countries, if it were a few illegally downloaded songs instead, we all know the fine would've been much larger. ;)

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RE: $$$

By Integral9 on 4/16/2008 9:55:37 AM , Rating: 2

he said he wanted about treee fitty

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Finally-its not Israel

By crystal clear on 4/14/2008 8:19:53 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
Two sailors face charges over cut undersea cables

We had many ignorant fools (D.T. commentators) who were blaming/accusing ISRAEL for this.

So easy to blame Israel !

This applies to Dailytech commentators-

"It is more fun to arrive at a conclusion than to justify it."

RE: Finally-its not Israel

By mindless1 on 4/15/2008 4:29:45 AM , Rating: 1

Speculating that someone with a motive might've done it is the opposite of ignorant. Blaming and accusing is unfortunately a human trait.

You don't actually know these ships didn't just time the cable cutting to coincide with a storm so they had a plausible excuse if they were caught, nor do we even know for certain they are responsible for it being cut since dropping anchor <> proof that did it.

I'd agree many DT posts don't justify, don't arrive at things logically, but one thing is clear - nobody can logically conclude that the odds are in favor of random events causing so many cut in such a short period vs deliberate acts causing the total. Without clear proof, all we have is speculation and odds, or a few dozen posts that just read "wow that's strange" which wouldn't make for very entertaining reading now would it?

It's not impossible they were all accidentally cut, just less likely - even with this new speculation which is still not proof, if someone is holding your ship you may easily pay $60K to regain possession and use, nevermind fault.

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RE: Finally-its not Israel

By crystal clear on 4/15/2008 6:54:38 AM , Rating: 2

Nice responding to your interesting/intelligent response.

You have scores of satellites over the region that monitor movements in the region.

Just name it from the USA/UK/France/India/Russia/Israel/China etc all have satellites scanning the region.

Satellites detect such things/events with crystal clear images/photographs.

Heres the evidence-

The action was taken after Reliance Globalcom provided details of the ships after studying the satellite images of the ship movements around the area of undersea cable damage.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/04/07/stories/2008040759...

Reliance is an Indian company that owns & operates these internet/communications cables.

Thats the reason I finished off my earlier comment with this-

"It is more fun to arrive at a conclusion than to justify it."

Have a nice day

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Its a pretty big ocean...

By Reclaimer77 on 4/14/2008 11:15:09 PM , Rating: 1

What I wanna know is, how did they even know where to drop anchor to cut these cables ? The ocean is HUGE, and to even attempt this you would have to have exact coordinates of where these cables were. Is that common knowledge or something ?

RE: Its a pretty big ocean...

By SandmanWN on 4/15/2008 10:23:13 AM , Rating: 2

Yes its common knowledge to every captain of commercial shipping lines. For their specific region/route of shipping they are told were certain underwater restriction zones are and where the safe zones are for dropping anchor.

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RE: Its a pretty big ocean...

By SandmanWN on 4/15/2008 10:35:37 AM , Rating: 2

To further my example... Its just like the air industry. You have flight restriction zones and you also have noise reduction zones, all of which you know and are constantly updated too. Its the same for commercial shipping.

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Traffic Wardens

By spluurfg on 4/14/2008 2:28:12 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
Claims are that the two ships ventured into a forbidden area and then dropped anchor during a storm where they snagged the cables and severed them. What role the two men being held played in the severing of the cables is unknown at this time.

If they tried something like this in Central London, they would have been ticketed within seconds, not weeks.

A colleague of mine once parked at a meter and was making change and was given a ticket before he ever left the vehicle.

RE: Traffic Wardens

By boogle on 4/14/2008 2:44:24 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
If they tried something like this in Central London, they would have been ticketed within seconds, not weeks.

In London you get charged just for going over an imaginary line! If you're stupid enough to actually stop (even for lights) what was he expecting?

I'm expecting them to just have a series of cameras lined up on the outskirts of the city that read your plate and automatically send a fine to your doorstep for 'driving'. I'm sure they'll work out some sort of subscription service for the poor saps who actually live in London.

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