From Internet news, I recently learned that a series of suicides have been reported of school students in Mumbai, Dehradun, Pune, Bengal etc. who played the Internet game "Blue Whale Challenge". The most recent episode is that of Manoj C Manju, a school student in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala who hung himself to death around 15th August, 2017.
I was terribly shocked when I discovered that this game entices young people into a 50-day series of "challenges" (i.e. performing daring & rash acts, in secret) that culminates in SUICIDE (the so-called "ultimate challenge"!) on the 50th day. The brainchild of Philipp Budeikin, an expelled Psychology student in Russia, it has directly caused 17 suicides in that country and is spreading all over the world.
I'm sure many of my readers are already aware of the "Blue Whale Challenge". While personal opinions may vary considerably, I found this "game" foul and sickening to say the very least! Further, it is demeaning to all human life since its author quite hatefully states (in Wikipedia) " ... that his purpose was to 'clean' the society by pushing to suicide those he deemed as having no value".
I think the principle that needs to be re-examined is Net Neutrality. In cases like suicide, that affects not only the doer but also his/her family (particularly one's mother, father and siblings), friends, colleagues and society in general (by setting a precedent for others to follow) we need to examine whether the Internet should be allowed to be "neutral" i.e. (i) whether those who ply "hate products", "kill-yourself ware", "dangerware" and the like should be allowed on the Internet at all & (ii) individuals who are not adults (like students) may decide to use them by themselves alone.
I think when a family/ group is affected, as in the example above, we simply cannot afford to let the net be "neutral". We have to say a loud and clear "No".
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