No. 10 Web site collapses from heavy demand
Published: 08 Oct 2001 16:03 BST
The official No. 10 Downing Street Web site was still out of action on Monday, after collapsing under the pressure of its heaviest-ever traffic last week when a document linking Osama bin Laden to the terrorist attacks on 11 September was published on the site.
The government Web site was taken offline on Thursday when thousands of people around the world tried to access the evidence made available by the UK government concerning responsibility for the destruction caused to the World Trade Center and the Pentagon last month. The No. 10 site was the first to publish the document.
"There was an unprecedented worldwide demand on the number 10 site, as it was the only site in the world to publish the evidence against bin Laden, " said a spokesman at 10 Downing Street. "Full access to the site will be restored as soon as possible."
The home page of www.number-10.gov.uk has been temporarily replaced with a simple default text page, so that breaking government statements about the military action on Afghanistan can still be accessed, as well as the bin Laden evidence document.
"The site hasn't gone down completely, but access is more restricted," said the Downing Street spokesman.
The 10 Downing Street Web site is part of an Open Government initiative to provide the British public with a network of information online.
The document of evidence concluded that "the attacks of the 11 September 2001 were planned and carried out by Al Qaida, an organisation whose head is Usama Bin Laden. That organisation has the will, and the resources, to execute further attacks of similar scale. Both the United States and its close allies are targets for such attacks."
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