Lawyer arrested for giving VSNL the slip
Equipment worth Rs 5 lakh seized
Express News Service
Pune, August 27: SANJIV Ramchandra Dudhat, a lawyer practicing at the court of Judicial Magistrate (First Class) at Pimpri was arrested for his alleged involvement in allowing people to receive ISD from USA, bypassing VSNL, at an internet cafe which is in the name of his wife. Dudhat has been a lawyer for 14 years.
Police said Dudhat was arrested after Raju Shanjkarrao Teli, an assistant manager from Tata Teleservices, lodged a complaint at Pimpri police station. VSNL levies transfer charges on every incoming ISD call.
The loss suffered by VSNL due to Dudhat�s operations is estimated to be around Rs 1.35 crore, the police added.
Police said Dudhat obtained five telephone connections of Tata Teleservices and three connections of Reliance in the name of his wife Vanita at his office and opened Akanksha Cyber Pvt Ltd, a cyber cafe, a year-and-a-half ago.
VSNL�s vigilance officer Hari Om Solankhi noticed on August 25 that calls from USA were bypassing VSNL and were being converted into local calls at the cyber cafe with the help of internet.
VSNL officials alerted the Tata Teleservices officials who lodged a police complaint.
A team of policemen, led by inspector-in-charge of Pimpri police station PU Kohinkar, raided the cyber cafe and seized equipment worth over Rs 5.31 lakh.
Police said investigations so far have indicated the involvement of Dudhat's brother-in-law Ashish Umrani, who is a software engineer settled in San Francisco."
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Info centres to bridge digital divide: India
Info centres to bridge digital divide
CORPORATE BUREAU
Posted online: Friday, August 26, 2005 at 0000 hours IST
NEW DELHI, AUG 25: As part of the first ‘outcome budget’ the government on Thursday unveiled its plan to establish 60 community information centres in Jammu & Kashmir by October this year.
BrideGroom
18-2526-3031-3536-4546-5099-50
Internet-enabled, these centres will aim at bridging the digital divide as part of the national e-governance plan.
Apart from J&K, Lakshwadeep and Andaman & Nicobar will also be connected through such information centres by January 2006. At least 487 centres have been established in the north so far.
A hub will be established at Roorkee by September next year. Proposals for state wide area networks have been sanctioned with an outlay of Rs 1,027 crore of which Rs 206 crore has been released.
Proposals from eight more states have been received which will be approved by this month.
An amount of Rs 58 lakh has been released for the e-governance pilot gateway. Selection of an agency to build and run the gateway will be completed by March 2006.
Policy guidelines on state data centres are also under formulation. Taking note of the recent BPO frauds, the government said that it will respond to such incidents in a proactive manner. Police and judiciary are also being trained in cyber crime.
A core group has identified the areas for standards in e-governance. These are technical inter-operability, quality and documentation and data security. The report is awaiting approval from the ministry of communications & information technology.
The National Informatics Centre has submitted a proposal for the implementation of India portal project. The proposal is due for approval next month.
Line ministries have been advised to define the service levels of their mission mode projects. The department of telecom (DIT) has appointed Pricewaterhouse Coopers for this task which has submitted its report.
Service levels of mission mode projects in areas like excise, property, registration, road transport, e-business, treasuries, municipalities and employment exchange have been finalised with the concerned line ministries.
CORPORATE BUREAU
Posted online: Friday, August 26, 2005 at 0000 hours IST
NEW DELHI, AUG 25: As part of the first ‘outcome budget’ the government on Thursday unveiled its plan to establish 60 community information centres in Jammu & Kashmir by October this year.
BrideGroom
18-2526-3031-3536-4546-5099-50
Internet-enabled, these centres will aim at bridging the digital divide as part of the national e-governance plan.
Apart from J&K, Lakshwadeep and Andaman & Nicobar will also be connected through such information centres by January 2006. At least 487 centres have been established in the north so far.
A hub will be established at Roorkee by September next year. Proposals for state wide area networks have been sanctioned with an outlay of Rs 1,027 crore of which Rs 206 crore has been released.
Proposals from eight more states have been received which will be approved by this month.
An amount of Rs 58 lakh has been released for the e-governance pilot gateway. Selection of an agency to build and run the gateway will be completed by March 2006.
Policy guidelines on state data centres are also under formulation. Taking note of the recent BPO frauds, the government said that it will respond to such incidents in a proactive manner. Police and judiciary are also being trained in cyber crime.
A core group has identified the areas for standards in e-governance. These are technical inter-operability, quality and documentation and data security. The report is awaiting approval from the ministry of communications & information technology.
The National Informatics Centre has submitted a proposal for the implementation of India portal project. The proposal is due for approval next month.
Line ministries have been advised to define the service levels of their mission mode projects. The department of telecom (DIT) has appointed Pricewaterhouse Coopers for this task which has submitted its report.
Service levels of mission mode projects in areas like excise, property, registration, road transport, e-business, treasuries, municipalities and employment exchange have been finalised with the concerned line ministries.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
The Telecentre is a fantastic social hub : Linda , Australia
Working to a common goal
Ben Anderson
Thursday, 25 August 2005
AS THE manager of two different organisations in Boyup Brook, one thing Linda Coote is good at is managing her time.
Linda splits her time between the local Telecentre and the Blackwood Basin Group.
She said she and her family made the "tree change" from Perth six years ago and quickly became involved in community activities.
"I was secretary of the P and C and one of the members of Telecentre gave me the minutes of a meeting to type up," she said.
"I handed them back the next day because I didn't have anything to do that night and it snowballed from there."
Linda started on the management committee and then took on a project officer position.
"My position was based on funding and depended on how many projects I could find to run," she said.
"Manager Jenny Secull had to leave for health and I have been manager for two years.
"My role as manager is to co-ordinate the centre, create projects and financial management."
Linda said she was constantly networking to ensure there was a connection between the Telecentre and the wider Boyup Brook community.
"The Telecentre is a fantastic social hub," she said.
"We try not to double up and make sure any service we provide are not in conflict with others."
Linda said the Telecentre was a bit of a labour of love and she works more than the 20 hours a week for which she is paid.
"You have to be very good at time management," Linda said.
As part of her other position as projects manager with the Blackwood Basin Group, Linda is involved with a national pilot scheme set up two and half years ago to develop environmental management systems for local farms.
"A regional plan was done for farms in the South West and we help landholders with what is a priority from the catchments perspective," she said.
These activities include looking after soil, tree planting, fencing of remnant vegetation, stocking rates, erosion control on tracks and roads and fire breaks.
The BBG has been going for 14 years and Linda said they had been getting a good response from the more than 60 landholders involved in the program.
"There is more of an awareness of environment issues because of the program and the Blackwood Basin Group has been used a s a model for similar environmental groups," she said.
Linda said she wasn't sure what drew her family to Boyup Brook.
"We were living in Orange Grove in Perth but wanted more land and my husband was working away from home and wanted more time here with the family," she said.
"We came to look around and put an offer on a house straight away and then had to move in a second hand transportable for place to live."
Linda said she liked being involved in the community.
"Everyone you work with has a common goal," she said.
"I like a challenge, its a great buzz to get involved in a project and see it come into fruition.
"If you can show enthusiasm you can accomplish a lot."
Ben Anderson
Thursday, 25 August 2005
AS THE manager of two different organisations in Boyup Brook, one thing Linda Coote is good at is managing her time.
Linda splits her time between the local Telecentre and the Blackwood Basin Group.
She said she and her family made the "tree change" from Perth six years ago and quickly became involved in community activities.
"I was secretary of the P and C and one of the members of Telecentre gave me the minutes of a meeting to type up," she said.
