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Ilya Zhitomirskiy, one of Diaspora's four founders, died over the weekend at just 22 years of age. Sources close to the company confirmed the death was a suicide but it may take weeks for an official determination.
Billed as an open alternative to Facebook, Diaspora was intended to be in direct opposition to the proprietary nature of the largest social network ever. The intention was to create a social network that was open and gave users full control over their privacy.
The project came at a very opportune time in the spring of 2010, when Facebook was the subject of considerable backlash due to its privacy blunders. The founders, four students from New York University, took a stab at funding the project through micro-lending site, Kickstarter. Thanks to public unrest regarding Facebook, their goal of $10,000 was met in less than two weeks. A month later, Disapora had raised over $200,000 and the project was well under way. Ironically, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, was one of the major contributors. Zuckerberg praised the project and said he admired their drive to make a change.
Ilya Zhitomirskiy was described as a "hard-core" programmer who was deeply involved with the Diaspora project and was passionate about making an impact on improving privacy on the web.
The buzz surrounding Diaspora has waned as the months have flown by, but the foundation remains active and committed to its goals of a non-centralized social network where users rule. If you would like to donate to the project, you can do so here.
Ilya Zhitomirskiy shares his views on social networking
User Comments: 30
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Agree. Especially when that kind of money is around, it's odd. It seems way too easy to say "Oh, he must not have been able to handle whatever the pressure was," or "Oh he must have been depressed." Listen to the video and he just doesn't have the suicide vibe.
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suicide is an attempt to punish those you work with (or love) for rejection; be it an idea (or jilted love). Too bad, we needed more like him.
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suicide is an attempt to punish those you work with (or love) for rejection.OMG, are you stupid or what. Please think about your comments before you post them.
I've been around several suicides over the years and non of them were attempts at punishing others. Some grew tired of waking up in the morning. Others where heart broken and felt life wasn't worth living. Couple of them were a mystery as nobody really could figure out the motive behind it. Never have I heard of someone committing suicide out of anger, which is what you are suggesting. I have even been locked up for threatening suicide to draw attention. That doesn't mean I would have actually done it though.
Someone has to be severely hurt emotionally and in a state of not caring about life (In my case afterlife) before they could actually finish the act of committing suicide.
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Emin3nce said:Guest said:
well that's one way of getting publicity to your website... kill your self sukerbuerg bust be glad he didn't have to try that
You win the award for most insensitive comment, most misguided judgement AND the failed spelling awards.
Have a cookie.
^This.
Also, RIP to Ilya Zhitomirskiy.
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suspicious.
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