Faulty firewire attachments destroying port?

[Empr]

I have heard that your firewire port can get fried by using certain faulty pieces of gear. It hasn't happened to me, but the thought kind of scares me.
Does anyone know if there is a way of preventing this from happening? If it did, would AppleCare cover it?

 

[iBookG4user]

Don't plug the FireWire cable in backwards.

 

[alphaod]

Don't plug the FireWire cable in backwards.

That would be really bad.

Make sure the arrows are in the right direction; if they are not, the data may not transfer.