The web-sites have nothing to do with suicide ! As a parent's
we should now something how we managed our finances, it's
time the parent's must face the responsibility, you brought your
loved ones, because you wanted them to come in to this selfish&wicked world, childeren diden't asked to be born, and
you gave them the modern living(i.e.mobile phone/computers)
why blame on websites, or any one, search your own conscien
for change, ;Cllr Ken Tiwari(Oxford UK)

Cllr Ken Tiwari (Independent), Oxford, United Kingdom

They wouldn't forget about it. However, if these "vulnerable" people were redirected to a site, which offered help and support, it may help reduce the suicide rates. Most suicidal people want help and support, instead they are giving encouragement and advice on how to carry out their thoughts.

Maggie, Edinburgh, UK

I am not at all sure that it is the law that is inadequate. Also, it seems to me that both Bob Jones and Les, Southport have missed the point.

The suicidals here all seem to be teenagers. That suggests parental inadequacy more than anything else. And, Bob and Les, have you forgotten your own teenage years? A no-man's land between childhood and adulthood with huge hormonal changes surging through your body and mind. It is a time where children need more, than ever, watchful and loving parents.

The Government response, "Let's set up an enquiry," courtesy of the taxpayer, is tiresome in the extreme. It will achieve nothing and cost too much. We do not need an enquiry, we all know what is happening and why.

In this instance, the proper response of a responsible government would be to remind parents of their basic responsibilities to their vulnerable children. It is not the job of an ISP to police the on-line activities of its clients. It has no presence in the home. The parents do.

Bill, Suzhou, China

I lost my 15yr old to suicide and he had "checked out" suicide using the internet.

The suicide website or chat room may not be the underlying problem but when vulnerability of the internet user is the problem, what possible good can come from a site that gives suicide methods? There are some sites that may say " Think again", "Life can get better" or " Contact a Helpline" but these will be overshadowed by the power of a site that lists all possible methods to die. When someone has typed in the word "suicide" in a search box are they just curious? I would suggest they are vulnerable.

The first step to get rid of these sites is LEGISLATION. Society owes this first step for the vulnerable and probably a good many more.

Simon Gray, East Sussex

Simon Gray, Hailsham, UK

Here we go again with another knee-jerk government reaction.

Tony Collins, Redruth,

Surely this is not an issue for the government?! It just shows how desperate they are to be involved at such a high degree in everyone's lives. As someone pointed out on another site, the number of these people committing suicide is not a huge number. Some points to think about :-

1) Isn't this an issue for their parents, not the government, to be responsible for?

2) People committed suicide before the internet.

3) Shouldn't the government be focussing on more important issues?

Mike, Southampton, UK

They should clamp down on chat sites too. I've been conducting my own research and some of them need closing. yet when I report it, my emails go unanswered and the site remains in operation. so what clampdown? its all words until action is taken.

amy, swansea,

How many people have committed suicide as a result of copy cat killing?

How many men have committed suicide as a result of losing access to their children?

Why are we therefore wasting time on websites?

Charles, London,

I think you'll find that kids commit suicide because their future is bleak not because someone tells them to do it. When the news of the spate of Bridgend suicides was broadcast, the response on some of the Internet blogs was very sad indeed. Youngsters who have gone in to thousands of pounds worth of debt to gain a Degree, working in dead end Call Centres with no support or idea how to get out. Youngsters who don't get on with their parents and have few other decent people to turn to. Youngsters who are finding it difficult to find partners or companions to help them through life. The Internet is not the problem, the way society offers little or nothing to our young people,is.

Judy , Liverpool, england

Labour must be relieved. Now they have an excuse to control the internet

Phill , The Wirral, England

Mental Health services all across Britain are severely lacking. Waiting lists for counsellors are months long, and since most people only turn to a counsellor when they need it most, having to wait half a year isn't great. Of course, you could go private and pay, but most people don't want to or simply can't pay.

Why don't the government just rule suicide to be illegal again? Because that will obviously stop all the suicides. If people are wanting to take their own life they will do so. If someone is influenced enough by what they read on the Internet then they have some underlying problem which should be addressed.

Let's ban all websites that could even relate to websites, an while we're at it do the same to books, TV programmes (whether fictional or factual), films and computer games. Suicide existing long before the Internet and it will continue, no matter if sites are blocked or not.

C Hunt, Glasgow, UK

What would happen if the sites were censored? Would the kids suddenly stop being depressed? No. They would suffer in silence until they found another way to convince themselves to commit suicide.

This is a blatant example, as Dave in York alludes to, of tackling the symptoms and not the cause. We need to look at why these youngsters are in such a depressive state of mind.

I'd wager that it's something to do with the fact that they are priced out of higher education, have little or no chance of affording a house of their own, and that their only option is to work in a poorly paid job simply to continue their existence. It's certainly not for the "prestige" of having their own tribute site full of tributes which they will never be able to read.

