A plucky BBC fan has set about the task of archiving almost 200 Beeb websites before distributing them online in a single torrent file.

The BBC plan to cull some 172 of their websites in a massive cost-cutting measure, citing increasing server fees as the reason. While some of these websites are linked to unpopular, long-dead shows such as VideoGaiden, more valuable destinations such as the personal memories of war survivors at WW2 People's War will also face deletion.

"The material taken offline is stored for future reference or deleted altogether," said BBC Online managing editor Ian Hunter.

The anonymous distributor (thought to be ex-BBC employee Ben Metcalfe), has suggested it is not just cost-cutting measures influencing the cull, but external pressure from the new coalition government too. In his words, the archive stands to "expose the 'cost savings' of this proposed exercise as nothing more than a charade to appease the detractors to a strong BBC, and to curry favour with the current government."

The process of preserving the sites seems to hve been relatively straight forward. In just under 24 hours, the archivist bout a small virtual private server for around £2.50 and began downloading and indexing the sites in a process known as spidering, which automatically grabs and arranges the data intelligently. The whole thing could have been pulled off even quicker boasted the person believed to be Metcalfe, had he been "less kind to the BBC's servers".

You can pick up the torrent file by clicking here.

The UK's Metropolitan Police service arrested five men today who the belive have been involved in the recent series of pro-WikiLeaks attacks on major web destinations.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said that the arrests are in relation to "recent and ongoing distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks by an online group calling themselves 'Anonymous'."

The DDoS attacks were made on companies including Amazon, PayPal and Mastercard, after each in turn withdrew support from WikiLeaks funding methods. Each company had been looking to distance themselves from the controversial site, under increasing international pressure following the leaks of thousands of sesnitive diplomatic communications.

The five men, aged between 15 and 26 are bieng held under the Computer Misuse Act.

Via: BBC

News has begun to trickle in today about a proposed WikiLeaks movie, documenting the rise of the whistleblowing website, the consequenting controversy surrounding its many leaked wires and co-founder Julian Assange's "colourful" personal life.

The public face of WikiLeaks, the sometimes-enigmatic-sometimes-charismatic Assange makes for one of the more memorable characters in web history.

Which got us thinking; if the movie were to get the green-light, who should play that part, presumably the leading role?

Neil Patrick Harris of "How I Met Your Mother" fame (pictured to the right of Assange in the image above) is certainly a strong likeness, but does he have the acting-chops to carry what would essentially pan out into a tense-courtroom drama?

We've put a few ideas into the poll below, so let us know what you think, and feel free to chime in with suggestions of your own!

The first few steps towards turning the WikiLeaks saga into a Hollywood movie are underway, according to Variety Magazine.

A "suspenseful drama thriller", the planned movie will be a biopic focussing around the life of Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, and will be based on Andrew Fowler's upcoming biography, The Most Dangerous Man in the World.

Producers Barry Josephson and Michelle Krumm have secured the rights to the book, and are said to be actively looking to develop the project for the big screem.

Assange and the WikiLeaks political whistle-blowing website have courted controversy in recent months, with the site marked as a threat to international security for its commitment to publishing sensitive communications between nations and public figures. Assange himself is currently under house arrest in the UK following rape allegations.

Vimeo has announced that they will now allow their Plus users to upload HD videos as big as 5 gigs (approx 2.5 hours in length). Great news for any budding young filmmakers who want to share their work with the world.

Vimeo, is one of the few online video hosting services that has been able to not only survive YouTube, but thrive. They have achieved this by engaging and harboring filmmakers and video creators who wanted to share creative work. This move is further evidence of how Vimeo is establishing a niche for itself in a in a YouTube-dominated world.

It is also a very timely move, as the demand for smart or connected TVs grows. Hosting almost entirely original content, Vimeo is situating itself in an attractive position as more people will begin to search for high quality online video content.

We hope this news will lead to some great new content from their already flourishing independent filmmaker community.

They've mapped most of the urbanised world with their Street View maps, are aiming to digitise every book ever published, and now Google are turning their hand to a bit of biology.

