In an Internet experiment gone awry, a San Francisco man found himself detained in a mental health facility for about 70 hours after posting a fake suicide note.
That’s the word coming from SF Gate’s blog. Shane Tusch, a 48-year-old part-time electrician from San Mateo decided to try out Facebook’s suicide prevention program for himself. The program locks users out of their accounts if their friends report suicidal posts to Facebook. If the person then wants to unlock it, they have to read suicide prevention materials.
Tusch decided to test the system by posting “his frustrations with his bank and plans to possibly hang himself on the Golden Gate Bridge,” according to SF Gate. Here is part of the his Facebook post (his account should have been suspended for those exclamation marks alone, but I digress):
“Here it is in a nut shell!!!!!’
I can no longer take the stress and bullshit from bank america!
So I have decided to take my life in some very public way that will hopefully get people talking about the crimes these banks have payed off are governments and left are wives and kids in the streets.”
Of course, his friends tagged his post, which locked Tusch out of his account. Someone also called the police, which made the San Mateo cops question him. Tusch said the post was his, but he “wasn’t suicidal and did not plan to harm himself or others,” reports SF Gate. “He said posting his feelings was his First Amendment right.”
Tusch says he was then handcuffed and put under mental health watch for about 70 hours. According to state law in California, police can hold anyone who poses a threat to themselves or others up to 72 hours.
“It should be left to family and friends,” Tusch told SF Gate about what Facebook’s involvement should be in personal posts of this nature, even having Consumer Watchdog send a letter to Mark Zuckerberg. “There’s too many areas for this to be misinterpreted by what people post.”
Eh, Ok. While it’s obvious that Tusch wanted to make a statement about the Internet and free speech, arguing that posting fake suicide attempts is your First Amendment right is weak. Suicide is an issue that should not be messed with, like joking that you’re packing heat at the airport. They have to take you seriously. In other words, just don’t do it.
