U.K.: Clampdown on websites promoting suicide

. Ministers want to rewrite Suicide Act to clarify it also applies to internet after spate of deaths in Bridgend, south Wales LONDON, England (The Guardian), September 17, 2008: Rachel Stevenson and agencies The government is cracking down on so-called suicide websites by tightening the law to prohibit the promotion of suicide online. The move follows growing concern over the role of the internet in dozens of teenage deaths, the Ministry of Justice said today. While it is already illegal under the 1961 Suicide Act to promote suicide, no website owner has been prosecuted and ministers want to rewrite the law to clarify that it also applies to the internet. The justice minister Maria Eagle said: "There is no magic solution to protecting vulnerable people online. Updating the language of the Suicide Act, however, should help to reassure people that the internet is not a lawless environment and that we can meet the challenges of the digital world. "It is important, particularly in an area of such wide public interest and concern, for the law to be expressed in terms that everyone can understand." Eagle said the move would help internet service providers police the sites they host. A spate of deaths in Bridgend, south Wales, raised fears teenagers were using the web to plan and discuss killing themselves. A recent study found people searching online for ways to kill themselves were more likely to come across sites encouraging them to take their own lives than those offering help. Today's move follows a government report from the parenting expert Tanya Byron on child safety on the web. It found there was confusion about how the law applies to websites promoting suicide. Madeleine Moon, the MP for Bridgend, welcomed today's announcement: "Simplifying and modernising the language of the law should provide reassurance that the law is capable of reflecting the new ways of communicating and accessing information." Reaching Out: On Phone. Photo: The Samaritans The Samaritans also praised the move and said an outright ban on suicide sites would be unworkable. Anthony Langan, the charity's public affairs manager, said: "We are pleased that no specific ban on websites is proposed, as it would be unworkable and questionable in terms of freedom of speech. "The next step must be to understand how and why people use the internet to find out about issues like suicide and develop our services in response to the results." © Guardian News and Media Limited 2008