I call shotgun!

Internet service providers in the U.S. experienced a service slowdown Monday after fiber-optic cables near Cleveland were apparently sabotaged by gunfire. [Emphasis mine -Al]

The report then goes on to name three different ISPs/NSPs that were affected:

• Level3 (who owns the cable)
• TeliaSonera, and
• Cogent

Don't these people have redundant circuits? Does Level3 have cheap non-protected circuits on offer? Or are some networking companies smart enough to build their own infrastructure on Level3's dark fibre and yet simultaneously dumb enough to not protect that same infrastructure? Wow.

Alternatively, it's a great excuse for more Cogent de-peering *ahem*...
(thanks PCWorld / Yahoo!)