The Google Body Browser is the latest addition to the Google Labs testing area, and acts like an interactive visualisation of the human body, allowing you to peel back layers of the body and search for organs, bones and other anatomical tidbits.

Very useful for medical students, simply sharing the URL of what you are viewing will bring the exact same image up for the recipient.

To use the Body Browser you need a web browser compatible with WebGL. Google Chrome 9 or Firefox 4 should do the trick.

Check it out by clicking here, or take a quick preview look at the service in the video above.

The Conservative government's plans to put a blanket block on pornographic websites is not feasible, according to Nicholas Lansman, the secretary general of the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA). He has instead suggested that responsibility lies with parents in order to prevent minors from viewing adult content unlawfully.

"Blocking lawful pornography content... will lead to the blocking of access to legitimate content and is only effective in preventing inadvertent access," he said.

"Online safety is a priority issue for the internet industry and ISPA will be discussing the options available to protect children with government."

Communications minister Ed Vaizey had been set to meet ISPs to discuss the plans, but a spokesperson has now said that "there is no confirmed date yet and we are currently in the process of setting this up".

While there are few that would argue against keeping pornographic content out of the reach of children, many saw the move as a back door attempt at web censorship.

Via: MacWorld

Delicious, the bookmark organising and sharing site, will live to fight another day following reports that it had been axed as part of cost-cutting measures at Yahoo!.

Leaked slides from a Yahoo! meeting last week showed that Delicious, alongside search engine AltaVista would face the chop alongside 600 Yahoo! staff members.

After confirming that the leaked slides were indeed the real deal, Yahoo! released this statment: "Part of our organisational streamlining involves cutting our investment in underperforming or off-strategy products to put better focus on our core strengths and fund new innovation in the next year and beyond."

"We continuously evaluate and prioritise our portfolio of products and services, and do plan to shut down some products in the coming months."

However, a blog post from Delicious now suggests that the site will merely be moving home.

"While we have determined that there is not a strategic fit at Yahoo!, we believe there is a ideal [sic] home for Delicious outside of the company where it can be resourced to the level where it can be competitive," said the blog entry.

While its future is still far from certain, it's a slightly tastier prospect now on the cards for Delicious users. Still, if you don't much fancy storing your bookmarks on a sinking ship, here are five Delicious alternatives.

The Conservative government are in talks with internet service providers to put a blanket block on porn sites in the UK, in order to protect young children from adult content.

Stating that 60 percent of nine to eighteen year olds have come across things they shouldn't have online, Claire Perry is the leading voice behind the restrictions.

Those old enough to legally view the blue content will be able to ring their ISPs to "opt in" to pornographic content, should the legislation pass in the next few years.

It's all quite hypocritical though. Where is the block on violent websites?

Sure, kids have to be protected, but some good parenting and sensible use of browser content controls will do a much better job at this than the complex universal ISP blocks. And it will be far cheaper too.

Delicious, the bookmark host and organising site, is to close its doors to the the interwebbing public as part of a bid to streamine and cost-cut at umbrella-company owners Yahoo!.

First launched as del.icio.us back in 2003, it'll come as sad news to the many users who used it to organise and share their web-browsing habits.

So where to now for your bookmarks? Here's a look at 5 Delicious alternatives you should be checking out. NOW!

Yahoo! are to slim down their sizeable range of services by calling time on Delicious and AltaVista.

Internal slides from the company leaked prematurely online, revealing the closures to disgruntled users.

After confirming that the leaked slides were indeed the real deal, Yahoo! released this statment: "Part of our organisational streamlining involves cutting our investment in underperforming or off-strategy products to put better focus on our core strengths and fund new innovation in the next year and beyond."

"We continuously evaluate and prioritise our portfolio of products and services, and do plan to shut down some products in the coming months."

The closures will be especially annoying for the many users who organise their web browsing experiences around the Delicious service. And while great alternatives such as StumbleUpon do exist, it'll be a pain to export all those bookmarks. AltaVista on the other hand has been on shakey gorund for years, with the search engine failing to compete in the wake of Google's web onslaught.

