Fourth cable damaged in Middle Eest (Qatar to UAE)

Mon Feb 4 08:27:35 UTC 2008

I disagree... I think "information warfare tactic" could easily be terrorism, though I can't see why this particular event could/would be terrorism. 

Disrupting a major network like the Internet WITHIN the US could definitely be a form of terrorism... I think anything which maliciously disrupts a huge portions of a nation's day-to-day activities would be cause for concern for many folk, especially the telecommunications infrastructure. However, I'm not sure what the mindset of the terrorist would be even if they fully succeeded what is proposed would be the terrorist's plan - even if we lost totally connectivity with the middle east, or even what's considered "friendly" countries... as long as the information is flowing at home, nobody's going to be filling their swimming pools full of drinking water. 

I imagine the mindset would be different if you were a small country loosing a substantial portion of it's communication channels with the outside world... 

-Patrick 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Newton" <newton at internode.com.au> 
To: "Martin Hannigan" <hannigan at gmail.com> 
Cc: "Sean Donelan" <sean at donelan.com>, nanog at merit.edu 
Sent: Sunday, February 3, 2008 11:12:46 PM (GMT-0800) America/Los_Angeles 
Subject: Re: Fourth cable damaged in Middle Eest (Qatar to UAE) 

On 04/02/2008, at 4:38 PM, Martin Hannigan wrote: 

> I agree with Rod Beck as far as the speculations go. It could be 
> terror, 

Well, no, it couldn't be. Nobody is being terrorized by this. How 
can it possibly be a terrorist incident? 

If it's deliberate, it might be described as an "information warfare 
tactic." But not terrorism. 

(visions of some guy sitting a in cave with a pair of wet boltcutters 
laughing maniacally to himself, cackling, "Ha-ha! Now their daytraders 
will get upset, and teenagers will get their porn _slower_! Die 
American scum!" Doesn't really work, does it?) 

Politicians have succeeded in watering down the definition of the word 
"terrorism" to the point where it no longer has any meaning. But we're 
rational adults, not politicians, right? If we can't get it right, 
who will? 

- mark 

-- 
Mark Newton Email: newton at internode.com.au 
(W) 
Network Engineer Email: 
newton at atdot.dotat.org (H) 
Internode Systems Pty Ltd Desk: +61-8-82282999 
"Network Man" - Anagram of "Mark Newton" Mobile: +61-416-202-223 

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