US hunters shoot down Google fibre

By Ry Crozier on Sep 21, 2010 1:48 PM
Filed under Telco/ISP

Repairers forced to ski in to Oregon back woods.

Google has revealed that aerial fibre links to its data centre in Oregon were "regularly" shot down by hunters, forcing the company to put its cables underground.

The search and advertising giant's network engineering manager Vijay Gill told the AusNOG conference in Sydney last week that people were trying to hit insulators on electricity distribution poles.

The poles also hosted aerially-deployed fibre connected to Google's $US600 million ($A635 million) data centre in the Dalles, a small city on the Columbia River in the US state of Oregon.

"What people do for sport or because they're bored, they try to shoot at the insulators," Gill said.

"I have yet to see them actually hit the insulator, but they regularly shoot down the fibre.

"Every November when hunting season starts invariably we know that the fibre will be shot down, so much so that we are now building an underground path [for it]."

Gill said that on one occasion, a snowstorm and avalanche prevented Google from transporting repairers and gear into the area of the cut.

It usually used a helicopter or a Caterpillar D9 tractor for transport. It improvised by sending three technicians on skis to "repair the fibre that got shot down".

"These guys had to cross country ski for three days," Gill said.

"[One guy] is carrying what is known as a fusion splicing kit on his backpack."

He joked: "These guys had to go in and fix the fibre while facing gunshots

"So [the] internet... [it's] more dangerous than you realise."

22 comments in this discussion

"@ Tallguy & Deteego. You guys are taking all this the wrong way. The problem is in the society. If you go back to the 1950's we had less gun crime also, but at the same time we had mandatory ..."

