Should encouragement be illegal?

Police consider charging chatroom users for inciting cyber suicide

* Detectives are investigating whether people in an internet insult chatroom goaded a British man into killing himself. Jon Ungoed-Thomas assesses the evidence

ABOUT 100 internet chatroom users who witnessed a British man kill himself online - including some who allegedly incited him to hang himself - were being traced by detectives this weekend to be questioned over their roles in the cyber suicide.
Kevin Whitrick, 42, from Telford, Shropshire, killed himself after being goaded in an insult chatroom at the Paltalk website.

One of the users is claimed to have told him: "F..king do it. Get on with it."

The death has raised concerns that some internet forums encourage people to take their lives.

According to one charity that works to prevent suicide, there have been 17 deaths in Britain since 2001 involving internet chatrooms or sites that give advice on suicide methods.

The Home Office is reviewing the law over the possible prosecution of internet users who "aid, abet, counsel or procure" others to take their own lives. Campaigners want police to investigate and prosecute those involved in encouraging online suicides.

A West Mercia police spokesman said yesterday that detectives were working with a US internet service provider to identify about 100 people who were in the chatroom when Mr Whitrick killed himself. They will be offered counselling, but police will also want to reconstruct the online dialogue leading up to Mr Whitrick's death.

It has been claimed that many of those online thought Mr Whitrick was play-acting. But detectives will want to establish whether any of those involved were seriously inciting the father of two to kill himself.

Mr Whitrick, who used the online name Shyguy-17-1, was filmed by his computer webcam as he prepared to hang himself. He knocked a hole in his ceiling and attached a rope around an exposed joist.

Tim Bennet, a Paltalk user, said: "We were in an insult chatroom where people trade insults and have a go at each other. A couple of people told me what he was planning to do.

"Then Shyguy-17-1 turned his camera on. You could see him smash through the ceiling, then standing on a chair he hung a rope over an uncovered joist and tied it around his neck.

"People were still having a go at him, telling him to get on with it, shouting abuse over their microphones and writing messages - but he did not respond. And then he did it.

"I initially thought it was a fake, because you couldn't see his feet, but then his face started turning blue. I felt sick. The mood suddenly changed, everyone was concerned for him and started talking about calling the police and trying to help him."

Another Paltalk user, who asked not to be identified, said: "I didn't think it was real. I have known Kevin for over four years - he always went by his user-names of R1 and Shyguy-17-1, but he told his close friends on the sites his real name.

"I couldn't believe he was doing this. He was on the screen shouting, 'I've had it, you think I'm full of shit, not this time'.

"I hoped it was a stunt but I knew it was real. Other people were egging him on, telling him to get on with it, but I was just thinking, 'This is dangerous'. One guy who was chatting on his microphone shouted at Kevin, 'F..king do it, get on with it, get it round your neck. For f..k's sake, he can't even do this properly'.

"Others were talking to him with his old user-name R1 and telling him to stop it. Then all of a sudden it became clear it was not a hoax. I watched what happened and felt sick - others were claiming he was faking it and was still stood on a chair, butI knew he was dead."

As Mr Whitrick died, reports said, those in the chatroom realised the seriousness of the situation. One chatroom user is reported to have said: "His face is turning purple. This guy is dead."

Another contributor asked: "Is this real?"

Computer users alerted police, who traced Mr Whitrick's address and forced their way into his apartment, but they arrived too late to save him.

Mr Whitrick, who worked for an electrical company in Shrewsbury, was divorced from his wife Paula. The couple had twins, a boy and a girl, aged 12.

In a statement, Paula said: "Kevin was a loving father and family man. He was the life and soul of the party and an extremely considerate and kind person. He will be so sadly missed by us all."

The case raises concerns that many internet users are detached from the impact of what they say online. In a similar death in 2003, Brandon Vedas, a 21-year-old man from Phoenix, Arizona, collapsed from a fatal overdose of prescription drugs after he was reportedly encouraged to take the drugs by others online. One of the chatroom users told Vedas: "Eat more ... I wanna see if you survive or you just black out."

Vedas's brother Rich said after the death: "These people treat it like somehow it's not the real world. They forget it's not just words on a screen."

In Japan, which has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, there has been a significant increase in suicide pacts arranged over the internet.

"Youngsters find that on internet chat sites they can talk about the most intimate of issues with total strangers - including vague notions of wanting to die," said a psychology professor at Niigata Seiryo University, Mafumi Usui.

"Most of them aren't serious. But say one chat participant starts suggesting concrete plans ... that's when the internet can encourage suicide."

There has been at least one case in Britain of strangers meeting on the internet and arranging a suicide. Chris Aston, 25, a Manchester University PhD student, and Maria Williams, 42, from southeast London, killed themselves in February 2005 after they met online.

Campaigners want websites giving detailed advice on suicide methods to be shut down. And they want any online users who goad on those considering suicide to be prosecuted.

Paul Kelly, a trustee of Papyrus, the charity which works to prevent suicide in young people, said: "Some of these sites which incite or give advice on suicide are horrifying. They are encouraging vulnerable people to take their own lives."

Mr Kelly's son Simon committed suicide in 2001 after researching methods of death online. Mr Kelly has compiled details of 16 other deaths since 2001 involving the internet.

Campaigners say the law should be updated to make it clear incitement to commit suicide on websites or online is an offence.

The Sunday Times

I thought this was a very intriguing article for a few reasons. Primarily, if incitement or encouragement of suicide is made illegal, how would it be regulated? Where do you draw the line between casual joking and actual intent to incite? It is that much harder to determine what words mean online when you do not have a face or an expression, a tone of voice, a sound to verify what you think may be something else entirely. And how can intent within itself be a crime? Doesn't there have to be an attempt made or some action taken to make it illegal? But regardless, what these chat rooms are doing is clearly dangerous and akin to being an accomplice to suicide, which is in fact a crime. I think it is good that these types of rooms are getting noticed by the police in an effort to shut them down, but on that same token, attention may also make them more popular with the wrong people.