NewTeeVee reports that a 19-year-old male committed suicide while broadcasting himself on video site Justin.tv on Wednesday night.
On the Justin.tv blog, a message titled, "A Moment of Silence," from CEO Michael Seibel reads:
"Justin.tv staff would like to take a moment to recognize and reflect upon the tragedy that occurred within our community today. We respect the privacy of the broadcaster and his family during this challenging time."
According to reports, the teen was driven by commenters on both Justin.tv and the forum bodybuilding.com, after detailing on the forums -- and later leaving a suicide note -- that he was going to kill himself. Viewers didn't take him seriously, even after he began taking pills. Eventually viewers became concerned with his lack of activity and alerted authorities. The Broward County medical examiner has confirmed the youth's death.
The act, according to reports from Mashable, was not a reaction to cyberbullying, but instead the teen's personal dissatisfaction with life. And because he was known as a forum troll, few people watching his livecast took his threats seriously.
Though this event doesn't put the onus on the live broadcasting network, it does raise an issue of responsibility. What role should networks, such as Justin.tv, play in responding quickly to live streaming of inappropriate content? Is there anyway a community-based site could be expected to prevent such content from streaming without the community reporting it?
Related Stories: | Topics:Technology, Work/Life, justin.tv, Justin.tv Inc., Suicide, Michael Seibel, NewTeeVee.com, Broward County |
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Recent Comments | 3 Total
November 22, 2008 at 5:57pm by Anne Rettenberg
I'm not familiar with justin.tv. But it seems to me it could have a customer agreement that requires users to agree to a statement that they will report immediately any content that appears to involve a threat to someone's life.
December 28, 2008 at 9:50pm by Hans Eisenman
Obviously that poor soul is responsible for his own condition, but the responsibility for responding to something like this rests equally on all of us. Anyone who saw that should have done something to post it as either in appropriate or at least of grave concern.
The truth is, these sorts of events are very much in the minority. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't be alert to it. If someone had called the authorities and it had been a false alarm, that would have been better than not taking any action at all.