LA to city workers: Don't stream Olympics at work

(CBS News) LOS ANGELES -- A significant number of City Hall employees have been streaming the Olympic Games online that they are now being asked to stop in fear of causing the city's computer system to crash, CBS Los Angeles station KCBS/KCAL-TV reports.

The Olympic Games have been scoring a lot of attention at City Hall by those working online and on the clock.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the city's chief technology officer, Randi Levin, sent an email to thousands of employees Tuesday morning saying, "We are experiencing a high volume of traffic due to people watching the Olympics online. I respectfully request that you discontinue this as it is impacting city operations."

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"It's going to slow down productivity," Kevin Haley, a technology expert of Norton software, told KCBS/KCAL-TV.

It's unclear how exactly how many city computers were streaming the Olympics simultaneously, but technology experts said everything slows down when so many people are using that much data.

"Things that people are using their computers for that are work-related, they're probably unable to do those things in a fast or normal speed. So trying to get your email to come up probably takes forever," Haley said.

There are no reports of malfunction, but it is possible.

"It may cause the internal network to have trouble or malfunction," Haley said.

Phone calls and emails by KCBS/KCAL-TV to Levin's office were not answered, and the Los Angeles mayor's office said, "No comment."