[size=20pt]Websites linked to series of young suicides[/size]
By: Andrew Ramadge, Technology Reporter
USERS of social networking websites have been accused of "romanticising death" after the seemingly copycat suicides of seven young people in a small town in Britain.
British police have denied media reports of an internet suicide cult, but said they were investigating the computer of a 17-year-old girl who was found dead last week in Bridgend in southern Wales.
Natasha Randall was the seventh young person from Bridgend and surrounding areas to be found hanged since January last year. Most of the seven, all aged under 21, were known to each other and were users of the social networking website Bebo, The Times reported.
Bridgend's Labour MP Madeleine Moon said she was concerned about a string of memorial pages that appeared on Bebo and other websites after the suicides and showed "some sort of romanticism of death".
"What is concerning is that you're getting internet bereavement walls. That's not going to help anyone," she said.
"What people need is not to go into a virtual world of the internet to deal with emotional problems... They need to stay very much in this real world and talk to real people."
Visitors have left hundreds of messages on Ms Randall's Bebo profile and on a memorial website called Gone Too Soon, which allows bereaved friends and family to create a profile for loved ones who have passed away.
Visitors to Gone Too Soon profiles can leave messages and virtual candles on profiles and view pictures of the deceased.
Police said they had not found a direct link between the seven suicides, but one officer said it was possible the memorial pages and Bebo played a part in the deaths.
"They may think it's cool to have a memorial website," an officer told The Times.
"It may even be a way of achieving prestige among their peer group."
Officers were investigating emails, online discussions and text messages exchanged between teenagers in Bridgend, South Wales Police Superintendent Tim Jones said.
The rise in popularity of social networking websites has been matched by a morbid curiosity exampled by websites such as My Death Space, which catalogues the deaths of MySpace users and links to their profiles.
Up to 5000 deaths – mainly of US teenagers – have been reported on My Death Space. The most frequent causes of death include car accidents, accidental drug overdoses and suicide, though murders and deaths in Iraq are also common.
With Reuters
Links
The Times report – http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3234692.ece
Bebo – http://www.bebo.com/
Gone Too Soon – http://gonetoosoon.co.uk/
My Death Space – http://www.mydeathspace.com/
http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,25642,23101406-5014239,00.html
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