Michael Jackson's death Thursday had as great an impact on the Internet as anything in the history of the medium that didn't involve the World Trade Center.
The statistics are amazing: Akamai said worldwide Internet traffic was 11 percent higher than normal during the peak hours between 3 p.m. PDT and 4 p.m., when news of Jackson's death was breaking. That traffic forced even Google to its knees for a brief period of time Thursday afternoon.
Can a system that has trouble keeping up with ever-increasing demand for its services be considered a reliable source of information when a true crisis emerges?
The statistics are amazing: Akamai said worldwide Internet traffic was 11 percent higher than normal during the peak hours between 3 p.m. PDT and 4 p.m., when news of Jackson's death was breaking. That traffic forced even Google to its knees for a brief period of time Thursday afternoon.
Can a system that has trouble keeping up with ever-increasing demand for its services be considered a reliable source of information when a true crisis emerges?
Solutions proposed by the debaters and their commentators are quite inadequate.
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