"I handed them back the next day because I didn't have anything to do that night and it snowballed from there."
Linda started on the management committee and then took on a project officer position.
"My position was based on funding and depended on how many projects I could find to run," she said.
"Manager Jenny Secull had to leave for health and I have been manager for two years.
"My role as manager is to co-ordinate the centre, create projects and financial management."
Linda said she was constantly networking to ensure there was a connection between the Telecentre and the wider Boyup Brook community.
"The Telecentre is a fantastic social hub," she said.
"We try not to double up and make sure any service we provide are not in conflict with others."
Linda said the Telecentre was a bit of a labour of love and she works more than the 20 hours a week for which she is paid.
"You have to be very good at time management," Linda said.
As part of her other position as projects manager with the Blackwood Basin Group, Linda is involved with a national pilot scheme set up two and half years ago to develop environmental management systems for local farms.
"A regional plan was done for farms in the South West and we help landholders with what is a priority from the catchments perspective," she said.
These activities include looking after soil, tree planting, fencing of remnant vegetation, stocking rates, erosion control on tracks and roads and fire breaks.
The BBG has been going for 14 years and Linda said they had been getting a good response from the more than 60 landholders involved in the program.
"There is more of an awareness of environment issues because of the program and the Blackwood Basin Group has been used a s a model for similar environmental groups," she said.
Linda said she wasn't sure what drew her family to Boyup Brook.
"We were living in Orange Grove in Perth but wanted more land and my husband was working away from home and wanted more time here with the family," she said.
"We came to look around and put an offer on a house straight away and then had to move in a second hand transportable for place to live."
Linda said she liked being involved in the community.
"Everyone you work with has a common goal," she said.
"I like a challenge, its a great buzz to get involved in a project and see it come into fruition.
"If you can show enthusiasm you can accomplish a lot."
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Vietnam Clamps Down on Cybercafes
Vietnam Clamps Down on "Troublesome" Cybercafes
2005.08.22
BANGKOK--The Vietnamese authorities have issued a set of regulations aimed at controlling the country's fledgling cybercafes, which are the main gateway to the Internet for most ordinary Vietnamese.
Four government ministries are involved in implementing the new directive, published by the ruling Communist Party as "State Circular No. 2 on Internet Use" on July 17, according to official media reports.
Public Security, Posts and Telecommunications, Culture and Information and Planning and Investment were all seeking to "regulate and standardize the fledgling and troublesome Internet cafes business," officials were quoted as saying by the Bangkok-based Asia Times newspaper.
Frequent Internet user and college student Le Phuong said the overall effect on economic and social development in Vietnam could be disastrous.
New rules will restrict access"According to this regulation, unaccompanied minors may no longer use the public Internet service and computers at Internet cafes," Phuong told RFA's Vietnamese service in a recent in-depth interview on Internet use among young people.
"The end result would be Vietnam, being 10 years behind the rest of the world in information technology, could be potentially skidding further down the slope of backwardness," he said.
Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has also criticized Circular No. 2.
"It is individual freedoms that will suffer dramatically as a result of a law like this," RSF said in a recent statement.
It would be very difficult to lift the country out of poverty and backwardness, let alone our dream to develop into a tiger or dragon in Southeast Asia.
Le Phuong, Vietnamese Internet user"These measures are a complete negation of the free enterprise principles espoused by the World Trade Organization, which Vietnam is trying to join," the group said in a statement carried on its Web site.
Phuong said the strongest opposition among ordinary Vietnamese Internet users had been to the requirements that users show identification papers at cybercafes, and leave their names and addresses on a register at the cafe.
Cybercafes to screen customers"According to Circular 2, IDs must be shown to Internet café owners....Now come additional regulations for Internet café owners to keep logs specifying customer info like full name, address, and so on," Phuong told RFA.
"I'd say reactions from different circles of public Internet service users have been very strong. They argue that this requirement is in violation of civil rights, as well as their rights to privacy," he said.
Civil rights concerns at being required to produce identification by non-police or non-military personnel were top of the list of concerns, Phuong said, especially in peace-time.
The government cites "unhealthy" tendencies among Internet users, including concerns about Internet pornorgraphy and the effects on youngsters of long hours playing computer games.
He said many Internet cafe users would be put off by the additional trouble caused by the new rules, which took effect on July 30, and businesses would soon feel the pinch.
"[The government] can't justify causing such a nuisance by verifying the IDs of all visiting users by saying it is preventing abuse of the Internet," he told RFA. "A few hundreds of customers visit Internet cafes a day. Internet café owners must hire addition staff to check and record user IDs."
Costs likely to risePhuong also predicted that the new rules would result in higher fees for online searches, affecting the accessibility of the Internet to ordinary high-school and college students, and consequently, their education.
Another widespread fear was that user databases would also provide fertile hunting grounds for on-line fraudsters, he said.
"On a societal level, the highly probable consequence is that the application of the Internet, already dozens of years behind the rest of the world, would be either abruptly interrupted forced to progress at a snail¹s pace," he added.
"It would be very difficult to lift the country out of poverty and backwardness, let alone our dream to develop into a tiger or dragon in Southeast Asia."
Last year, the Vietnam Internet Center reported that the number of Internet subscribers had jumped to more than 2 million from 823,000 in 2003. During the same period, the number of Web users at Internet cafes doubled, to 7.35 percent of the country's population of 83 million people.
Currently, an online search costs around 3,000 dong (U.S. 19 cents), but that might rise considerably if costs increased as a result of the new rules, Phuong said.
Three cyber-dissidents are currently imprisoned in Vietnam, according to RSF. They are Nguyen Khac Toan, Nguyen Vu Binh and Pham Hong Son, who is serving a five-year sentence for downloading an article entitled "What is democracy ?" from the U.S. Embassy's Web site, translating it into Vietnamese and distributing it online.
Original reporting in Vietnamese by Viet Long. Produced for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie.
2005.08.22
BANGKOK--The Vietnamese authorities have issued a set of regulations aimed at controlling the country's fledgling cybercafes, which are the main gateway to the Internet for most ordinary Vietnamese.
Four government ministries are involved in implementing the new directive, published by the ruling Communist Party as "State Circular No. 2 on Internet Use" on July 17, according to official media reports.
Public Security, Posts and Telecommunications, Culture and Information and Planning and Investment were all seeking to "regulate and standardize the fledgling and troublesome Internet cafes business," officials were quoted as saying by the Bangkok-based Asia Times newspaper.
Frequent Internet user and college student Le Phuong said the overall effect on economic and social development in Vietnam could be disastrous.
New rules will restrict access"According to this regulation, unaccompanied minors may no longer use the public Internet service and computers at Internet cafes," Phuong told RFA's Vietnamese service in a recent in-depth interview on Internet use among young people.
"The end result would be Vietnam, being 10 years behind the rest of the world in information technology, could be potentially skidding further down the slope of backwardness," he said.
Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has also criticized Circular No. 2.
"It is individual freedoms that will suffer dramatically as a result of a law like this," RSF said in a recent statement.
It would be very difficult to lift the country out of poverty and backwardness, let alone our dream to develop into a tiger or dragon in Southeast Asia.
Le Phuong, Vietnamese Internet user"These measures are a complete negation of the free enterprise principles espoused by the World Trade Organization, which Vietnam is trying to join," the group said in a statement carried on its Web site.
Phuong said the strongest opposition among ordinary Vietnamese Internet users had been to the requirements that users show identification papers at cybercafes, and leave their names and addresses on a register at the cafe.
Cybercafes to screen customers"According to Circular 2, IDs must be shown to Internet café owners....Now come additional regulations for Internet café owners to keep logs specifying customer info like full name, address, and so on," Phuong told RFA.
