Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Thrifty, Anonymous Benefactor Backs Up BBC Websites Before They Go Dark

Posted by timothy on from the slurp-and-emit dept.

revealingheart writes "The BBC is set to close down 200 of its websites in the near future as part of cost-cutting measures. Hearing that 172 of these sites would be deleted from the Web entirely, an anonymous individual has taken matters into his or her own hands. The result is a BitTorrent file that anyone can download to store a backup of these 'lost' websites forever. The cost of the project? Apparently no more than $3.99 for a VPS server to crawl and retrieve all the sites."

4 of 159 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What I want to know.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Actually, It is only required if you watch or record TV as it's being shown over the air (live).

    You can in fact have a Freeview TV set up, plugged in, receiving signals, but so long as you only use it to read text services or listen to radio - you don't need a licence.

    I have previously written to the BBC for clarification on these points, and they have confirmed that this is truth.

  2. Real reason the BBC is cutting back online by doperative · · Score: 5, Informative

    The real reason the BBC is cutting back on its online presence is hidden pressure from the commercial sector who have always seen it as a threat to their revenue. "News Corporation's James Murdoch has said that a "dominant" BBC threatens independent journalism in the UK". Of course we all know what kind of 'independent' journalism he really means. One where some Australian pornographer decides who gets to be president or Primeminister.

    "James Murdoch, son of Rupert and the man in charge of BSkyB has criticised the BBC iPlayer, insisting that the popular online VOD service is squashing competition" link

  3. Re:What I want to know.... by PenguinJames · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well, if you read the article, you find a link: "You can read the full background to the story here [http://178.63.252.42/]." Look up 178.63.252.42 at ripe.org and you find it's owned by spacerich.com. Visit spacerich.com and you see in large, friendly letters: "Virtual Private Servers from $3.99/month"

    So there you go, spacerich.com offers VPS for $3.99/month.

    --
    The box said, "Requires Windows XP or Better"...
    So I installed Linux.
  4. Re:The BBC is hardly unbiased by mister_dave · · Score: 4, Informative

    Two BBC journos have written books denouncing left wing bias throughout the BBC. Most recently Peter Sissons, but before that Robin Aitken.