Big Bother for Ofcom's website

The website of telecoms watchdog Ofcom has suffered problems today due to the volume of visitors caused by the Celebrity Big Brother racism furore.

A note on Ofcom's site read: "Ofcom are currently receiving very high volumes of complaints alleging racism in Celebrity Big Brother 7. Visitors may experience delays or intermittent problems when trying to submit complaints."

The number of complaints concerning alleged racism against Bollywood actress and Celebrity Big Brother contestant Shilpa Shetty has passed the 30,000 mark - a record for a UK broadcasts.

The Carphone Warehouse has ended its sponsorship of the series as a result of the scandal, which has seen questions raised in parliament.

There has been criticism levelled at Ofcom by industry analysts, who believe that Ofcom's site should be able to cope with high volumes of traffic.

"A site that was created to be a public forum for objection on a national scale needs to be able to cope with the high levels of traffic the new wave of 'risqué' television may bring with it, including flash crowds. Wide access to the net means people are voicing their views more frequently and this is a change in society that will effect internet sites like Ofcom," said Haran Sold of Keynote Systems.

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/
http://www.keynote.com/

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