"I'd say reactions from different circles of public Internet service users have been very strong. They argue that this requirement is in violation of civil rights, as well as their rights to privacy," he said.
Civil rights concerns at being required to produce identification by non-police or non-military personnel were top of the list of concerns, Phuong said, especially in peace-time.
The government cites "unhealthy" tendencies among Internet users, including concerns about Internet pornorgraphy and the effects on youngsters of long hours playing computer games.
He said many Internet cafe users would be put off by the additional trouble caused by the new rules, which took effect on July 30, and businesses would soon feel the pinch.
"[The government] can't justify causing such a nuisance by verifying the IDs of all visiting users by saying it is preventing abuse of the Internet," he told RFA. "A few hundreds of customers visit Internet cafes a day. Internet café owners must hire addition staff to check and record user IDs."
Costs likely to risePhuong also predicted that the new rules would result in higher fees for online searches, affecting the accessibility of the Internet to ordinary high-school and college students, and consequently, their education.
Another widespread fear was that user databases would also provide fertile hunting grounds for on-line fraudsters, he said.
"On a societal level, the highly probable consequence is that the application of the Internet, already dozens of years behind the rest of the world, would be either abruptly interrupted forced to progress at a snail¹s pace," he added.
"It would be very difficult to lift the country out of poverty and backwardness, let alone our dream to develop into a tiger or dragon in Southeast Asia."
Last year, the Vietnam Internet Center reported that the number of Internet subscribers had jumped to more than 2 million from 823,000 in 2003. During the same period, the number of Web users at Internet cafes doubled, to 7.35 percent of the country's population of 83 million people.
Currently, an online search costs around 3,000 dong (U.S. 19 cents), but that might rise considerably if costs increased as a result of the new rules, Phuong said.
Three cyber-dissidents are currently imprisoned in Vietnam, according to RSF. They are Nguyen Khac Toan, Nguyen Vu Binh and Pham Hong Son, who is serving a five-year sentence for downloading an article entitled "What is democracy ?" from the U.S. Embassy's Web site, translating it into Vietnamese and distributing it online.
Original reporting in Vietnamese by Viet Long. Produced for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie.
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Powering up Bario : A village in Malaysia
Powering up Bario: "Powering up Bario"
Powering up Bario
By GAVIN GOMEZ
FAILED and “insincere attempts to help” the Kelabit community of Bario, Sarawak, have left the simple folk of this remote village sceptical whenever individuals come forward to lend a hand.
“We let them say or do what they want but we don’t keep our hopes up or expect anything,” said resident John Tarawe, adding that the main cause for this scepticism is a failed hydroelectric project that powered homes for a mere 45 minutes six years ago before it broke down.
Till today, this sleepy hollow near the Kalimantan border does not have regular electricity supply and with diesel in short supply, the few generators, which used to light up some homes at night, are also being left idle.
The electric poles, transformer and occasional visits by consultants to the village seeking to revive the project, are constant reminders of the failed hydroelectric project.
So, when a group of young engineers and university students said they wanted to help power the town's only telecentre or cybercafe as it is more commonly known, the villagers were unconvinced.
However, Cambridge University's Mike Khaw and his team of engineers showed the people of Bario, which has a population of about 1,000, they meant business when their award-winning project not only earned them worldwide recognition but also a special place among the people there.
“It feels good to add value to the lives of others who are less privileged than us. We wanted to show that you don't necessarily have to be a Datuk or Tan Sri to contribute to society,” said Khaw, the leader of the international team of 15.
The international team of young engineers and students whose solar energy project now powers the Bario Telecentre.
The project was selected among four others for a Special Jury Mention in the Mondialogo Engineering Award. An initiative launched by Daimler Chrysler and Unesco, the award is aimed at promoting “dialogue among civilisations” by calling on students from developed countries to work together on technical proposals addressing the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, particularly eradicating poverty and promoting environmentally sustainable development.
More than 1,700 young engineers and students from 79 countries took part in the inaugural event this year forming 412 international teams.
As a Kuala Lumpur boy who recently graduated from Cambridge University, Khaw seized the opportunity to work with his Malaysian peers in coming up with a project.
“We saw that there was a great need for sustainable energy in Bario because it was far from the national grid.
“So we e-mailed Dr Alvin Yeo at Unimas (Universiti Malaysia Sarawak) and after discussing our plans, decided to enter our proposal for the Mondialogo competition,” Khaw said.
As part of the Government's e-community initiative, e-Bario was launched five years ago in an attempt to get rural settlements connected.
Housed in the Gatuman-Bario telecentre, the effort was a huge success but was continually plagued by power problems.
Thanks to the effort by the Mondialogo team, the centre which was only able to operate for a few hours a week is now able to remain open between six and eight hours a day, with the diesel-powered generators used only as a back-up source of energy.
Located about 400km from Miri, this highland community lacks the basic facilities those of us living in urban centres and even rural areas take for granted. Daily flights on the tiny twin-otter aircraft was only introduced a few years ago, before which residents had to endure a two to three-week hike through the thick Borneo jungle to get to Miri.
Most homes in the community rely on kerosene lamps for light and two public telephones for communication with the outside world (only one was working at the time of visit).
It is no wonder that the telecentre has brought much excitement to this otherwise laid-back community of farmers, as with it comes the hope of using solar energy to power their homes as well.
It took many hands to put together the seven 175-watt panels in place.
“Things have been great since the solar panels were installed. They have helped my people stay in touch with their relatives around the world and helped business flourish, especially our tourism industry,” said Florence Apu, a Bario native who returned home recently and has been volunteering to manage the centre together with Tarawe and other volunteers.
“Business has increased tremendously since I starting publicising my lodge and jungle-trekking trips online. Visitors from around the world are now making bookings online,” said Jaman Riboh, whose 15-year-old agency is now seeing renewed growth.
During StarEducation's recent visit to Bario, two British volunteers, Tom Taylor and Richard Bridle, were seen busy teaching the locals the basics of e-mailing and other useful applications.
“Some of them who have never even seen a computer before are now sending e-mails,” said Taylor who is from the non-profit group, Engineers Without Borders, which worked with Khaw on the project.
The other supporters and sponsors include the Harvard Club, Oxbridge Society and Shell Malaysia which contributed USD13,000 (RM48,750), Microsoft which contributed basic training material for the community and of course, DaimlerChrysler and Unesco through the Mondialogo World Engineering Award.
“The Kelabit community has always been receptive to technology which made this project well worth it for Osean,” said Khaw of the Organisation of Sustainable Engineering of South-East Asian Nations (Osean) – a non-profit organisation founded by an international group of young engineers and students whose impetus came from the Mondialogo project.
Finally, installing and launching the solar-power system in June not only made Osean and Mondialogo truly international but also earned it a special place in the hearts of the Bario people.
“These guys poured their heart and soul into this project and we are benefiting from it. I must thank them,” said Tarawe.
Khaw's team member from Cambridge, Nam Tran Nguyen, said Osean now planned to work on similar projects in the region.
“The success of the Bario solar project has given the team the momentum and confidence to push forward. We learned a great deal from the Bario experience and are happy with the outcome.
“Over the next year, we will strengthen our organisation, continue to recruit volunteers and members and implement another project,” she said.
Khaw added that the plans were also under way to see how Osean could help the Bario people to identify ways of sustaining the operations of the telecentre.
This does not only mean charging locals RM2 and foreigners RM5 per half-hour of usage but also training people on the maintenance of the solar panels and batteries.
“When we are not teaching them how to use computers, we teach them basic problem-solving techniques,” said Bridle.
