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Copper Thieves Jeopardize US Infrastructure
coondoggie supplies an excerpt from Network World that might make you consider a lock for your pipes: "The FBI today ratcheted up the clamor to do something more substantive about the monumental growth of copper theft in the US. In a report issued today the FBI said the rising theft of the metal is threatening the critical infrastructure by targeting electrical substations, cellular towers, telephone land lines, railroads, water wells, construction sites, and vacant homes for lucrative profits. Copper thefts from these targets have increased since 2006; and they are currently disrupting the flow of electricity, telecommunications, transportation, water supply, heating, and security and emergency services, and present a risk to both public safety and national security." (A July, 2006 post on Ethan Zuckerman's blog gives an idea of how widespread cable theft has affected internet infrastructure, and basketmaking, in Africa.)
This is a huge problem here in Vancouver, Canada. One solution that has been bandied around is requiring the scrap dealers to not pay cash - i.e. if you have copper to sell you get a receipt from the scrap dealer, provide your name & address and in 30 days the dealer mails you a cheque. As most junkies don't have addresses, nor are they prepared to wait 30 days, they'll stop selling copper. The legitimate sellers don't mind waiting 30 days.
This is due to the difference in income status between the rich and the poor in the US. The rich need the valuable infrastructure. The poor just need to live.
Absolute rubbish. The US is far from the Paris depicted in "Les Miserables", where the poor have to steal to live. These people are doing it because they think it will put them on the fast track to make them rich. Having an LCD television or supporting a drug habit is not "needing to live".
To think I almost cried at the plight of the "poor" in America after reading your post. NOT. I live in the REAL 3rd world, and I see REAL poverty every day.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Kinda hard to insinuate that a theft of materials for purely financial gain is somehow intended to strike fear into the hearts of the populace.
Or are you just following the knee-jerk reaction to label "anything sufficiently disliked" as "terrorism"?
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
Theft of materials might not be terrorism, but destruction of infrastructures to get said materials should at least be labeled vandalism.
I think there is a common sentiment to apply terrorism laws to things that aren't terrorism. This isn't terrorism and shouldn't be punished as such. If society wants to seriously punish people who intentionally dismantle infrastructure, than harsher laws need to be passed to that effect.
That is a very broad definition of infrastrucure... and terrorism... if you hit a stop sign or a power line because you lost control of your car are you a terrorist? You affected "critical" infrastructure... We must be very carefull with this whole "call everything terrorism" thing. I think we are at critical mass with the current state of affairs. Our government has done a wonderfull job scaring personal freedoms out of us. Sure stealing copper and knocking out 911 service or power to an area is a deplorable act but not one of terrorism. The current tendency to call everything terrorism is very dangerous...
Eye for an eye and half of the world will have just one eye!
In fact, the basic premise of Capitalism is that if you have some resources, some capital, if you will (like, say, US dollars, or copper pipes) you get to keep them and invest them in something which will (hopefully) bring you something of value in the future (like, say, a small business, or stock of a big business, or the warmth/comfort/enjoyment of your home).
The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
Maybe it's time to consider copper theft an act of terrorism?
At least in the cases when infrastructure is threatened.
Maybe it's time to consider those who use current topics on the minds of the people to pass stupid laws and ruin the country "Traitors"!
Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
Not when copper prices fall through the floor thanks to the implosion of the construction boom. If there's no demand for the stuff, the price goes way down.
As we're condemning these thieves for being fucking assholes, tearing down their own community's infrastructure for the scrap value, just remember that the only difference between them and the financial wizards and CEO's who brought us into our current crisis is a matter of scale.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
What "fucked up" system are you talking about?
The one where money earns money faster than labor can. The one where a minimum wage worker can be fired for being 10 minutes late one day, but the CEO that drives his company into the ground gets millions of dollars in bonuses. The one that incarcerates a greater proportion of its population than any other country in the world. If you haven't noticed how fucked up America is, you simply haven't been paying attention.
Yes, people are responsible for their own actions. But they don't act in a vacuum. Nobody would choose to steal copper from a live power station if they had other alternatives. We can either give them alternatives, or we can watch this kind of criminal behavior continue. That's our choice as a society, and we're going to have to live with the consequences. Which would be least costly?
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
How old are these "kids"? And in a society where infrastructure has been broken down for a few years and education is likely to be spotty, this is "ignorant" not "stupid." Stupid is what the american people are: because they have every opportunity to learn shit like this and do not. The actions of someone who never had a chance to know something is dangerous are not "stupid."
While you're busy appealing to people's emotions, I'll do the same.
People may be good hearted, but perhaps, just perhaps... they are drug addicts, desperate for a fix and do not see the value of getting a job and working for money like the rest of society.
In my experience, the good people who are victims are NOT the ones robbing and vandalizing for money. The ones who are responsible for crime are the ones who couldn't give two shits about mugging a homeless guy for his change cup.