The story of Kimveer Gill shows the need for monitoring certain Internet sites

What is it about?

This article focuses on the story of Kimveer Gill, a 25-year-old man from Laval, Montreal who wished to murder young students in Dawson College. We hold that the monitoring of certain sites on which criminals voice their violent goals could potentially prevent unfortunate events like this particular incident. We do not support censorship of the Internet, nor do we aim to induce Moral Panics among Internet users because we do not see the Internet as "a threat to societal values and interests.” Technology is not the problem. The problem is created by individuals who abuse technology to advance criminal agendas. Indeed, the Internet is a useful platform that has changed daily life forever and is here to stay, but we must devise ways to deal with its less positive aspects. Our intention is to draw the attention of the multifaceted international community -- law enforcement officers, governments, civil society groups – to the urgent need of developing monitoring schemes of potentially problematic websites, in order to prevent homicide. Our expectation for international co-operation by all parts of society is not based on any existing legal obligations but rather upon the moral obligations that crosses borders and cultures regarding the sanctity of life and the urgency to save lives and prevent crimes. The Internet business sector (Internet Service Providers, websites' administrators and owners) bears an even heavier responsibility, since the moral obligations imposed on them may, in due course, become a legal obligation as was the case with child pornography and cybercrime. By “potentially problematic websites” we refer to websites that have the potential to attract criminals to post their criminal ideas and criminal intentions. Law-enforcement agencies are acquiring experience and understanding of social networking on the Internet. Their work facilitates flexible schemes for identifying those websites and how criminals are using them. Analyzing several case studies, most notably that of Kimveer Gill and VampireFreaks.com, the site which hosted his murderous thoughts, we argue that if the police were to monitor this site as well as other known such sites on a regular basis, bloodshed could have been averted.

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Photo by Ryan on Unsplash

Photo by Ryan on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Sometimes you wish to write on one thing and then research leads you to discover another thing. The research for this article led me to notice that there is a phenomenon: people who wish to murder vent their hostilities on the Internet and tell the virtual world of their intentions. We should be alert to these messages to prevent murder.

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