On the measure of the project’s success, the team said only time would tell as that was what is meant by sustainable development
For more information on Bario visit www.kelabit.net
Powering up Bario
By GAVIN GOMEZ
FAILED and “insincere attempts to help” the Kelabit community of Bario, Sarawak, have left the simple folk of this remote village sceptical whenever individuals come forward to lend a hand.
“We let them say or do what they want but we don’t keep our hopes up or expect anything,” said resident John Tarawe, adding that the main cause for this scepticism is a failed hydroelectric project that powered homes for a mere 45 minutes six years ago before it broke down.
Till today, this sleepy hollow near the Kalimantan border does not have regular electricity supply and with diesel in short supply, the few generators, which used to light up some homes at night, are also being left idle.
The electric poles, transformer and occasional visits by consultants to the village seeking to revive the project, are constant reminders of the failed hydroelectric project.
So, when a group of young engineers and university students said they wanted to help power the town's only telecentre or cybercafe as it is more commonly known, the villagers were unconvinced.
However, Cambridge University's Mike Khaw and his team of engineers showed the people of Bario, which has a population of about 1,000, they meant business when their award-winning project not only earned them worldwide recognition but also a special place among the people there.
“It feels good to add value to the lives of others who are less privileged than us. We wanted to show that you don't necessarily have to be a Datuk or Tan Sri to contribute to society,” said Khaw, the leader of the international team of 15.
The international team of young engineers and students whose solar energy project now powers the Bario Telecentre.
The project was selected among four others for a Special Jury Mention in the Mondialogo Engineering Award. An initiative launched by Daimler Chrysler and Unesco, the award is aimed at promoting “dialogue among civilisations” by calling on students from developed countries to work together on technical proposals addressing the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, particularly eradicating poverty and promoting environmentally sustainable development.
More than 1,700 young engineers and students from 79 countries took part in the inaugural event this year forming 412 international teams.
As a Kuala Lumpur boy who recently graduated from Cambridge University, Khaw seized the opportunity to work with his Malaysian peers in coming up with a project.
“We saw that there was a great need for sustainable energy in Bario because it was far from the national grid.
“So we e-mailed Dr Alvin Yeo at Unimas (Universiti Malaysia Sarawak) and after discussing our plans, decided to enter our proposal for the Mondialogo competition,” Khaw said.
As part of the Government's e-community initiative, e-Bario was launched five years ago in an attempt to get rural settlements connected.
Housed in the Gatuman-Bario telecentre, the effort was a huge success but was continually plagued by power problems.
Thanks to the effort by the Mondialogo team, the centre which was only able to operate for a few hours a week is now able to remain open between six and eight hours a day, with the diesel-powered generators used only as a back-up source of energy.
Located about 400km from Miri, this highland community lacks the basic facilities those of us living in urban centres and even rural areas take for granted. Daily flights on the tiny twin-otter aircraft was only introduced a few years ago, before which residents had to endure a two to three-week hike through the thick Borneo jungle to get to Miri.
Most homes in the community rely on kerosene lamps for light and two public telephones for communication with the outside world (only one was working at the time of visit).
It is no wonder that the telecentre has brought much excitement to this otherwise laid-back community of farmers, as with it comes the hope of using solar energy to power their homes as well.
It took many hands to put together the seven 175-watt panels in place.
“Things have been great since the solar panels were installed. They have helped my people stay in touch with their relatives around the world and helped business flourish, especially our tourism industry,” said Florence Apu, a Bario native who returned home recently and has been volunteering to manage the centre together with Tarawe and other volunteers.
“Business has increased tremendously since I starting publicising my lodge and jungle-trekking trips online. Visitors from around the world are now making bookings online,” said Jaman Riboh, whose 15-year-old agency is now seeing renewed growth.
During StarEducation's recent visit to Bario, two British volunteers, Tom Taylor and Richard Bridle, were seen busy teaching the locals the basics of e-mailing and other useful applications.
“Some of them who have never even seen a computer before are now sending e-mails,” said Taylor who is from the non-profit group, Engineers Without Borders, which worked with Khaw on the project.
The other supporters and sponsors include the Harvard Club, Oxbridge Society and Shell Malaysia which contributed USD13,000 (RM48,750), Microsoft which contributed basic training material for the community and of course, DaimlerChrysler and Unesco through the Mondialogo World Engineering Award.
“The Kelabit community has always been receptive to technology which made this project well worth it for Osean,” said Khaw of the Organisation of Sustainable Engineering of South-East Asian Nations (Osean) – a non-profit organisation founded by an international group of young engineers and students whose impetus came from the Mondialogo project.
Finally, installing and launching the solar-power system in June not only made Osean and Mondialogo truly international but also earned it a special place in the hearts of the Bario people.
“These guys poured their heart and soul into this project and we are benefiting from it. I must thank them,” said Tarawe.
Khaw's team member from Cambridge, Nam Tran Nguyen, said Osean now planned to work on similar projects in the region.
“The success of the Bario solar project has given the team the momentum and confidence to push forward. We learned a great deal from the Bario experience and are happy with the outcome.
“Over the next year, we will strengthen our organisation, continue to recruit volunteers and members and implement another project,” she said.
Khaw added that the plans were also under way to see how Osean could help the Bario people to identify ways of sustaining the operations of the telecentre.
This does not only mean charging locals RM2 and foreigners RM5 per half-hour of usage but also training people on the maintenance of the solar panels and batteries.
“When we are not teaching them how to use computers, we teach them basic problem-solving techniques,” said Bridle.
On the measure of the project’s success, the team said only time would tell as that was what is meant by sustainable development
For more information on Bario visit www.kelabit.net
Saturday, August 20, 2005
India bypasses the wires to bring Wi-Fi to its remote residents | csmonitor.com
India bypasses the wires to bring Wi-Fi to its remote residents | csmonitor.com
from the August 19, 2005 edition
India bypasses the wires to bring Wi-Fi to its remote residents Wireless technology will help bring the Internet to 600,000 villages in 2 years.
By Jacob Leibenluft | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor
PALAKKODE, INDIA – Three years ago, paying the electric bill in the south Indian village of Palakkode was a day-long task. With unreliable postal service, bills are paid in person. That means a trip of several miles, perhaps on foot, and a wait in line.
Today, the citizens of Palakkode go to Muhammed Harroon. Mr. Harroon does not work for the electric company - he runs the village's Akshaya center, a room with five computers hooked wirelessly to the Internet, where local citizens can surf the Web, take computer-literacy courses, and pay their bills electronically.
Relying on a signal transmitted from a tower in the center of the district, Palakkode is at the forefront of efforts to use wireless technology to cover the last mile - or in many cases, the last several miles - separating rural villages from landline networks.
The technology is making universal Internet access an attainable goal in several developing countries, including India. The country aims to spread "village knowledge centers" like the one in Palakkode to the country's 600,000 villages within two years.
"For most of the rural parts of the world, they are never going to run a wire - at least not one that's going to handle a significant bandwidth," says Allen Hammond, the director of the World Resources Institute's Digital Dividends program. "That's true in the rural US ... as it's true in rural India, rural Africa, and rural Eastern Europe."
The technology being used is, for the most part, little different from the Wi-Fi networks that have become popular in US cafes, universities, and homes. The biggest difference is their range - many rely on radio towers and antennas to extend signals as far as 20 miles at a time - and the conditions under which they are deployed, which often include unreliable power supplies or inhospitable terrain. But with the cost of equipment falling quickly, wireless Internet, like mobile phones, is increasingly earning attention as a promising solution to close the technology gap between urban and rural areas in the developing world by removing the need for expensive investments in new cables.
"Every day, you open the newspaper, and you see something about [information technology]," says Basheerhamad Shadrach, the executive director of Mission 2007, the consortium of business, NGO, and government leaders behind the village hook-up drive. "Rural India should be participating in an information society in order to benefit itself."
