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from the unless-they-were-'accidentally'-broken dept.
The Register has found itself subject to a certain amount of criticism for this author's skepticism ( Richard Chirgwin http://www.theregister.co.uk/Author/2242 ) 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.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/09/18/spies_arent_superheroes/
Do you think that it is credible that these undersea fibre cables were tapped when it is easier to tap onshore installations?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by HiThere on Friday September 19 2014, @11:45PM
At one point there was a technique for tapping optical cables by bending rather than cutting the fibers so that some of the signal would leak through. That may not be possible with modern cables, I don't know. (The time I heard of this being done was before gradient density cables, and the cables were only suitable for fairly short runs. Definitely not what you'd use from undersea cables.)
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.