Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram   

Owners of Internet cafes on warpath

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM AUG. 9. The owners of internet cafes are on the warpath against the alleged constraints on them in running the show here, even as the Kerala High Court has called for suggestions from the public on how the propagation of pornography through cyber cafes could be checked.

The Kerala High Court called for suggestions on putting checks on cyber cafes, on the basis of the recommendations given by an expert committee set up by the Mumbai High Court, which had looked into the issue.

The said committee's recommendations on how cyber cafes should be regulated are before the Kerala High Court now, on which the court has called for a public poll.

The committee had suggested that only those with proper identity cards alone should be allowed into cyber cafes, whereas regular visitors could be issued free membership cards. It had also recommended that cyber cafes maintain a detailed account of the visitors to the cafes and that minors are not allowed to use machines inside cubicles.

It had also recommended that all cyber cafes install necessary filter software to prevent children and youth from accessing pornographic material on-line.

The cyber cafe owners' grouse is that the authorities have failed to discuss the same with them, despite the fact that they are the interested party in the issue. They have dismissed the recommendations put forth by the expert committee as `impractical'.

``It is highly impractical to insist that all those who enter cyber cafes should have necessary identity cards. An authentic ID card would have to be the driving licence, the PAN number or the passport, documents which most people may not be carrying with them. A chunk of those visiting internet cafes are people who are on the move _ people who might be dropping in just to check or send an e-mail or who want to scan and despatch documents on- line. This identity card business will prevent them from dropping in at cyber cafes,'' claims S. S. Manoj, the president of Internet Cafe and DTP Owners' Association of Kerala (ICDAK).

He also protests that it is impractical to insist that the cyber cafe maintain a detailed register of all the visitors. This would mean hiring additional staff, which most cyber cafes cannot afford to do, he says.

``It is unfair to promote the general impression that pornography is being propagated by cyber cafes. Such campaigns will discourage genuine netizens from visiting cyber cafes, affecting our business. In fact, youth accessing porn on-line are doing it from their own homes and not cyber cafes,'' Mr. Manoj claims.

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