Mr. Shadrach and the other leaders of Mission 2007 hope those benefits will range from e-governance - teleconferencing with government officials to submit grievances, for example - to marketing tools that allow farmers to receive better prices for their crops. A group headed by Ashok Jhunjhunwala, a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, is experimenting with products like a rural ATM and a low-cost medical-diagnostics kit that allows a doctor to receive data remotely from a stethoscope or an electrocardiograph.
In the case of n-Logue, a for-profit kiosk operator spun off from Dr. Jhunjhunwala's group, setting up a connection requires an investment of about $1,200 per kiosk - which includes not only the computer and its software, but a digital camera, a printer, a back-up source of power, and a connection to a wireless network. So far, most n-Logue kiosks operate at a speed equivalent to a dial-up connections in the US. But Midas Communications is now selling equipment designed for rural areas that can link kiosks to broadband wireless at speeds more than four times faster than dial-up.
Yet while n-Logue and several other efforts have shown that connecting rural villages to the Internet can be affordable and even profitable, Mission 2007's task is to demonstrate whether India can go from an estimated 10,000 rural Internet centers to a few hundred thousand in two years. Even Shadrach acknowledges that not all 600,000 villages will be wired by the targeted date of August 2007 - although he maintains that setting up centers in the 237,000 villages large enough to have an official village council, is realistic.
The biggest challenge may not be technological, but linguistic, and developing services that give rural communities reasons to use the Internet. In Malappuram, for example, a study by professors at the University of California, Berkeley, found that just 5 percent of the traffic from the Akshaya centers related to e-governance or education. Some experts on rural technology, like Anil Gupta, a professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, question whether the Internet should be a priority, if people don't speak English.
"We find that the Internet is not the technology [through] which we will reach villages in the country in the next five years," Dr. Gupta says. "Look up Google and find the content we have in local languages.... Unless that happens, how can we justify what we are doing?"
from the August 19, 2005 edition
India bypasses the wires to bring Wi-Fi to its remote residents Wireless technology will help bring the Internet to 600,000 villages in 2 years.
By Jacob Leibenluft | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor
PALAKKODE, INDIA – Three years ago, paying the electric bill in the south Indian village of Palakkode was a day-long task. With unreliable postal service, bills are paid in person. That means a trip of several miles, perhaps on foot, and a wait in line.
Today, the citizens of Palakkode go to Muhammed Harroon. Mr. Harroon does not work for the electric company - he runs the village's Akshaya center, a room with five computers hooked wirelessly to the Internet, where local citizens can surf the Web, take computer-literacy courses, and pay their bills electronically.
Relying on a signal transmitted from a tower in the center of the district, Palakkode is at the forefront of efforts to use wireless technology to cover the last mile - or in many cases, the last several miles - separating rural villages from landline networks.
The technology is making universal Internet access an attainable goal in several developing countries, including India. The country aims to spread "village knowledge centers" like the one in Palakkode to the country's 600,000 villages within two years.
"For most of the rural parts of the world, they are never going to run a wire - at least not one that's going to handle a significant bandwidth," says Allen Hammond, the director of the World Resources Institute's Digital Dividends program. "That's true in the rural US ... as it's true in rural India, rural Africa, and rural Eastern Europe."
The technology being used is, for the most part, little different from the Wi-Fi networks that have become popular in US cafes, universities, and homes. The biggest difference is their range - many rely on radio towers and antennas to extend signals as far as 20 miles at a time - and the conditions under which they are deployed, which often include unreliable power supplies or inhospitable terrain. But with the cost of equipment falling quickly, wireless Internet, like mobile phones, is increasingly earning attention as a promising solution to close the technology gap between urban and rural areas in the developing world by removing the need for expensive investments in new cables.
"Every day, you open the newspaper, and you see something about [information technology]," says Basheerhamad Shadrach, the executive director of Mission 2007, the consortium of business, NGO, and government leaders behind the village hook-up drive. "Rural India should be participating in an information society in order to benefit itself."
Mr. Shadrach and the other leaders of Mission 2007 hope those benefits will range from e-governance - teleconferencing with government officials to submit grievances, for example - to marketing tools that allow farmers to receive better prices for their crops. A group headed by Ashok Jhunjhunwala, a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, is experimenting with products like a rural ATM and a low-cost medical-diagnostics kit that allows a doctor to receive data remotely from a stethoscope or an electrocardiograph.
In the case of n-Logue, a for-profit kiosk operator spun off from Dr. Jhunjhunwala's group, setting up a connection requires an investment of about $1,200 per kiosk - which includes not only the computer and its software, but a digital camera, a printer, a back-up source of power, and a connection to a wireless network. So far, most n-Logue kiosks operate at a speed equivalent to a dial-up connections in the US. But Midas Communications is now selling equipment designed for rural areas that can link kiosks to broadband wireless at speeds more than four times faster than dial-up.
Yet while n-Logue and several other efforts have shown that connecting rural villages to the Internet can be affordable and even profitable, Mission 2007's task is to demonstrate whether India can go from an estimated 10,000 rural Internet centers to a few hundred thousand in two years. Even Shadrach acknowledges that not all 600,000 villages will be wired by the targeted date of August 2007 - although he maintains that setting up centers in the 237,000 villages large enough to have an official village council, is realistic.
The biggest challenge may not be technological, but linguistic, and developing services that give rural communities reasons to use the Internet. In Malappuram, for example, a study by professors at the University of California, Berkeley, found that just 5 percent of the traffic from the Akshaya centers related to e-governance or education. Some experts on rural technology, like Anil Gupta, a professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, question whether the Internet should be a priority, if people don't speak English.
"We find that the Internet is not the technology [through] which we will reach villages in the country in the next five years," Dr. Gupta says. "Look up Google and find the content we have in local languages.... Unless that happens, how can we justify what we are doing?"
Friday, August 19, 2005
Sadagopan's weblog on PODCasting and Occasionaly Connected Computing -opportunity for Internet Cafe
PODCasting and Occasionaly Connected Computing
Phil Windley writes "PODCasting is the Poster Child for Occasionally Connected Computing." PODCasting is a term coined by Doc Searls to describe the recent phenomenon of pointcasting audio programs over the Internet to people's iPod for later listening.Phil Windley says,Chris Thomas, Intel's Chief Strategist,is very big on what he calls "occasionally connected computing." We don't pay enough attention to this problem. Thousands
of jobs are performed with only an occasional connection to the network. A good example is a State Trooper in a rural area. They've come to rely on networked resources to do their job, but connectivity in many places is not very good. Applications had to be designed to work with occasional connectivity. PODCasting is likely the largest application of the occasionally connected computing model. The whole infrastructure has been designed to support that model. That's one reason
PODCasting wins over streaming. Streaming requires a constant connection.PODCasting
could have a huge impact in developing countries because:
- Many people don't read, so audio is better than text (even in the US, where
people are literate, they don't read).
- Connectivity is spotty. In some places, even power is occasionally
connected.
- MP3 players are significantly cheaper than computers. This raises interesting possibilities for remote education and content delivery. Imagine, someone taking a course, delivered via audio in a developing country. They have a cheap MP3 player with USB connectivity. They subscribe to a course that delivers course lectures inside RSS feeds. Once a week they stop at the Internet cafe and download that week's courses. Very doable with what we have now.