By Francis

Tags

google, fibre, links, datacenter, shot, hunters, the dalles, googleplex

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Comments: 22

johnpro2 Sep 21, 2010 10:19 PM	The US gun rights are out of control. Jp
paulhoward Sep 22, 2010 12:41 AM	A few bad apples are giving hunters a bad name. A sting operation needs to be done, vandalism and destruction of property is a crime. The criminals should be punished severely(lose gun & voting rights) and pay a steep price(all damages +). -Paul
NumbNuts2009 Sep 22, 2010 1:00 AM	@JohnPro2: Yes, yes, we've heard it all before. Do you wanna know an interesting little factoid about your supposedly safe country? Back in 1996, when it became apparent that center-fire guns were going to be confiscated, do you know what hobby became the latest craze? GARDENING. Yes, thousands, perhaps TENS of thousands of people, all over Australia, took up a sudden and inexplicable interest in putting flower beds in the back garden. How strange that growing veggies or flowers seemed to require 5' lengths of 6" PVC pipe, plastic bags, pints of Vaseline and satchets of dessicant? How very strange indeed. The Folk of Oz aren't dumb.
johnpro2 Sep 22, 2010 10:42 AM	I just came in from the garden actually ..very relaxing,profitable to property values and relatively safe. Yes, I use to own a gun, and when no wretched wildlife was available to blast away ..well you can fill in the gaps yourself. Too many hoons have too many rights. The wild west has long past. Jp
ahier Sep 22, 2010 3:46 PM	I can tell you that occasionally we catch some of these renegade hunters and they are boiled in a vat of oil and then hung from the neck until dead for their crimes...
Badger1911 Sep 22, 2010 4:01 PM	Ah yes, johnpro2, that's the solution. Ban the guns, that will solve all problems, right? Crack down on people's rights. Hmmm, sounds a tad bit fascist to me, you know? Funny, why is the crime rate in the UK skyrocketting? Why is Chicago a place I wouldn't enter without an APC? These places have very strict anti-gun laws, yet... Also gotta love how suddenly all hunters are evil. Typical. One nut behaves like a moron, and at once all members of the group are evil. Hey, next time some idiot drive drunk and wipes out a family I will call for banning all cars. Speaking of cars, you know how many people die every year on the streets of the EU due to traffic accidents? 50,000. Cars are by far more dangerous than guns, yet nobody complains. Strange!
ahier Sep 22, 2010 4:05 PM	We will continue to hunt down these hunters until everyone one of them are caught and dealt with! Anyone caught within ten miles of a Google datacenter with a rifle will be immediately banned from the Internet forever...
Otter Sep 22, 2010 4:31 PM	According to the article: a hunter can hit a thin, moving, elastic wire, but a hunter can't hit a large, stationary, ceramic insulator? Fibercon! Where's Mythbusters?
ahier Sep 22, 2010 4:47 PM	This must be stopped!!! All sharpshooter fiber shooting hunters will be hunted down...
johnpro2 Sep 22, 2010 6:27 PM	Outlaw crime I say ..there are a few good folk left fortunately ...{although statistically it is possibly the vast majority} Jp
Mordd Sep 22, 2010 7:07 PM	@NumbNuts2009 - Love to see even anecdotal evidence for your claim, the supposed "factoid" you shared. I'm guessing though that you only have wild hearsay to back up your claim right?
ahier Sep 23, 2010 2:55 AM	We are now using GPS systems with Google Maps to locate all hunters in the area ~ they will be eliminated...
falk Sep 23, 2010 5:50 AM	It's not just "one nut" behaving like a moron. When I worked in radio, hunters were constantly shooting at the lights on our transmitter tower. Sometimes they hit the main transmission cable. It cost us a fortune to replace the lights they shot out on a constant basis. In a bad year, they could do $50,000 in damage.
Francis Sep 23, 2010 7:49 AM	Hey Guys this is Australia not the USA. I am a fire arms instructor and Range Officer and occasionally a recreational shooter (Hunter). If anyone of our crew found anyone doing this they would be reported and would loose their license and their fire arms. We have strong Gun Laws here in fact they are if anything to strong. But ask yourself this. Why is it that in Switzerland the place is literally awash with assault weapons as every male between 18 & 55 has to join the military and they keep their rifles at home along with a couple of magazines of ammunition, yet in this country they have no gun crime. Also ask Google, if their cable is so important why did they not bury it in the first place instead of leaving it out in the open where it is at the mercy of the elements? NBN Please take Note! By the way
ahier Sep 23, 2010 10:57 AM	I can't believe that you folks actually don't recognize this is satire! There has been NO incident like those described in this article in Oregon. SO don't get your undies all in a wad...
ahier Sep 24, 2010 12:51 PM	Google clarifies story ~ http://bit.ly/ds512g
anonymous Sep 24, 2010 1:34 PM	Looks like Vijay Gill from Google was looking for a little publicity by creating an urban myth, and got a bit more than he bargained for. There's a name for that behaviour, it rhymes with sickhead banker. . .
rycrozier Sep 24, 2010 1:57 PM	@ahier - you've been very selective in your criticism, completely ignoring all the folks from utilities that have commented on the various sites (slashdot etc.) that people taking potshots at their infrastructure is an issue. You're also linking to an article that "clarifies" the story by confirming it happened. I don't quite understand your point...
ahier Sep 24, 2010 2:44 PM	@rycrozier your correct I am being selective. I don't doubt that hunters taking shots at things they shouldn't is a problem in many places, possibly even here in Oregon. However, there has never been an instance of the Google datacenter in Oregon repairing fiber cut due to a hunter. This has not happened here. As a matter of fact Google does not repair any fiber in this state. Google spokesman said "the company is aware of a single incident involving a hunter and cables at one of its many data centers around the world." Unfortunately for the accuracy of Vijay Gill's quotes that incident is not related to the Google datacenter in The Dalles. I have spoken to a few Google officials here and they say that Vijay Gill's statements should be taken as allegorical... I'd be interested to hearing him issue a statement on this, but I'd be surprised if he is willing to talk about it publicly.
tallguy Sep 25, 2010 12:52 AM	@Francis: Might be time to update your Switzerland facts. In recent times their practices have come into question locally due to some serious shooting incidents. Anyway, even without these incidents you can't compare Switzerland with Australia or America. In general the Swiss understand the concept of personal responsibility. Yes, there are lots of guns it is true. BUT: - gun owners are all military or former military AND current militia members (therefore highly trained in safe & responsible use of firearms) - legally liable for ANYTHING that happens with those guns - the overall crime rate is extremely low, so guns or no guns is not so much of an issue - last but not least you have to consider that the culture in Switzerland is such that people not meeting their responsibilities WILL be reported
deteego Sep 25, 2010 10:58 PM	tallguy wrote: @Francis: Might be time to update your Switzerland facts. In recent times their practices have come into question locally due to some serious shooting incidents. Anyway, even without these incidents you can't compare Switzerland with Australia or America. In general the Swiss understand the concept of personal responsibility. Yes, there are lots of guns it is true. BUT: - gun owners are all military or former military AND current militia members (therefore highly trained in safe & responsible use of firearms) - legally liable for ANYTHING that happens with those guns - the overall crime rate is extremely low, so guns or no guns is not so much of an issue - last but not least you have to consider that the culture in Switzerland is such that people not meeting their responsibilities WILL be reported Similar deal with Canada Canada has multitudes more guns then America (as gun ownership) yet America has homicides due to guns in the tens of thousands where I believe canada barely hits half a thousand. Reason being, people in Canada use guns to hunt (mainly). People in America, well they get guns for all the wrong reasons
Francis Oct 4, 2010 1:44 PM	@ Tallguy & Deteego. You guys are taking all this the wrong way. The problem is in the society. If you go back to the 1950's we had less gun crime also, but at the same time we had mandatory National Service, which had the beneficiary side effect of imposing discipline, which is similar though not the same as in Switzerland. At the same time we had more guns in the community and less gun crime. The problem with guns does not lie with the weapon itself but with the person that uses it. Hence the real problem is with society. Its a bit like our road toll, it is always the drivers fault and the authorities never blame the roads and road side. Yet they do in Sweden, They build roads to prevent "accidents" and limit the damage to the human body in the event of one. "Here" we have black spots which when boiled down are the result of penny pinching and poor road design. But who gets the blame, its usually the driver. But going back to your comments about Switzerland, pretty well any gun crime they have is imported and not carried out by Swiss Nationals. And yes I have revisited the issue lately as I have Swiss relatives and often visit the country.