BBC website crashes under demand

Feb 26, 2010

A BBC website hosting an online test crashed under the weight of traffic after viewers were invited to take part in an online test.

The BBC 2 programme, The Virtual Revolution, which airs on Saturday evenings, asked viewers to take a test to analyse their online behaviour. However, the huge interest caused the site to crash and left the broadcaster red-faced.

The failure of the website was particularly ironic, considering the programme hopes to follow the rise of the internet and how people use it for social, business and leisure activities. The BBC may have found out about the problem through its website monitoring service.

Yet the survey was a victim of its own popularity and undermined efforts to chart the internet's evolution.

Elsewhere, Falkland Islands newspaper Penguin News was hacked by Argentines wishing to assert their country's claim over the islands. The website was replaced by the flag of Argentina and the sound of the national anthem.

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