A new movement is gathering storm online. Even as billions of Internet users continue to network socially, there are countless others fed up by the intrusion of the cyberspace in their lives. Now there is a one-stop shop to commit virtual suicide, giving net users a chance to get rid of their
,
,
MySpace
and
accounts at one go.
Launched last month, the site, suicidemachine.org, claims to have ‘unfriended’ 94,431 people so far, removed 289,885tweets and helps close to 200 people commit ‘suicide’ every 24 hours. The homepage of the site has blinking messages like, ‘Wanna Meet Your Real Neighbours Again?’ and ‘Unfriendly was never this easy’. ‘Click here to log out forever’, says the link where you activate the suicide process.
Among several Indian users who have opted for it is fashion designer Vineet Bahl, who logged out forever on Saturday at 9.04 am. Says Bahl, “Yes, I did it yesterday. I was fed up of Facebook. Every random stranger adds you, and there is no privacy… things had gotten out of hand. Plus, people became competitive about how many friends I had. Two of my friends have done the same.” Another user, Prunni, wrote on her testimonial board, “No more Twiiter, bye bye procrastination.”
Such is the popularity of the site that on January 6, Facebook sent an official letter to the website, threatening legal action against them. However, the creators defend, saying this is not unethical. Says the moderator of Suicidemachine, “Everyone should have the right to disconnect. Facebookand Co. are going to hold your information and pics on their server forever.”
{{/usCountry}}Such is the popularity of the site that on January 6, Facebook sent an official letter to the website, threatening legal action against them. However, the creators defend, saying this is not unethical. Says the moderator of Suicidemachine, “Everyone should have the right to disconnect. Facebookand Co. are going to hold your information and pics on their server forever.”
{{/usCountry}}