Georgian woman cuts off web access to whole of Armenia

Jesus Wept

The woman damaged a fibre-optic cable with her spade.

An elderly Georgian woman was scavenging for copper to sell as scrap when she accidentally sliced through an underground cable and cut off internet services to all of neighbouring Armenia, it emerged on Wednesday.

The woman, 75, had been digging for the metal not far from the capital Tbilisi when her spade damaged the fibre-optic cable on 28 March.

As Georgia provides 90% of Armenia's internet, the woman's unwitting sabotage had catastrophic consequences. Web users in the nation of 3.2 million people were left twiddling their thumbs for up to five hours as the country's main internet providers - ArmenTel, FiberNet Communication and GNC-Alfa – were prevented from supplying their normal service. Television pictures showed reporters at a news agency in the capital Yerevan staring glumly at blank screens.

Large parts of Georgia and some areas of Azerbaijan were also affected.

"It was a 75-year-old woman who was digging for copper in the ground so that she could sell it for scrap," said a spokesman for Georgia's interior ministry said yesterday.

Dubbed "the spade-hacker" by local media, the woman – who has not been named – is being investigated on suspicion of damaging property. She faces up to three years in prison if charged and convicted.

A spokesman for Georgia's interior ministry said the woman was temporarily released "on account of her old age" but could face more questioning.

The damage was detected by a system monitoring the fibre-optic link from western Europe and a security team was immediately dispatched to the spot, where the woman was arrested. The interior ministry said she had no accomplices.

The cable is owned by the Georgian railway network. It is heavily protected, but landslides or heavy rain may have exposed it to scavengers.

Pulling up unused copper cables for scrap is a common means of making money in the former Soviet Union. Some entrepreneurs have even used tractors to wrench out hundreds of metres of cable from the former nuclear testing ground at Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan.

Link

Spade hacker. :pac:

AlmightyCushion

It's Armenia, who gives a crap.

Jesus Wept

Armenians.

Jesus Wept

Moved to Armenia Forum.

chin_grin

The-Rigger wrote: »

Moved to Armenia Forum.

404. :pac:

admiralofthefleet

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

It's Armenia, who gives a crap.

the women they send to the eurovision (oh yeah thats on soon) are hot

Latchy

Ahh...Armenia ...Cesspool ......

sure they dont do anything else over there except watch aul porn

biko

Georgian woman - more powerful than Obama

Jesus Wept

biko wrote: »

Georgian woman - more powerful than Obama

He needs to roll up his sleeves and get a spade.

starbelgrade

One copper cable supplies the whole of Armenia?

Fucking hell. The router must be massive.

Cypher_sounds

Ouch that was an expensive dig for her!

Sisko

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

It's Armenia, who gives a crap.

You turkish?

Jesus Wept

starbelgrade wrote: »

One copper cable supplies the whole of Armenia?

Fucking hell. The router must be massive.

They just kept adding to it and now they can't find a single person willing to untangle it.

UglyBolloxFace

Sisko wrote: »

You turkish?

If he was Turkish he wouldn't actually acknowledge that Armenia lost it's Internet:pac:

policarp

What was her parents thinking about?
Letting a youngster like that loose with a spade on the internet highway.
Very irresponsible.

Naikon

What about the backup trunk lines? The people in charge should be convicted of implementing a piss poor infrastructure imo. The old lady should not bear all of the blame in this case.

I think this is the first time Armenia has been in the news since the genocide.

Schism

That's mad that she could face up to 3 years in prison, she's a 75 year old woman, let her on!




(I'm going to look very silly when she's forgotten about the whole thing and chops the cable again)

WoollyRedHat

She accidently the whole internets

MagicSean

Ha! She tried to steal the Internet. Awesome.

Dravokivich

The-Rigger wrote: »

They just kept adding to it and now they can't find a single person willing to untangle it.

In fairness, from what i've seen over the years, that's rather tidy...

pickarooney

Deleted User wrote: »

All hail Mustafa Ataturk.

My internet (in Istanbul) has been acting up the last couple of days. This is the only post I can see in this thread.


Seriously though, you're 75 and reduced to digging for scrap copper to sell to get by and you risk three years in jail because some twat put a single fibre optic cable in for a whole country. Harsh.

danniemcq

Still a better service than Eircom

biko

Hey! I'll have you know I'm on Eircom right now and th