The BBC has once again found itself in some hot water, except this time none of its big name tv or radio personalities are to blame. No! This time it is the turn of the technology show : Click. Spencer Kelly, Click’s presenter, wanted to show viewers just how simple it was to gain access and take control of thousands of home computers. Almost 22,000 computers made up Click’s network of hijacked machines, which the BBC claims has now been disabled. After the excercise, the BBC contacted the owners of the hijacked computers and alerted them that their machines were infected and how to make their computers more secure.

However, even though the BBC acted with best interest to show how easy it was to hack into home computers, it has been suggested that the BBC’s actions were naive and potentially criminal. According to the Computer Misuse Act the BBC broke the rules by causing 22,000 computers to send spam. Even though the BBC sent the spam emails to their own servers! It is unlikely that any prosecution will take place, however. But is must be pointed out that computer crime like the BBC carried out, carries a 2 year maximum jail sentence! The Click program is due to be screened on Saturday 14 March at 1130 GMT on the BBC News Channel. You can read the full article and also watch a video of the hacking here.