Via: WSJ

Julian Assange, founder of the political whistleblowing site WikiLeaks, has topped Time magazine's Person of the Year poll, seeing off the likes of Lady Gaga and even US President Barack Obama himself.

The reader-voted institution saw 382,020 out of the total 1,249,425 votes go to Assange, enough to see him comfortably top the list at the same time as he is due to appear in court on allegations of sexual offences.

However, the final say ultimately lies in the hands of the Time's editors, who following the controversy surrounding Assange's work and recent arrest may yet drop him from the list. Time magazine has been careful not to include controversial figures since facing a backlash to presenting the award to Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979.

The official announcement will come on Wednesday night, following a live reveal on US TV station NBC.

In a rather surprise move top Tory blogger (and all round top political pundit and nice guy to boot) Iain Dale has decided to call it a day. Dale has been blogging for five years now and his blog is regularly cited as one of the most read in the UK.

If you read the post announcing the move on his blog, it is clear that Dale has had enough of blogging for personal reasons.

Dale says

The truth is, I no longer enjoy blogging and I think that this has been evident for a few months now to my readers. I hate the backbiting that goes along with it. I hate the character assassination that is permanently present. I no longer enjoy the pressure of feeling I have to churn out four or five pieces every day. I used to enjoy sitting in front of the TV at home in the evenings and writing blogposts at the same time. I can't do that any longer as I am on the radio every weekday evening. And when I am in the office during the day I have two companies to run. Something has to give.

And if I am honest, I now feel that my blogging is having a negative effect on various aspects of my business and broadcasting life.

Dale will now focus on his media work and running a publishing company. We wish him well. It is actually quite moving to read the comments on his blog and he clearly has played an important role in UK politics over the past few years. If you want the dirt on UK politics we can heartily recommend this fella

Are Twitter preventing WikiLeaks from trending? That's the rumour doing the rounds on the "internetz" right now, as conspiracy theorists are claiming that Twitter are the latest company to pull support for the whistle blowing webiste. Despite a huge buzz around the ongoing WikiLeaks revelations, the site remains suspiciously absent from the top topics list.

Twitter's response? WikiLeaks just ins't proving all that popular.

"Given the widespread confusion about #wikileaks, we'd like to offer a longer explanation of how we measure trends on Twitter, and why some popular topics may not make the list," reads the Twitter blog.

"This week, people are wondering about WikiLeaks, with some asking if Twitter has blocked #wikileaks, #cablegate or other related topics from appearing in the list of top trends. The answer: Absolutely not. In fact, some of these terms, including #wikileaks and #cablegate, have previously trended either worldwide or in specific locations."

Twitter seem keen to distance themselves from the censorship claims, particularly when the likes of Mastercard and Visa have come under attack from hackers since stone-walling Julian Assange and the WikiLeaks team.

Despite Assange's recent arrest, the WikiLeaks debacle continues, with cables still being released even though the editor-in-cheif has been reprimanded for alleged sex crimes.

Need some ideas for Christmas still? Check out A Christmas Tweet. The site monitors all of the buzz around Christmas on Twitter, covering everything from top gadgets and gifts, to top brands being talked about.

Currently the iPad is the number 1 talked about gift, where as the Kindle is only just manages to make in to the top 10. Surprisingly, Call of Duty is miles behind Barbie and LEGO, and Xbox (6th) is schooling Playstation who currently sit at 24.

The site can also track which bands are being most talked about - handy for a Christmas no 1 prediction. In addition to just how excited people are getting in the run-up to Christmas.

Check out the site here: www.achristmastweet.com

Today I came across this great little micro site TweetJockey. Created by Jonathan Plackett a creative at London ad agency Albion, the site allows you to race twitter search terms against each other to see which is being talked about most.

My favourite race has to be between Santa and Jesus. This is probably unsurprising, but Santa keeps kicking Jesus ass.

