The UK government is to clarify the legal implications of assisting suicide to make it clear that the law applies in the same way online as it does offline.

A number recent of suicide cases appear to be linked to web sites or online communications, including the deaths of 17 young people in Wales last year who were thought to be communicating through social networking sites.

The legal language has been simplified following a review, and will make it easier for internet service providers to justify taking down web sites suspected of hosting such activities.

"There is no magic solution to protecting vulnerable people online," said justice minister Maria Eagle.

"Updating the language of the Suicide Act, however, should help to reassure people that the internet is not a lawless environment and that we can meet the challenges of the digital world."

The move is part of a wider attempt to reduce the suicide rate in the UK by at least 20 per cent by 2010.