Click is a weekly BBCtelevision programme covering technology news and recent developments in the world of technology and the Internet, presented by Spencer Kelly. Since its debut in April 2000, it has broadcast a new episode every week, marking its 1,000th episode on 6 July 2019.
Format
Each episode is introduced by the host, Spencer Kelly, and features reports about technology developments all over the world by a group of BBC contributors. Reports cover a variety of 'tech' subjects, including consumer technologies and issues, social impact of emerging technologies, video games, and innovations in mobile technology. The show currently features a "Week in Tech" segment, compiling the week's biggest news in the technology area. The programme included Webscape, a closing segment hosted by Kate Russell recommending new and useful websites. This segment was dropped but Russell continues doing general reporting for the show. There are different editions of the programme, two 30-minute programmes:, a global edition, and a 15-minute version. A four-minute version also appears on BBC World News at varying times of the week. BBC World Service broadcasts a weekly sister radio show, also called Click, presented by Gareth Mitchell and Bill Thompson.
Local versions
-speakers can also watch BBC Persian Click online and on BBC Persian TV presented by Nima Akbarpour. Further local versions are due to launch from Autumn 2018, including Click Tamil in October 2018, with the aim of having the show broadcast in up to 20 languages.
History
The show started as Click Online in April 2000, hosted by Stephen Cole, and featured reports focused on the rise of the Internet and related technologies. Thursday, 29 December 2005 marked the last edition of Click Online, as the show was previously known, coinciding with the departure of Stephen Cole after 295 shows. The programme was thereafter renamed Click, with new music and titles, and with Spencer Kelly as the new host. Since then it has expanded its "online" focus, now featuring reports on technology developments from all over the world. Episode 774 was the world's first programme to be shot and edited entirely on mobile devices. The 12 March 2016 programme was broadcast in 360 degrees, and is the first entire episode of a TV programme to be broadcast as such. On 6 July 2019 the show's 1000th episode was broadcast. It consisted of an interactive episode where viewers could decide what to watch next.
Botnet controversy
In 2009 the show and the BBC created some controversy when it aired a special episode highlighting the dangers of botnets and how easy it was to get caught in one. The show bought control of a botnet of some 22,000 infected computers from a Russian hacker, and used it to send spam to an email address set up for the experiment and to perform a Distributed Denial of Service attack on a website set up by Prev-X. After the programme was made the computers on the botnet were sent a piece of software to remove the malware and a warning was sent to them telling the users what had happened and that they were vulnerable. The response was mixed with the show receiving many emails both for and against the programme along with some negative press. The BBC was criticized by some legal consulting organisations as well as computer security companies. Computer security expert and senior technology consultant at Sophos, Graham Cluley, asked in his blog whether the BBC was breaking the Computer Misuse Act - which makes it an offence in the UK to access or modify a third-party computer without the owner's consent. However internet security commentator Melih Abdulhayoğlu, founder of international computer security company Comodo Group, made a video in support of the BBC. Click rebutted criticisms by stating in its Twitter posts that:
State interference in Wikipedia
A programme episode released on 6 October 2019 discussed Wikipedia and the manipulation of articles by state actors that would show their state in a better light. The main subject of the episode was the relationship between the controlling states of China and Taiwan and how bad actors from China had manipulated Wikipedia with hundreds of thousands of edits. The episode showed that although these edits had occurred, they could not be proven to be from the PRC; similarly it was stated that many of the edits were either undone, reverted or corrected "back to their original state actually quite quickly".
Presenters
The presenter of Click is Spencer Kelly, who had already been a reporter and producer on the show, and also compiled reports for The Gadget Show on Channel 5. Kate Russell introduced featured websites in the weekly Webscape segment and now does general reporting. Other reporters include Dan Simmons, Lara Lewington, LJ Rich, Paul Carter, Jen Copestake, Marc Cieslak, Nick Kwek, Sumi Das, and Kate Russell. Previous presenters of the show have included Stephen Cole who left the BBC to work for Al Jazeera International. Other BBC journalists occasionally present segments of the programme.
