Philosophers, opinion leaders, and legal scholars alike have struggled for years with the definition of when life begins. The debate turns to both the physical and spiritual. Well, move over and make room for the virtual. According to a new study out of New Zealand, the physical birth of a person is more and more coinciding with their virtual birth on the Internet. In many cases, a person actually has an independent Internet presence before they have an independent physical presence.

One in five parents send a picture of their newborn baby to friends and family within 10 minutes of the birth, with almost half (48 per cent) of parents taking snaps of their bundle of joy within the hour. For the parents who just can't wait for the birth, one in seven (14 per cent) have also sent pictures of their unborn baby's ultrasound scan via their mobile or e-mail - meaning almost 9000 babies each year in New Zealand are seen by friends and family before they're even born.

There is the corresponding trend of parents creating web sites or blogs for their newborn or yet-to-be-born infant.

So if the Internet has a shadow of us before we are born, and can retain a shadow of us long, long after we pass away, just how virtual is the Internet?