The Fragility of Our Telephone System

Life is full of things we take for granted and, often, we don’t realize how much we need and rely upon them until they disappear. Thousands of people got a dose of harsh reality on April 9th when vandals sabotaged AT&T telephone cables in the Silicon Valley.

Yes, that’s right: vandals and sabotage.

Apparently, whoever cut the cables knew what they were doing and where to do it: they cut 10 cables at four different locations. These cables were several inches in diameter and had numerous fibers within them, requiring more than your average set of cable cutters. If you’ve ever seen the phone company running fiber optic cables under the street, you know how large these cables are. You don’t just walk up to one and take your swiss army knife to it.

Even more amazing is how much of our day-to-day lives are carried on these cables. Many businesses closed for the day, mobile and land-line phones simply stopped working, and internet access for thousands of people disappeared.

With the damage done and the repairs completed, all we’re left with are questions. Who would do this? Why would they do this?

As much as I shy away from conspiracy theories (despite my recent purchase of a Diesel Sweeties shirt that indicates otherwise), this seems to have been planned out with a goal in mind. Are we being reminded of how fragile our infrastructure really is? Or maybe a disgruntled AT&T employee just wanted to give the company a bad day?

Although the investigation is ongoing, we may never know.