Friday, April 8, 2011

Elderly woman, digging for scrap, knocks out Internet in Eastern Europe

CNET Asia has reported that a 75-year-old woman cut off Internet access to thousands in the Eastern European countries of Georgia and Armenia when she dug up a fiber-optic line, thinking the cable was copper and aiming to scrap the metal for cash.

The enterprising senior citizen was arrested for her efforts. Local media outlets have begun calling her the "spade hacker" and report that she faces up to three years' imprisonment if convicted.

According to reports, officials at Georgian Railway Telecom, which owns the fiber-optic line, were surprised at the amount of damage done. CNET quoted the company's top marketing executive as saying, "I cannot understand how this lady managed to find and damage the cable. It has robust protection and such incidents are extremely rare."

One news outlet is reporting that the accused is claiming innocence and has been distraught since her arrest. ABSCBN News identified the woman as Hayastan Shakarian and said she "tearfully insisted she was innocent and she had never heard of the web."

Their story quoted her as follows: "I did not cut this cable. Physically, I could not do it. I have no idea what the Internet is." A Georgian interior minister, however, claimed that Shakarian had already confessed.

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