Phil Windley writes "PODCasting is the Poster Child for Occasionally Connected Computing." PODCasting is a term coined by Doc Searls to describe the recent phenomenon of pointcasting audio programs over the Internet to people's iPod for later listening.Phil Windley says,Chris Thomas, Intel's Chief Strategist,is very big on what he calls "occasionally connected computing." We don't pay enough attention to this problem. Thousands
of jobs are performed with only an occasional connection to the network. A good example is a State Trooper in a rural area. They've come to rely on networked resources to do their job, but connectivity in many places is not very good. Applications had to be designed to work with occasional connectivity. PODCasting is likely the largest application of the occasionally connected computing model. The whole infrastructure has been designed to support that model. That's one reason
PODCasting wins over streaming. Streaming requires a constant connection.PODCasting
could have a huge impact in developing countries because:
- Many people don't read, so audio is better than text (even in the US, where
people are literate, they don't read).
- Connectivity is spotty. In some places, even power is occasionally
connected.
- MP3 players are significantly cheaper than computers. This raises interesting possibilities for remote education and content delivery. Imagine, someone taking a course, delivered via audio in a developing country. They have a cheap MP3 player with USB connectivity. They subscribe to a course that delivers course lectures inside RSS feeds. Once a week they stop at the Internet cafe and download that week's courses. Very doable with what we have now.
Next Generation - Land of the Eternal Internet Cafe: South Korea
Next Generation - Land of the Eternal Internet Cafe: Page 2
Land of the Eternal Internet Cafe
by Nick Rumas
Thursday, 18 August 2005
In Korea, the Internet cafe or 'PC bahng' is king. Our man in Seoul was persuaded to enter a bizarre new world of gaming…
At three o’clock in the morning on any given night, the streets around Seoul’s prestigious Korea University are mostly quiet—a few drunk students struggling to find their way home are all that’s left of the crowds present a few hours earlier. Take a stroll into one of the area’s countless 24-hour Internet cafes, though, and you’ll find a stark contrast to the calm outside.
Upon entrance, you’re greeted by rows upon rows of computers, tons of second hand smoke, and lots of noise. The crude, harsh fluorescent lighting above combined with the dreary atmosphere almost makes you feel as if you’ve entered some kind of sweatshop. Fortunately, a sweet college girl at the front desk greets you with a numbered card, and makes you feel welcome.
Following the number on your card, you find your designated computer station, a bit small and crammed between a couple guys too lost in their games to clear the way for you. The patrons here are mostly students of the nearby university, living in dorms, student homes, or hostels in the area. They spent their high school years studying thirteen to fifteen hours a day, slaving away to get into KU, one of Korea’s top three schools, and luckily university studies aren’t nearly as intense as what came before. The tough part was getting in—it’s mostly smooth sailing from here on out, and that means it’s time to play.
Place to vegetate
Here in Korea, the Internet café is referred to as the PC 'bahng', or 'room'. Once the lifestyle has been experienced, it feels altogether more fitting to refer to them with this less elegant term—they are, more or less, places to vegetate. Going in and observing behavior for the first time can be quite a bizarre experience.
In the past, most patrons came to play Warcraft, Starcraft, Lineage, or Counter Strike, but recently a wider variety of Korean RPGs and online games, including the free Mario Kart clone, Kart Rider, have been enjoying the greatest popularity. Eyes are absolutely glued to the screen, the cigarette and ashtray becoming an extension of the player’s body itself. In most cases, the patron is so immersed in the onscreen goings on that they don’t even notice if the person sitting next to them tries to get their attention.
The more social situation occurs when a group of friends, upon leaving the soju bar, comes to play together, sitting in a row, but even then communication dwindles to a bare minimum, drowned out by the sounds of explosions, revving engines and dying enemies.
Fortunately, the harsh fluorescent lighting and drab interior mentioned above is not always the case. Most districts feature a variety of locations, many newer Internet cafes are designed to make one feel as if they're in some sort of futuristic spacecraft, with an indirect blue glow being the only source of light. These more atmospheric locations usually feature more room to breathe and enhanced privacy, while any difference in price is minimal. While such locations provide a far more enjoyable experience to the casual patron, capacity is smaller than the sweatshop variety mentioned at the outset, resulting in decreased competition and a less dynamic gaming venue all around. The hardcore crowd gladly forfeits the elevated atmosphere of the latter for the intense competition of the former.
The majority of patrons are male, those in their twenties making up roughly 43% of users, teens 36%, those in their thirties 18%, and only 3% over forty years of age. Regardless of location or clientele, the situation largely remains the same—from the city to the countryside, good areas or bad, Koreans love their PC rooms. In a central business district like Gwanghwamun, for example, the Internet cafe becomes a haven for stressed out office workers seeking to wind down after an exhausting day of work. Children are no exception, either, as there are kid-friendly locations near just about every elementary school around, where the aforementioned Kart Rider is all the rage nowadays.
One of the great things about the whole PC room phenomenon is how cheap it is - generally one thousand won, about ninety US cents, per hour. This, in addition to their abundance, enables easy high-speed access to the Internet for all, including travelers and those without home computers.
Safety
PC rooms are safe, and usually feature cheap access to printers, scanners, and web cams. Some also have limited food service, focusing on the dietary staple of Korean college students—ramen noodles. Unlike mild, sweet Japanese ramen, the Korean variety will set your mouth ablaze, and it’s consumed all night long at the PC room. Tip for travelers: if you have a weak Western stomach, don’t try that. I did. But only once.
The number of Internet cafes in Korea peaked in 2001 at nearly 23,000. Since then, numbers have fallen a bit, but not necessarily because of waning popularity. The main reason seems to be that recent popular games, especially RPGs, demand an expensive, state-of-the-art system, and as a result the small, lower end PC rooms have had to make a tough decision: upgrade or call it a day. As the Korean economy has been quite unstable for the last few years, many have had to close their doors. Interestingly, the average number of PCs per café has grown significantly since 2001 to over fifty, indicating that larger, higher end PC rooms are becoming the norm.
Reports of cases in which unhealthy use of Internet cafes has led to some awful consequences make headlines every now and then. Just recently, news hit that a couple left their infant at home sleeping while they went to the local PC room to play World of Warcraft for hours on end. While they were gone, they evidently lost track of time, and their baby died. Some time back, the news story of the week was of a young man who spent eighty straight hours playing, then went to the bathroom and collapsed dead on the floor.
Fortunately, though, such news isn’t too common. The 'PC bahng' is a fascinating part of modern Korean culture, and looks to remain so. Should you ever take a trip here, make sure and stop in. You’ll be glad you did.
Land of the Eternal Internet Cafe
by Nick Rumas
Thursday, 18 August 2005
In Korea, the Internet cafe or 'PC bahng' is king. Our man in Seoul was persuaded to enter a bizarre new world of gaming…
At three o’clock in the morning on any given night, the streets around Seoul’s prestigious Korea University are mostly quiet—a few drunk students struggling to find their way home are all that’s left of the crowds present a few hours earlier. Take a stroll into one of the area’s countless 24-hour Internet cafes, though, and you’ll find a stark contrast to the calm outside.
Upon entrance, you’re greeted by rows upon rows of computers, tons of second hand smoke, and lots of noise. The crude, harsh fluorescent lighting above combined with the dreary atmosphere almost makes you feel as if you’ve entered some kind of sweatshop. Fortunately, a sweet college girl at the front desk greets you with a numbered card, and makes you feel welcome.
Following the number on your card, you find your designated computer station, a bit small and crammed between a couple guys too lost in their games to clear the way for you. The patrons here are mostly students of the nearby university, living in dorms, student homes, or hostels in the area. They spent their high school years studying thirteen to fifteen hours a day, slaving away to get into KU, one of Korea’s top three schools, and luckily university studies aren’t nearly as intense as what came before. The tough part was getting in—it’s mostly smooth sailing from here on out, and that means it’s time to play.
