Posted on Friday 21 November 2008
This story does not have a happy ending
From Times Online:
A 19-year-old man in Florida committed suicide live on the internet as hundreds of web surfers watched – taunting him and offering encouragement.
Abraham K. Biggs, from Broward County, Florida, announced his intention on an online forum, posted a suicide note on another and then took an overdose of pills in front of his webcam, broadcasting his final moments on Justin.tv.
Mr Biggs lay on his bed motionless for several hours before members of the website became alarmed. With the video still streaming, viewers eventually called the local police, who broke down the door, found the body and switched off the camera. Up to 1,500 people were viewing, according to one report.
A video clip posted on the net shows a police officer entering the room, his handgun drawn, as he checks for any sign of life. Mr Biggs was a member of bodybuilding.com under the name CandyJunkie and was also known under the alias of Feels Like Ecstasy on Justin. tv. He had apparently threatened to commit suicide before.
The last post was about cybermobs emerging in the political fallout of proposition 8. This one at a personal level.
It makes me wonder how we can love and value life through the anonymity that the web gives us.
One of the major things that kids needed to be protected from articulated at the Kids Online conference last week was “themselves” this is a good example of this need.
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Wow, you’re a real class act, aren’t you? Now you’re equating people who exercising their free speech against the Mormon Church’s promotion of hatred with others who drove some kid to suicide. Kaliya, this looks like you’re bucking for a guest slot on the Bill O’Reilly show. Got any other whopping right-wing smears for us?