Vandals leave Californians without phone or Internet service

It’s amazing how much damage a pair of wire-cutters can do.

Officials declared a local state of emergency in northern California yesterday after vandals pried up manhole covers and severed eight fiber-optic cables, resulting in the loss of cell phone, landline, and Internet service for tens of thousands of residents in Santa Clara County. 911 service was also disrupted, prompting the mobilization of emergency responders.

The service outage affected AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon customers. AT&T is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible.

The takeaway: Emergencies like this point out just how dependent we are on technology, and how vulnerable we are to real-world crime as well as online threats. Wednesday’s news that international infiltrators have compromised our electrical grid adds to the concern. While there is no way a consumer can prepare for a total system outage, you can take steps to cope with less drastic situations, such as a blackout. For more on responding to emergencies, check out our natural disaster guide.

What would you do if you woke up and found yourself electronically marooned from the outside world?