The Question of Search Engines & Suicide
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Written By Reprise Media | October 19, 2005 | Share This
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Should search engines be subject to censorship? What about when the information they supply helps aid a suicide?
British authorities are struggling with that question after the death of two individuals in Britain’s first Internet suicide pact.
Earlier this fall, twenty-five year old Christopher Ashton and forty-two year old Maria Williams killed themselves in a shopping center parking lot in Southeast London. The pair used a method that is (according to this article) “high unusual in the UK, but which is frequently discussed in suicide chatrooms.”
Right now a number of service providers and search engines, including Yahoo and AOL are considering measures to manipulate suicide-related search results so links to help will appear rather than, say instructions on how to knot a noose or hook up a hose to an exhast pipe.
The most interesting part of the article appears near the end, where the relative of one of the British victims shares his feelings on whether or not the engines should be censored:
“The web is there as a source of information for all of us, and it’s better that these discussions aren’t driven underground. Building high-rise blocks didn’t increase the suicide rate, and I don’t think the internet will either.”
Topics: Search: Innovations |