A 19-year old man has needlessly committed suicide while broadcasting himself on the Internet.
Abraham K. Biggs allegedly was goaded and mocked by commentators on Justin.tv, a streaming video site, as he overdosed on pills while on camera. He was on air, breathing for hours, until viewers notified police.
The video continued until police and EMT entered and blocked the camera.
Mr. Bigg's death has been confirmed with the Broward County medical examiner in Florida.
Justin.tv's CEO, Michael Seibel said, "As for the broadcaster incident last night, we don’t comment on individual videos, however, our policy prohibits inappropriate content on Justin.tv. We rely on the community to flag videos that they feel are objectionable. Once a video is flagged, it is reviewed and quickly removed from the system if it violates our Terms of Use."
The deceased had previously posted a suicide note. There's also R.I.P. comments on Mr. Biggs' MySpace page.
This isn't the first known account where an Internet suicide has ocurred. Last year, a British man hung himself after he was allegedly goaded by users on Paltalk. A movie was released earlier this year on the topic of live-streamed killings called Untraceable.
Justin.tv has gotten itself in hot water with another aspect of live broadcast, and that's copyright infringement. It appears the Premier League may be threatening legal action against them over unauthorized broadcasts of soccer games.
Justin.tv says they do takedown requests according to the law. Unfortunately, with live broadcasts, sometimes they're taken down a little too late.
