I see where researchers are predicting an internet collapse in the event of a flu pandemic, as people work at home and overwhelm the network:

"We assumed total absentees of 30% to 60% trying to work from home, which would have overwhelmed the Internet," said participant Bill Thoet, vice president of Booz Allen Hamilton. "We did not assume that the backbone would be gone, but that the edge of the network, where everyone was trying to access their office from home, would be overwhelmed. The absence of maintenance was also a factor. The person who brought up the problem was himself a CEO of an Internet service provider.

Hmm - I thought on-demand video was going to be the end of the internet, sometime this year or next. My first reaction to this story was "as if that would be the biggest problem". My second was "someone is predicting the end of the net every week". Pass the coffee.