Place to vegetate
Here in Korea, the Internet café is referred to as the PC 'bahng', or 'room'. Once the lifestyle has been experienced, it feels altogether more fitting to refer to them with this less elegant term—they are, more or less, places to vegetate. Going in and observing behavior for the first time can be quite a bizarre experience.
In the past, most patrons came to play Warcraft, Starcraft, Lineage, or Counter Strike, but recently a wider variety of Korean RPGs and online games, including the free Mario Kart clone, Kart Rider, have been enjoying the greatest popularity. Eyes are absolutely glued to the screen, the cigarette and ashtray becoming an extension of the player’s body itself. In most cases, the patron is so immersed in the onscreen goings on that they don’t even notice if the person sitting next to them tries to get their attention.
The more social situation occurs when a group of friends, upon leaving the soju bar, comes to play together, sitting in a row, but even then communication dwindles to a bare minimum, drowned out by the sounds of explosions, revving engines and dying enemies.
Fortunately, the harsh fluorescent lighting and drab interior mentioned above is not always the case. Most districts feature a variety of locations, many newer Internet cafes are designed to make one feel as if they're in some sort of futuristic spacecraft, with an indirect blue glow being the only source of light. These more atmospheric locations usually feature more room to breathe and enhanced privacy, while any difference in price is minimal. While such locations provide a far more enjoyable experience to the casual patron, capacity is smaller than the sweatshop variety mentioned at the outset, resulting in decreased competition and a less dynamic gaming venue all around. The hardcore crowd gladly forfeits the elevated atmosphere of the latter for the intense competition of the former.
The majority of patrons are male, those in their twenties making up roughly 43% of users, teens 36%, those in their thirties 18%, and only 3% over forty years of age. Regardless of location or clientele, the situation largely remains the same—from the city to the countryside, good areas or bad, Koreans love their PC rooms. In a central business district like Gwanghwamun, for example, the Internet cafe becomes a haven for stressed out office workers seeking to wind down after an exhausting day of work. Children are no exception, either, as there are kid-friendly locations near just about every elementary school around, where the aforementioned Kart Rider is all the rage nowadays.
One of the great things about the whole PC room phenomenon is how cheap it is - generally one thousand won, about ninety US cents, per hour. This, in addition to their abundance, enables easy high-speed access to the Internet for all, including travelers and those without home computers.
Safety
PC rooms are safe, and usually feature cheap access to printers, scanners, and web cams. Some also have limited food service, focusing on the dietary staple of Korean college students—ramen noodles. Unlike mild, sweet Japanese ramen, the Korean variety will set your mouth ablaze, and it’s consumed all night long at the PC room. Tip for travelers: if you have a weak Western stomach, don’t try that. I did. But only once.
The number of Internet cafes in Korea peaked in 2001 at nearly 23,000. Since then, numbers have fallen a bit, but not necessarily because of waning popularity. The main reason seems to be that recent popular games, especially RPGs, demand an expensive, state-of-the-art system, and as a result the small, lower end PC rooms have had to make a tough decision: upgrade or call it a day. As the Korean economy has been quite unstable for the last few years, many have had to close their doors. Interestingly, the average number of PCs per café has grown significantly since 2001 to over fifty, indicating that larger, higher end PC rooms are becoming the norm.
Reports of cases in which unhealthy use of Internet cafes has led to some awful consequences make headlines every now and then. Just recently, news hit that a couple left their infant at home sleeping while they went to the local PC room to play World of Warcraft for hours on end. While they were gone, they evidently lost track of time, and their baby died. Some time back, the news story of the week was of a young man who spent eighty straight hours playing, then went to the bathroom and collapsed dead on the floor.
Fortunately, though, such news isn’t too common. The 'PC bahng' is a fascinating part of modern Korean culture, and looks to remain so. Should you ever take a trip here, make sure and stop in. You’ll be glad you did.
Vietnam struggles to control cyberspace
Vietnam struggles to control cyberspace
Vietnam struggles to control cyberspace
Aug 17, 2005, 19:57 GMT
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (UPI) -- Vietnam is using four government ministries to control and monitor cyber cafes, Asia Times reported Wednesday.
Public Security, Posts and Telecommunications, Culture and Information and Planning and Investment are all seeking to "regulate and standardize the fledgling and troublesome Internet cafes business," officials said.
Last year the Culture and Information Ministry requested Internet services providers to improve management by setting up more effective firewalls that filter out "unacceptable" Web pages.
The ministry has also asked individuals and organizations to apply for licenses when they set up their own Web sites.
The latest controls demand that cafe owners register clients` details, including name, age, address and identification number; to monitor sites visited by means of software supplied by their ISPs.
They are also asked to close shop before midnight and not allow customer under the age of 14 unless accompanied by adults.
Copyright 2005 by United Press International
Vietnam struggles to control cyberspace
Aug 17, 2005, 19:57 GMT
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (UPI) -- Vietnam is using four government ministries to control and monitor cyber cafes, Asia Times reported Wednesday.
Public Security, Posts and Telecommunications, Culture and Information and Planning and Investment are all seeking to "regulate and standardize the fledgling and troublesome Internet cafes business," officials said.
Last year the Culture and Information Ministry requested Internet services providers to improve management by setting up more effective firewalls that filter out "unacceptable" Web pages.
The ministry has also asked individuals and organizations to apply for licenses when they set up their own Web sites.
The latest controls demand that cafe owners register clients` details, including name, age, address and identification number; to monitor sites visited by means of software supplied by their ISPs.
They are also asked to close shop before midnight and not allow customer under the age of 14 unless accompanied by adults.
Copyright 2005 by United Press International
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Telecentre encourages electronic commerce: Australia bridgetown.yourguide
bridgetown.yourguide
Telecentre encourages electronic commerce
Thursday, 18 August 2005
BUSINESSES in Donnybrook are being encouraged to use the internet by the local telecentre.
The Donnybrook Telecentre is hoping to set up a web portal called MyDonnybrook.
It will provide free websites for community groups and inexpensive sites for local business to encourage electronic commerce.
Telecentre co-ordinator Dave Fawcett said the MySouthWest web portal was already generating online sales for local herbs, wine and real estate businesses.
Mr Fawcett said the telecentre was looking for expression of interest from people looking to expand their business.
Telecentre encourages electronic commerce
Thursday, 18 August 2005
BUSINESSES in Donnybrook are being encouraged to use the internet by the local telecentre.
The Donnybrook Telecentre is hoping to set up a web portal called MyDonnybrook.
It will provide free websites for community groups and inexpensive sites for local business to encourage electronic commerce.
Telecentre co-ordinator Dave Fawcett said the MySouthWest web portal was already generating online sales for local herbs, wine and real estate businesses.
Mr Fawcett said the telecentre was looking for expression of interest from people looking to expand their business.
Pacheco administration now targeting porno - Costa Rica
A.M. Costa Rica
Pacheco administration now targeting porno
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Pacheco regime is embarking on an anti-pornography campaign that includes the Internet as well as printed magazine.
An April 26 decree by President Abel Pacheco set strict standards for Internet cafes and sets up a certification program for those Internet locations that filter all their computers against pornography.
Pacheco administration now targeting porno
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Pacheco regime is embarking on an anti-pornography campaign that includes the Internet as well as printed magazine.
An April 26 decree by President Abel Pacheco set strict standards for Internet cafes and sets up a certification program for those Internet locations that filter all their computers against pornography.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
India : Miracles for Rs 7.50
Miracles for Rs 7.50
One lakh Holes-in-the-Wall
The Times of India, May 01, 2005
Dear Mr Chidambaram,
Your budget speech promised to create a knowledge centre in every village. I applaud your desire to take information technology to villages. Yet I hear discouraging reports of computers lying unpacked and unused in schools.