Even when things were bleak in the 70s and 80s, young people had a voice, and often protested passionately against their circumstances. Sadly, those in authority seem to have silenced today's youngsters, and here we see the logical reaction.

Steve Paine, Pontypool, South Wales

Tanya Bryon unelected and unwanted. QUANGO. Brown gives an election, no one want you.

Mr T, taunton, somerset

Very convenient for the Labour government to get its foot in the door to internet censorship. The internet is a thorn in the side for all those intent on controlling the media and nobody is more intent on controlling the media and the minds of the people than Labour and Gordon Brown in particular. Perhaps the growth in numbers of young people attracted to committing suicide has more to do with the society that has been created over the course of the last 10 years. It is typical of the mentality of this government to rush in and legislate against the symptoms of their own failure.

Dave, York, England

A group of teenagers commit suicide in the same town in south all belonging to the same social group. I would therefore argue that the internet is not the main influence in them killing themselves - it is clearly some form of peer pressure.

The internet, chat rooms, social networks etc will only be one of their means of communication. See the RIPs, which are the same as leaving flowers. The information sites would, unfortunately, make the suicide attempts more effective, but this information could have just as easily have been found in libraries or video.

What is depressing is that so many children in this very affluent country should have such a negative outlook on life that they get drunk, fight, take drugs, have unprotected sex, self harm, wreck up their own neighbourhoods and yes a few kill themselves.

Motivating the miserable young is probably the most important aim the government should have.

What happens on the internet is a symptom, not a cause.

Paul Odtaa, Richmond, UK

Mike, I’m sure research into the upsurge in ‘vulnerability’ will conclude that the utter hopelessness of life here has been caused by the divisionism necessary in the process plant of turbo-capitalism. In other words, it’ll never be published.

I don’t see where anyone gave the government the administrative right to meddle in the most intimate aspect of the human experience - the chosen exit. Meddling, passion-killing, channelling and structuring: ironic - it has probably been crippling the suicidal their entire lives. They’ve been shooting a gun at a sea of meddling; yet it rolls over them even in death.

UrbanOspreys, London,

Once again the government and the media try to drum up reasons to censor the internet. JUST SAY NO! People must understand that the internet is the last bastion of free speech, and if we allow the state and its media to clamp down on the media - for whatever sensationalist, spurious reasons - we are heading down a very dark path and will regret it profoundly in years to come.

Issues such as suicide, child porn, and terrorism are NOT the fault of the internet! Just say no to transparent government attempts to impose censorship on our communications!

It'll be licenses for phones and people reading your letters next...

Voland, Caen, France

It's pointless to blame the good old internet for a suicide cult. There were suicides long before there were any forms of interactive social contact, before newspapers, before the invention of print.
What the world needs now is a vast international program of voluntary euthanasia. Guaranteed painless, humane and caring suicide. Just walk into your local Euthanasia Centre, sign the paper and receive a lethal injection no more painful than when donating blood. We love our animals enough to allow them gentle deaths. Humans - relatives, loved ones - don't yet have the option of a gentle death.
And the Church and the "Faithful" should butt out of the entire discussion. Life has nothing to do with you cretinous despots.

Stephen Bird, Järvenpää, Finland

It is a serious mistake to believe that, for every problem, the solution is legislation which oppresses personal liberty.

James E. Petts, Burnham, England

We have to question how anyone can be talked into suicide remotely. Unless they start off as 'vulnerable', in which case someone needs to research this upsurge in vulnerability.

Peer pressure from the internet is not the problem, so censoring the internet is not the answer, and would be another wedge in the attempt to split people from their freedoms without actually doing anything useful.

Mike Poulsen, Reading, Berkshire

The typical needs of teenagers to form a subculture whereby they distance themselves from the adult world is determined by peer pressure and the fear of being ostracised by the equals in their age group. Furthermore, the concepts of coolness, beauty and perfection of the virtual world they live in prompts them even further to seek refuge behind a mask of indifference and hide their real inner turmoil. It is not surprising therefore that the pent up frustration often seeks an outlet that is characteried by violence in all its forms.

Ray , Hombeek, Belgium

Labour again jumps to the tune of scaremongering media headlines.

Sort the country out not the internet.

Sedgwick Morrison, London,

What governments have done to Wales is more than likely the cause of despair,the internet only verified it...

Hugh E Torrance, London, England

The Roman Catholic Church ain't any better

daniela, Hamburg, Germany

Teenagers have always discussed suicide - even 35 years ago when I was a teenager we discussed suicide.

What they are doing now is discussing it more openly and visibly and in far more numbers.

Instead of stopping the discussion - we should be examining the reasons why suicide appears to be a far more attractive alternative to living for these young people.

