| Google mistakes Michael Jackson searches for attack |
| Written by www.news.com.au | |
| Sunday, 28 June 2009 | |
|
A DELUGE of search queries for Michael Jackson led Google News to initially believe it was under attack, the internet giant says. Google said that "millions and millions" of people around the world begin searching for news about the pop star as reports emerged about his hospitalization and death. It rated the "hotness" of Jackson-related searches as "volcanic." "The spike in searches related to Michael Jackson was so big that Google News initially mistook it for an automated attack," Google said. "As a result, for about 25 minutes yesterday, when some people searched Google News they saw a 'We're sorry' page before finding the articles they were looking for," it said. The "We're sorry" page tells users their query "looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application" and forces them to type in a series of squiggly characters before it will process their request. Popular micro-blogging service Twitter also slowed down - and lost the search bar for some time - as users exchanged thousands of messages per minute about Jackson's death at the age of 50. Web portal AOL said its AIM instant messaging service was down for about 40 minutes. News.com.au had already received more than twice its daily traffic before midday on Friday. - with AFP Source: http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,28348,25705731-5014239,00.html |
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