上周末，《钱江晚报》刊登了这样一则新闻：在浙江省，一名男孩在QQ上与他人相约自杀，并最终身亡，事后，死者的父母把QQ服务提供商深圳腾讯股份有限公司告上法庭。

　　The trial, which began on Thursday in a district court in Lishui, Zhejiang province, has provoked concerns over what sort of liability or accountability Internet service providers have in preventing suicides.

　　上周四，浙江丽水市的一家法院开庭审理了这一案件。网络服务商在制止自杀的问题上应当承担怎样的责任和义务，这也引起了公众的关注。

　　The parents of the boy surnamed Fan have blamed Tencent for failing to exercise effective control over the use of harmful words. Also named in the lawsuit is a man surnamed Zhang, who is accused of inducing the son to commit suicide together, then deciding not to, and not trying to prevent the son`s death.

　　自杀者范某的父母指控腾讯公司未能采取有效措施来监管不良信息。本案的另一被告是张某，他诱导范某一起自杀，其后本人放弃自杀，却没有制止范某。

　　According to the Qianjiang Evening News, this June, Fan, a 20-year-old Shanghai university freshman, responded to a suggestion to commit suicide made by 22-year-old university student Zhang in Lishui through QQ.

　　《钱江晚报》报道说，今年6月，通过QQ聊天，20岁的上海某高校大一新生范某接受了来自丽水的22岁大学生张某的邀请，相约共同自杀。

　　The morning of June 22, Fan went to Lishui and met Zhang at the railway station. They then bought some charcoal, alcohol, a brazier and some beer and took them to a hotel room where they locked themselves inside, closed the windows, put a strip of adhesive tape under the hotel room door and lit the charcoal in an attempt to kill themselves by inhaling carbon monoxide.

　　6月22日一早，范某与张某在火车站见面。他们带了一些木炭、酒精和啤酒，以及一个铜盆，接着进入一家旅馆的房间，锁上门，关上窗，用一卷胶带封住房门，点燃木炭，企图通过吸入一氧化碳的方式自杀。

　　Zhang, however, got a headache after inhaling the carbon monoxide and left the hotel room at about 5 pm, but Fan insisted on remaining in the room.

　　张某在吸入一氧化碳后感觉头疼，于下午5点左右的时候离开房间，而范某却坚持留在屋内。

　　At about 10:50 pm, Zhang called the hotel`s reception desk to tell them about the pair`s plan and when staff went to check they found Fan dead, the report said.

　　晚上10:50，张某打电话给旅馆的前台，详细说明了他们的自杀计划，当旅馆员工去查房时发现范某已经死亡。

　　Fan`s parents claimed that Zhang asked Fan to commit suicide, while Tencent did not delete or block information about suicide pacts, so it was further disseminated online. Therefore, both were responsible for their son`s death. They asked for 279,028 yuan ($41,900) in compensation.

　　范某的父亲声称，是张某导致范某自杀的，而腾讯却没有删除或屏蔽“相约自杀”的相关信息，进一步导致其通过网络传播。因此，双方都对自己儿子的死负有责任。他们索赔279028元的赔偿金（约合4万1900美元）。

　　Tencent maintained that it was not liable for Fan`s death. Their lawyers said the company had more than 500 million users who send an immense amount of online information every day. Moreover, QQ is an individual communication tool, which is almost impossible to monitor or supervise.

　　腾讯坚持宣称他们对于范某的死没有责任。辩护律师称，腾讯拥有5多亿的用户，每天都有海量的信息传播，QQ是一个私人通讯工具，腾迅无法对所有信息都进行监管。

　　They also said that use of the word "suicide" is not illegal and that screening out such words might infringe on user rights.

　　腾讯方面还表示，使用“自杀”一词并不属于违法行为，屏蔽这样的词会侵犯用户的权利。

　　Fan`s family said they had not heard of any similar case being handled and thought they had little chance of winning it, but they insisted on going ahead with the case to raise public awareness of the danger of possible suicide pacts being arranged online.

　　范某的家人称，他们也从未听说过受理类似案件的先例，尽管对打赢官司不抱希望，但还是要坚持打下去，以使得公众意识到网络相约自杀危险性的存在。

　　As of Sunday, no verdict had been reached in Fan`s trial.

　　截止到上周日，该案件还没有任何判决结果。