By Richard Chirgwin, 18 Sep 2014
The Register has found itself subject to a certain amount of criticism for this author's scepticism regarding whether the NSA has been snooping on optical fibre cables by cutting them.
Glenn Greenwald's recent “NSA cut New Zealand's cables” story is illustrative of credibility problems that surround the ongoing Edward Snowden leak stories: everybody is too willing to accept that “if it's classified, it must be because it's true”, and along the way, attribute super-powers to spy agencies.
In running the line that undersea cables were cut, Greenwald is straying far enough from what's feasible and credible that his judgement on other claims needs to be questioned.
It seems to The Register almost certain that neither Glenn Greenwald nor Edward Snowden have actually held a submarine fibre cable in their hands.
If all you think of is the fibre itself, it probably seems trivial: dive down, snip the fibre, put in a splitter, let people scratch their heads about a ten-minute outage, what's the problem?
http://regmedia.co.uk/2014/09/17/armouredcablestructurewhitechar.jpgThe fibre is the easy part.
Image: Kokusai Cable Ship Ltd
The Register/ full article here/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/09/18/spies_arent_superheroes/
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