ATT services down due to bombing in Nashville • Hacker News Board

Re: ATT services down due to bombing in Nashville

#171

Post by whimsicalism » Sat, Dec 26, 2020, 3:20 AM UTC

vageli wrote: post #123

bigbubba wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. There are certainly people who believe both or either of those were terrorism.

Terrorism is the use of violence to promote an ideology. Full stop. Nothing precludes a terrorist act from helping people. Even Pablo Escobar set up schools and other institutions in his neighborhood.

Sure, but "terrorism" explicitly implies a value judgement. Why else would you take issue with the term "political violence", which is equally technically correct? It is violence for political aims.

You were clearly trying to make a point beyond the prescriptive definition of the word, so this comment reads like backtracking to me.

Re: ATT services down due to bombing in Nashville

#172

Post by tru3_power » Sat, Dec 26, 2020, 3:21 AM UTC

ideophobia wrote: post #148

Considering the FBI recently foiled a plot by a group who was planning to "take out" parts of the energy grid, it seems likely from my experience that this is another set of people executing a similar plan targeting telecoms. I imagine there is a high probability of more incidents like this happening between now and the inauguration, meant to target various infrastructure and "big government" components throughout th…

This sounds extremely similar to Fight Club

Re: ATT services down due to bombing in Nashville

#173

Post by numpad0 » Sat, Dec 26, 2020, 3:22 AM UTC

olefoo wrote: post #153

ideophobia wrote: post #148

Considering the FBI recently foiled a plot by a group who was planning to "take out" parts of the energy grid, it seems likely from my experience that this is another set of people executing a similar plan targeting telecoms. I imagine there is a high probability of more incidents like this happening between now and the inauguration, meant to target various infrastructure and "big government" components throughout th…

What we're seeing is a "stochastic insurgency" where loosely affiliated groups and individuals conceive, plan and execute infrastructure attacks and targeted assassinations. Relatively little operational coordination; but lots of online showing support and post-crime support. I hope all congressional representatives and local government officials are reviewing their safety plans.

That's almost straight out of Ghost in the Shell...

Re: ATT services down due to bombing in Nashville

#174

Post by whimsicalism » Sat, Dec 26, 2020, 3:23 AM UTC

vageli wrote: post #120

whimsicalism wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> violence performed in the commision of promoting an ideology is terrorism. Was the invasion of Iraq terrorism? What about the Boston tea party?

> Was the invasion of Iraq terrorism? What about the Boston tea party? Yes, pretty clearly. Just because you might agree doesn't diminish it. After all, a terrorist is just a freedom fighter depending on the observer. edit: Instead of downvotes because you disagree, why not point out the error in my thinking?

So remind me again why it is wrong or unacceptable to call it "political violence"? I agree that a terrorist is a freedom fighter depending on the observer, your comment seemed to be suggesting taking a specific rhetorical stand however.

I didn't downvote you.

Re: ATT services down due to bombing in Nashville

#175

Post by cinquemb » Sat, Dec 26, 2020, 3:23 AM UTC

meekmockmook wrote: post #170

cinquemb wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm a firm believer in wielding antitrust law to break the biggest corpos up, no matter the sector. I'm a firm believer that no amount of legislation will change the direction of the ship we're on… k street wont have it any other way…

Heh. Maybe I should start looking at property in Costa Rica or Finland or somewhere just totally away from it all.

I left the US 5 years ago… I think the US will be ground zero for this "Innovation" (although proof of concepts have been deployed in the ME for years, tech cheaper now for more people to use for their own ends)… :P

I don't think anywhere is completely safe, but I do think some places have less likelihood of such happening due to the backdrop not skewing incentives as much in those places for such to happen, but everywhere is connected…

Re: ATT services down due to bombing in Nashville

#176

Post by iJohnDoe » Sat, Dec 26, 2020, 3:25 AM UTC

elmo2you wrote: post #83

tptacek wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AT&T says that their services went down along with the gas & power in the area, as a side effect: the gas shutoff cut off their backup generators. That doesn't sound all that targeted.

While I'm only speculating, it could be quite possible that whoever may have wished to damage or destroy the AT&T building, seriously underestimated what these kind of buildings can take (essentially being disguised bunkers). This certainly wasn't a small explosion, from the looks of it. But taking out a bunker .. unless you have access to weapons specially build for that purpose, good luck. That AT&T still went down…

Calling it a bunker might be overstating it. Maybe some are like bunkers or some have been reinforced. It’s hard to say.

