Incensed at Facebook's recent privacy changes? Had it up to here with your social networking virtual life? Kill it off with honor using the "anti-social network" Seppukoo.

The site is a rather brilliant subversion of Facebook, offering users the ritual destruction of their virtual identities complete with a customizable memorial page. There's even a leaderboard showing off the top users, whose scores are determined by how many others in their network decide to Seppukoo.

Named after the seppuku ritual suicide practiced by ancient Japanese samurai warriors, the site draws a parallel between restoring a samurai's honor and the "liberation of the digital body." It stands as a playful protest of the modern-day social networking experience as controlled by huge corporations making significant profits from users' social graphs. Seppukoo turns the concept on its head by turning the individual suicide ritual into "an exciting 'social' experience."

The site is operated by a group calling themselves Les Liens Invisibles, an "imaginary art group from Italy." Media artists Clemente Pestelli and Gionatan Quintini's other projects include Flickr parody Subvertr and Google Maps parody Google is not the map.

Seppukoo is an intense jab at corporate interest in social media, but perhaps all the more powerful for it. What do you think of the site: playful and fun, or going too far? Would you consider virtually ending it all with a Seppukoo memorial?

[via Yahoo]