Vulnerable young people can access pro-suicide sites with relative ease, so what can be done about it? Concerned parents can act by installing filtering and monitoring software and appropriate firewalls. However, a six month national study published last month, Safer Children in a Digital World, which laid the ground for the first UK strategy for child internet safety, found that many parents were poorly informed about technology (www.dfes.gov.uk/byronreview). “I wouldn’t listen to my parents anyway, as they don’t know enough,” one 17 year old girl told a focus group organised by the study.

Study author Tanya Byron, a child psychologist, recommended tighter regulation of some harmful sites—including those giving graphic details of suicide methods and chatrooms dedicated to the promotion of suicide.