An eye safety mechanism for use with a bi-directional data cable having an electrical interface at at least one (but potentially both) ends, despite the fact that the cable communicates over much of its length using a bi-directional optical channel. Upon power-up, the eye safety mechanism determines whether or not a loss of signal condition is present on an optical receive channel of the bi-directional data cable. If the loss of signal is present, the mechanism intermittently disables the optical transmit channel of the bi-directional data cable. On the other hand, if the loss of signal is not present, the mechanism enables the optical transmit channel of the bi-directional data cable without intermittently disabling transmission at least for most of the time until the next time a loss of signal is detected on the optical receive channel.