Sometimes these central offices are put in really old buildings. Sometimes they are even put in regular homes in a neighborhood.

It’s simply based on where they need the connections/circuits and have access to electricity, etc.

Re: ATT services down due to bombing in Nashville

#177

Post by ideophobia » Sat, Dec 26, 2020, 3:25 AM UTC

sneak wrote: post #160

ideophobia wrote: post #148

Considering the FBI recently foiled a plot by a group who was planning to "take out" parts of the energy grid, it seems likely from my experience that this is another set of people executing a similar plan targeting telecoms. I imagine there is a high probability of more incidents like this happening between now and the inauguration, meant to target various infrastructure and "big government" components throughout th…

> This attack screams anti-government militia with it's technique What part of the technique indicates "anti-government militia"?

Purely my opinion and speculation here, but I'd say the things that stick out to me are the timing and avoidance of random casualties for one. This is a hallmark used by the IRA and the ETA in Spain to inflict damage upon the government without damaging the people, so to speak. The use of an RV also stands out to me, I don't recall many VBIEDs associated with foreign terrorists using that type of vehicle in the US, while I do recall RVs being a common tool in militia groups for movement, travel, storage, etc. Some other things stuck out to me watching videos of the explosion, but it's hard to say anything definitive until more evidence is released.

Re: ATT services down due to bombing in Nashville

#178

Post by swirepe » Sat, Dec 26, 2020, 3:26 AM UTC

joseph_grobbles wrote: post #159

swirepe wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>This isn't a "good deed". It's a presumably rational person playing the situation. Why not both? A deed can be both good and rational.

Reducing the harm of a purposeful, voluntary action -- maybe just to make it personally palatable to your own morality or mission -- doesn't seem to meet the threshold for a "good deed". Less of a bad deed, sure. But given that they still did the very dangerous thing, no not a good deed. The context I replied to implied that tracking a bomber by a warning they gave would be "punishing" a "good deed". That seems dubio…

>The context I replied to implied that tracking a bomber by a warning they gave would be "punishing" a "good deed". That seems dubious.

Oh yeah, sorry, I missed the context. It's a good deed, but not good enough to outweigh, you know, bombing. The recording should be traced like any other part of the bomb.

Re: ATT services down due to bombing in Nashville

#179

Post by zw123456 » Sat, Dec 26, 2020, 3:26 AM UTC

cwwc wrote: post #48

Timing on Christmas and the lengthy list of security systems that rely upon ATT.. makes me wonder. Some variety of a Heist? Seems it wouldn’t be market related given mkts already closed. This is far fetched, yeah. Maybe it was just someone who hates 5G.

I agree, the heist angle was something that came to my mind, it would work if they somehow knew that the blast would take out the generator back up and if they knew that that C.O. only had one entrance facility or some vulnerability like that, which would mean some inside knowledge. Often C.O.'s have dual entrance vaults which it would make sense for bank alarms to be redundant, but if they got the generator or something. They went out of their way to try not to hurt anyone which seems more like maybe an Oceans 11 type heist. I guess if come Monday morning a bunch of banks have been hit we will know, but I would think that the cops are standing guard at all he banks right now. Highly unlikely but who knows.

Re: ATT services down due to bombing in Nashville

#180

Post by bilbo0s » Sat, Dec 26, 2020, 3:26 AM UTC

olefoo wrote: post #153

ideophobia wrote: post #148

Considering the FBI recently foiled a plot by a group who was planning to "take out" parts of the energy grid, it seems likely from my experience that this is another set of people executing a similar plan targeting telecoms. I imagine there is a high probability of more incidents like this happening between now and the inauguration, meant to target various infrastructure and "big government" components throughout th…

What we're seeing is a "stochastic insurgency" where loosely affiliated groups and individuals conceive, plan and execute infrastructure attacks and targeted assassinations. Relatively little operational coordination; but lots of online showing support and post-crime support. I hope all congressional representatives and local government officials are reviewing their safety plans.

I hope all congressional representatives and local government officials are reviewing their safety plans

I know I likely don't have to tell this to the experts out there, but it might first be advisable to have your counter terrorism guys review "all congressional representatives and local government officials". No one minds fighting a war, at the same time, no one wants to charge out of a foxhole and be shot in the back.