Suicide broadcast stuns father

MIAMI -- The father of a college student whose suicide wasbroadcast live over a webcam said Saturday he was appalled by thevirtual audience that egged on his son, and he called for tougherregulation of Internet sites.

Abraham Biggs Sr. said those who watched and the Web siteoperators share some blame in his 19-year-old son's death.

"I think they are all equally wrong," he said. "It's a person'slife that we're talking about. And as a human being, you don't watchsomeone in trouble and sit back and just watch."

Police found Abraham Biggs Jr. dead in his father's bedWednesday, 12 hours after he first declared on a Web site forbodybuilders that he planned to take his own life. He took a fataldrug overdose in front of an Internet audience. Although someviewers contacted the Web site to notify police, authorities did notreach his house in time.

Biggs, who has said he was at work during the episode, said hehad not known about his son's online presence.

"I think after this incident and probably other incidents thathave occurred in the past, they all point to some kind of regulationis necessary," Biggs said. "I think it is wrong to have this happenfor hours without any action being taken from the people in charge.Where were they all the time?"

The younger Biggs posted a link from the Web site to Justin.tv,which allows users to broadcast live with their webcams.

A computer user who claimed to have watched said that afterswallowing some pills, Biggs went to sleep and appeared to bebreathing for a few hours while others cracked jokes. Some userstold investigators they did not take him seriously because he hadthreatened suicide on the site before.

Biggs Sr. said he believes the webcast was a cry for help.

"But rather than get help, he was ignored," Biggs said. "I wouldnot want to see anything like that on the Internet and not try andget help for that young man. I think that's what the average personwould do. Any normal person would do. I'm really appalled."

Pembroke Pines Police Department Sgt. Bryan Davis said no newinformation on the case was available Saturday.

Biggs Sr. said funeral arrangements have not yet been set for hisson, who he said loved helping others.

"He was a good kid. Good kid," Biggs Sr. said. "It's a shame Iwasn't there to help him. It's a big loss to me. I wish I was thereto help him -- since nobody else would."

Miami lawyer William Hill said there is probably nothing thatcould be done legally to those who watched and did not act. As forwhether the Web site could be held liable, Hill said there doesn'tseem to be much of a case for negligence.

"There could conceivably be some liability if they knew this washappening and they had some ability to intervene and didn't takeaction," said Hill, who does business litigation and has representeda number of Internet-based clients. But "I think it would be astretch."

An autopsy concluded Biggs died from a combination of opiates andbenzodiazepine, which his family said was prescribed for his bipolardisorder.

"Abe, i still wish this was all a joke," a friend wrote on theteenager's MySpace page.

In a statement, Justin.tv CEO Michael Seibel said, "We regretthat this has occurred and want to respect the privacy of thebroadcaster and his family during this time."

It is unclear how many people watched it happen. The Web sitewould not say how many people were watching the broadcast. The siteas a whole had 672,000 unique visitors in October, according toNielsen.

Biggs was not the first person to commit suicide with a webcamrolling. But the drawn-out drama -- and the reaction of thosewatching -- was seen as an extreme example of young people'spenchant for sharing intimate details about themselves over theInternet.