We need to look at why their self esteem is so low, why their sense of self worth is so low and why they have no hope.

Nicola Brown, Devon, UK

Someone should nominate these idiots for the "Darwin Award".

Rob, Shrewsbury,

This is a worrying turn of events. That people are ready to extinguish themselves in this way tells a tale of hopelessness. These are the early warning signs of the pressures that we see in nature that lead to extinctions. There are times in nature when the sheer press of a species precipitates them into a state of anxiety that encourages the mass to know in some sort of primal way that for the common good there has to be sacrifice. It is either the instinct or the lebensraum sort of concept whereby removal to even a hostile environment is seen to overcome the immediate problems of existence. We are an over-crowded island. In the past we have been able to pacify our habitat to provide more space but now, especially with the doubts over fuel and energy supplies, food. The general air of scepticism which is paddled by the BBC for instance, the over-care of issues that the individual has no control over, is a form of bullying which tender sensibilities must find hard to cope with.

Malcolm Turner, Alsager, England

Well said Bob Jones from Skipton, it's time we stopped demonizing the internet and looked into the real causes of suicide. Perhaps the money spent investigating social networking sites, which are harmless when used with an ounce of common sense, and extremely useful tools for keeping in touch with friends in other places, would be much better spent looking into ways of providing suicidal youngsters with the opportunities and help that they really need. It is insulting to people suffering from depression and suicidal urges to suggest that blocking access to certain websites will help prevent them from feeling how they do.

Name withheld, Durham,

I'm slightly concerned that our first response to this issue isn't to call for proper funding of Adolescent and Child mental health services, but to find ways to prevent children talking about things we don't want them to talk about. This is censorship, pure and simple. It is, after all, a matter of free will even if we do not approve the decision to kill oneself.

What will ISPs be pressured into next? Sites promoting 'dangerous ideas' - who defines what is dangerous? Why should they get to prevent me looking at them? In China democracy sites are 'dangerous'. Our country used to be one of freedom - how often now do you hear someone say 'it's a free country'?

Alison, London,

Visit this site to get your FREE Kid Safe McGruff Internet browser for kids. http://www.mcgruffbrowser.com/

Dusty, san diego, USA / CA

I am really shocked that the internet can be used to push people to commit suicide. The young and vulnerable should be protected from such brainwashing and organisations such as the Samaritans should be more proactive. It seems that the law is found wanting in these circumstances, therefore, a review and further legislation may be required sooner rather than later. We owe it to our young people to take care of them as best we can, nurture them and most importantly protect and guard them against harm. We need to find ways to police the internet better and ensure that such a brilliant invention is not abused. Maybe in the longer term with vision and my sights on prevention a nurse should be present in every school to monitor pupil well being and identify the vulnerable and those at risk of being susceptible to such malevolent and extreme views and behaviour. So that`s nurses, metal detectors and Police in schools ! What`s the world coming to !

Jo Sullivan, Liverpool, Merseyside

Laws can’t resolve all problems. But it must be issued even directly the problem don’t solve by it. The suicidal bias of our children has civilization’s means creating lack of emotions. Let face it: the same problems are not there where people every day fight for own physical (not psychological) survival (Afghanistan, for example). There is a necessity to understand what life is?

Sergey, Krasnodar, Russia

Er, when the Main Stream News carries it - EVERYONE KNOWS! The problem goes far deeper than 'the internet', and the blaming thereof - which is futile. For starters, FIND: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption - being merely organised - it is systemic, blatant and even brags. If nothing can be done about it, has the next generation come to the conclusion there is only one way out? For instance - the Financial Services Authority (FSA) AKA UKLISTINGS LTD is staffed by (chip-n-pen-YOU) Capita! Group ltd that's backed by Deutsche Bank! http://www.db.com/ !

Robert Henry, London, UK

What utter tosh! People see the internet as the last vestige of freedom from officialdom, what the government are trying to do is further censor and control the information available to the public. Most of the 'wide-spread public concern' is coming from groups who are against suicide, the governments reaction once again listen to these pressure groups, ignoring any other arguments. To change the law in order to make ISPs re-direct or block any requests for 'suicide' information sites is the same as re-directing those looking for information on abortion to pro-life sites, you are taking freedom of choice away. People contemplate suicide for numerous reasons, to blame the internet for these suicides is like blaming a menu for your choice of meal. Ultimately though, it is your life and therefore should be your choice what you do with it, our current views and laws regarding suicide are based on religious dogma, which ultimately needs to be reviewed.

Les, Southport, England (a country, not a state!)

If you're looking on a suicide website, clearly you're already suicidal - if that website didn't exist what do we think would happen? They'd forget about it?

Its nonsense.

Bob Jones, Skipton, UK