Gay student suicide after sex video posted on web

An 18-year-old man has apparently committed suicide by jumping off New York's George Washington Bridge after two fellow students allegedly filmed him having sex with another man and posted the footage live on the internet.

• Tyler Clementi 'sought advice on gay web forum'Tyler Clementi's car, laptop and wallet were found on the bridge, but his body has not yet been retrieved. Clementi's roommate, Dharun Ravi, and Molly Wei, a friend of Ravi's, have been arrested and charged with invasion of privacy. They face up to five years in prison if convicted.

Ravi's prank began on September 19, when Clementi (above) brought a man back to the room they shared at a hall of residence at New Jersey's Rutgers University. Ravi allegedly tweeted to his followers on Twitter: "Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into Molly's room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay."

Two days later, Ravi is said to have again filmed Clementi and his partner, tweeting to followers: "Anyone with iChat, I dare you to video chat me between the hours of 9:30 and 12. Yes it's happening again."

The following day, at 8:42pm, Clementi posted a suicide note in the form of an update on his Facebook page: "Jumping off the gw bridge sorry."

Although the gay rights group Garden State Equality say that they consider Ravi's actions a "hate crime", the tragic incident may turn out to have been nothing more than a thoughtless student prank gone wrong – and one of the more extreme examples of how the internet is making the concept of privacy a distant memory.

Growing up is clearly a minefield for youngsters now that any private moment or foolish error can be recorded and posted on the internet for anyone to see. Aside from Clementi's tragic story, 'cyberbullying' is a growing problem among teenagers, and incidents range from hacking into a person's Facebook account and posting vindictive messages, to recording compromising online video chats and posting them publicly.

The problem is only highlighted by the unpleasant messages some users have written on a Facebook page set up as a tribute to Clementi. One reads: "God says very clearly that homosexuality and suicide are mortal sins. TONIGHT TYLER DINES IN HELL."

The suicide of Megan Meier in 2006 was widely reported. She had struck up a friendship on MySpace with 'Josh', a boy who she thought was real, but who was actually invented by Lori Drew, the mother of a friend with whom she had fallen out. When 'Josh' started to bully Meier and share her private messages with the general public, Meier hanged herself.

Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, recently put his finger on the seriousness of the issue when he warned a Wall Street Journal reporter "apparently seriously" that every young person would one day be entitled to change his or her name on reaching adulthood in order to shake off their youthful internet indiscretions. ·