14 DAY TRIAL // Social media can be a great thing but just like anything else, overuse can lead to sometimes damaging behavior. Facebook pretty much defines online social interaction these days and it's not that easy to let it go. An interesting alternative has popped up, Seppukoo, a website offering Facebook users an honorable way out by committing 'virtual suicide'. And the best part is that you won't pass away quietly, all your Facebook friends will be able to visit a memorial page set up on Seppukoo.com. Facebook though isn't finding the site particularly amusing and, not only has it begun blocking it, it's also getting its lawyers involved, as the LA Times blog found.
A couple of weeks ago, after the site had already been blocked, Seppukoo got a legal letter claiming that it violated Facebook's Rights and Responsibilities, the social network's Terms of Service, on five accounts. Some of the claims can be argued with but, unfortunately for Seppukoo, some are clear violations of the terms.
The five claims are: - Soliciting users' Facebook login information. - Accessing a Facebook account that belongs to someone else. - Collecting users’ content or information using automated means. - Sending commercial communications. - Using Facebook’s intellectual property.
Seppukoo has responded denying all accusations and saying that it has no intention of taking down the site. It claims that the site is an art project by the Italian art group Les Liens Invisibles and that it has no commercial purpose. There are no ads on the site and it doesn't generate any revenue so this claim should stand. The intellectual property claim is also a bit of a stretch.
However, the bigger issues are the fact that Seppukoo requires users to enter their full account credentials, username and password, clearly against Facebook's terms and for good reason. The other main issue is the fact that the site is indeed accessing accounts that obviously don't belong to it. The only option would be to use Facebook Connect to access the data, though at this point, it's pretty clear that Facebook doesn't want anything to do with Seppukoo. It's easy to understand why a site that encourages users to leave Facebook and deactivates their accounts isn't very liked by the social network. Now that the lawyers are involved, and that Seppukoo shows no indication that it's backing down, it should be interesting to see how this plays out.