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DotComGuy ends exile - spent year living off Internet

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CIOL Bureau
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DALLAS: DotComGuy has clicked offline after a year of relying on the Internet

for every necessity.

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The cyber-hermit left his Dallas townhouse at 12:01 a.m. CDT (0601 GMT)

Monday, ending an exile during which he never ventured past his small backyard

and bought all he needed on the Internet.

DotComGuy, born Mitch Maddox, began his self-imposed house arrest with the

intention of proving that the Internet could provide all of a person's daily

needs.

When he first locked himself in on January 1, 2000, his townhouse was empty.

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Over the next year, with help from corporate sponsors who wanted to persuade

more customers to shop on the Internet, DotComGuy completely furnished the

house, bought all of his necessities and answered e-mails from thousands.

Even though DotComGuy's experience was mostly an experiment in commerce, he

proved his hypothesis that the Internet could provide anything: He met fiancee

Crystalyn Anne Holubeck in one of the chat rooms on his Web site.

But after having his daily existence captured by 20 cameras and broadcast

over the Internet, DotComGuy plans to stay disconnected for a while.

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"He said 'Guys, I hope it's okay, but I would like to be away for a few

days,'" DotComGuy Inc. chief executive officer Len Pritcher told CNN.

Pritcher and DotComGuy formed DotComGuy Inc. to handle the business,

marketing and publicity for the experiment. The entity also helped arrange

sponsors - who paid for the year in exile - that wanted DotComGuy to showcase

their Web services.

They included Web travel booking site Travelocity.com, shippers United Parcel

Service Inc, Web services company Interliant Inc., computer manufacturers

Gateway Inc and several others.

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How much of a toll the year of self-imposed house arrest took on DotComGuy

was uncertain, but it was clear he was ready to leave.

His final entry in his online diary: "Buh-Bye!"

(C) Reuters Limited 2001.

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