Check it out here www.tweetjockey.co.uk

WikiLeaks editor-in-chief and public face Julian Assange has been arrested by British police after an Interpol warrant for his capture was issued. However, the arrest does not (overtly at least) relate to any WikiLeaks leaked data, but instead on suspicison of rape.

The Swedish police force charged Assange "rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion," leading Assange to turn himself into a UK police station at 9.30 am GMT, according to Sky News.

City of Westminster's magistrates court have stated he must appear before the court by 12.30pm GMT, unless the judge offers him a later hearing.

Despite Assange's arrest, it will be business as usual at WikiLeaks HQ though. "Today's actions against our editor-in-chief Julian Assange won't affect our operations: we will release more cables tonight as normal," reads a tweet from the WikiLeaks feed.

Their spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson has also stated that the site will continue to release cables. There is even the possibility that an encryption code for the entire remaining cache of cables will be publically released, as has been previously threatened should Assange ever be arrested.

We'll have more news on this as it comes in.

UPDATE: Assange has now appeared in court, but has been denied bail. He will remain in custody until December 14th.

So the coldest working week in recent memory for UK Tech Digest readers draws to a close. But before you wrap up for the weekend (and do wrap up, it's bloody cold out), warm your soul with a belly laugh or two by reading this short and hilarious Tron parody comic.

The sci-fi retro revamp Tron: Legacy is set to be this winter's biggest blockbuster when it touches down in 3D cinemas this month. Starring Jeff Bridges, it's a visually stunning take on what it would be like to actually live within a videogame.

With about a zillion people tending virtual farms on Facebook however, let's be thankful the movie's production team skipped the "Gaming Trends" section of their market research and jumped straight to "Awesome Neon LightCycle Explosion Sequence" in their "How To Make A Bad-ass Blockbuster" handbook.

(Click the strip above for a slightly expanded view)

Via: Virtual Shackles

On the run and out of favour with pretty much every governmental institution around the world, Julian Assange has had a very busy week. It could well be about to get even more crazy, as Assange has now confirmed that the unpublished remainder of his controversial cable documents make multiple mentions to unidentified flying objects.

Is he about to crack conspiracy theories the world over about the existence of little green men? Or perhaps just that George Bush enjoyed sitting down with a bag of popcorn and an Independence Day DVD? Here's what Assange had to say:

Many weirdos email us about UFOs or how they discovered that they were the anti-christ whilst talking with their ex-wife at a garden party over a pot-plant. However, as yet they have not satisfied two of our publishing rules.

1) that the documents not be self-authored;

2) that they be original.

However, it is worth noting that in yet-to-be-published parts of the cablegate archive there are indeed references to UFOs.

To be honest, anything as mind-shattering as alien life would probably have been WikiLeaks' first port of call, but I can live in hope, even if just so all my mates stop winding me up about my tinfoil hat.

Oh, and do read the whole Guardian Q and A with Assange linked below, it's fascinating and a little bit frightening too.

Via: Guardian

Amazon have removed the WikiLeaks whistleblowing website from their servers, following increased US governmental pressure after the lastest batch of leaked diplomatic messages from the site.

Though the leaked documents are already being widely distributed via filesharing and bittorrent sites, Amazon pushed ahead, cutting ties with WikiLeaks who have now returned to the Bahnhof ISP in Sweden.

U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman praised Amazon's move: "I wish that Amazon had taken this action earlier based on WikiLeaks' previous publication of classified material.

"The company's decision to cut off WikiLeaks now is the right decision and should set the standard for other companies WikiLeaks is using to distribute its illegally seized material."

The WikiLeaks team, obviously, were less chuffed with the decision. They posted their opposition on their Twitter feed:

"WikiLeaks servers at Amazon ousted," read the post. "Free speech the land of the free--fine our $ are now spent to employ people in Europe.

"If Amazon are so uncomfortable with the first amendment, they should get out of the business of selling books."

After going down for a short period, WikiLeaks is now up and running again.

Via: CNN