Why? First, school principals are reluctant to use the computers, since they are personally responsible for maintenance and damage. Second, electricity is unreliable in rural India, with fluctuations in voltage and frequency that damage computers.
Third, rural telecom is abysmal. Even where BSNL offers land lines, these are typically designed for voice, not data. The internet requires high-quality data access, preferably through broadband. These are major barriers.
For a way out, look at NIIT's famous Hole-in-the-Wall experiment. NIIT placed a computer in a wall in an urban slum, and found, amazingly, that slum children quickly learned to operate the computer without instruction. The kids learned through experimentation, loved computer games, and learned some English.
Dr Sugata Mitra of NIIT says the surprise lesson was that rural and slum children were perfectly happy to play educational games with learning content. Such games are regarded by middle class kids as boring and avoidable. But rural and slum children have such few avenues of entertainment that they find even educational games exciting. That makes them powerful vehicles for education.
Kids soon learn to use search engines like Google, tapping knowledge sources of global quality. Dr Mitra's research shows that kids are able to have serious debates ( on Afghanistan, for example), using Google. That sounds a great educational supplement.
Expanding the concept, NIIT now puts computers in open kiosks in public areas. Parents forbid girls from going into closed rooms, but feel safe allowing girls to visit open kiosks visible to passers-by.
Public visibility creates social pressure that discourages undesirable uses (eg. pornography). No kid wants to be seen publicly watching pornography by passers-by, who may be relatives.
So, Mr Chidambaram, instead of sending computers to schools where they lie unpacked, expand the Hole in the Wall experiment. In the last 5 years, NIIT has installed only 108 computers in 23 locations, since the cost is high and the experiment is non-commercial. An open kiosk costs Rs 1.15 lakh. Only 10% of that is the computer cost. Far costlier is electricity and telecom access. To prevent bad rural power from damaging computers, NIIT converts it to DC and then runs it through a UPS. Rural telecom is useless, so NIIT uses an expensive VSAT satellite-based system for internet access. The local community maintains it, but the initial cost is substantial for a non-commercial enterprise.
You, Mr Chidambaram, need to create a public-private-NGO partnership to create a lakh Holes-in-the-Wall, not just 108. Facilitate tie-ups between NIIT (and other possible providers) with e-choupals being put up by commercial organizations like ITC and Drishtee. Since rural infrastructure is useless, e-choupals use solar power for electricity and VSAT for telecom.
In pursuit of e-governance, some states assist or subsidise commercial internet kiosks. Some well-known e-governance examples are Karnataka (the Bhoomi project), Madhya Pradesh (Gyandoot) and Andhra Pradesh (e-Seva).
Where a rural kiosk already has internet access through VSAT, it can extend this access to a nearby Hole-in-the-Wall at minimal cost. Extending power will require additional solar panels. These are costly, but scale economies mean that tripling the power supply may only double the cost.
Here is one possible partnership arrangement. State governments can mandate each commercial internet kiosk operator to share its bandwidth with three nearby Holes-in-the-Wall. The states can also finance additional solar panels for power supply. The cost will be a tiny fraction of total educational spending.
But why leave this to the States, Mr Chidambaram? Why not finance both the computers and solar panels through your Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan window? There can be no cheaper path to rural computer literacy, and the internet will powerfully supplement your weak educational system. Start with an emergency programme in areas hit by the December tsunami. New schools there could take years to build, but Holes-in-the-Wall can come up in weeks.
Ashok Jhunjunwala's WLL technology can cut telecom costs provided enough telecom towers are set up. In the medium run, wi-fi technology can provide a cheap alternative to costly VSATs. Later still, wi-max technology will yield wireless internet connectivity within a radius of 30 KM or more, slashing costs further. In due course, these new technologies can cover the whole country cheaply.
But, Mr Chidambaram, please do not wait for new technology. Even the old technology (VSAT and solar energy) is worth the cost. Make a start with a three-year programme to commission one lakh Holes-in-the-Wall. You say you want to be known as a Minister for Investment, not just for Disinvestment. Here is your chance for a breakthrough investment.
One lakh Holes-in-the-Wall
The Times of India, May 01, 2005
Dear Mr Chidambaram,
Your budget speech promised to create a knowledge centre in every village. I applaud your desire to take information technology to villages. Yet I hear discouraging reports of computers lying unpacked and unused in schools.
Why? First, school principals are reluctant to use the computers, since they are personally responsible for maintenance and damage. Second, electricity is unreliable in rural India, with fluctuations in voltage and frequency that damage computers.
Third, rural telecom is abysmal. Even where BSNL offers land lines, these are typically designed for voice, not data. The internet requires high-quality data access, preferably through broadband. These are major barriers.
For a way out, look at NIIT's famous Hole-in-the-Wall experiment. NIIT placed a computer in a wall in an urban slum, and found, amazingly, that slum children quickly learned to operate the computer without instruction. The kids learned through experimentation, loved computer games, and learned some English.
Dr Sugata Mitra of NIIT says the surprise lesson was that rural and slum children were perfectly happy to play educational games with learning content. Such games are regarded by middle class kids as boring and avoidable. But rural and slum children have such few avenues of entertainment that they find even educational games exciting. That makes them powerful vehicles for education.
Kids soon learn to use search engines like Google, tapping knowledge sources of global quality. Dr Mitra's research shows that kids are able to have serious debates ( on Afghanistan, for example), using Google. That sounds a great educational supplement.
Expanding the concept, NIIT now puts computers in open kiosks in public areas. Parents forbid girls from going into closed rooms, but feel safe allowing girls to visit open kiosks visible to passers-by.
Public visibility creates social pressure that discourages undesirable uses (eg. pornography). No kid wants to be seen publicly watching pornography by passers-by, who may be relatives.
So, Mr Chidambaram, instead of sending computers to schools where they lie unpacked, expand the Hole in the Wall experiment. In the last 5 years, NIIT has installed only 108 computers in 23 locations, since the cost is high and the experiment is non-commercial. An open kiosk costs Rs 1.15 lakh. Only 10% of that is the computer cost. Far costlier is electricity and telecom access. To prevent bad rural power from damaging computers, NIIT converts it to DC and then runs it through a UPS. Rural telecom is useless, so NIIT uses an expensive VSAT satellite-based system for internet access. The local community maintains it, but the initial cost is substantial for a non-commercial enterprise.
You, Mr Chidambaram, need to create a public-private-NGO partnership to create a lakh Holes-in-the-Wall, not just 108. Facilitate tie-ups between NIIT (and other possible providers) with e-choupals being put up by commercial organizations like ITC and Drishtee. Since rural infrastructure is useless, e-choupals use solar power for electricity and VSAT for telecom.
In pursuit of e-governance, some states assist or subsidise commercial internet kiosks. Some well-known e-governance examples are Karnataka (the Bhoomi project), Madhya Pradesh (Gyandoot) and Andhra Pradesh (e-Seva).
Where a rural kiosk already has internet access through VSAT, it can extend this access to a nearby Hole-in-the-Wall at minimal cost. Extending power will require additional solar panels. These are costly, but scale economies mean that tripling the power supply may only double the cost.
Here is one possible partnership arrangement. State governments can mandate each commercial internet kiosk operator to share its bandwidth with three nearby Holes-in-the-Wall. The states can also finance additional solar panels for power supply. The cost will be a tiny fraction of total educational spending.
But why leave this to the States, Mr Chidambaram? Why not finance both the computers and solar panels through your Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan window? There can be no cheaper path to rural computer literacy, and the internet will powerfully supplement your weak educational system. Start with an emergency programme in areas hit by the December tsunami. New schools there could take years to build, but Holes-in-the-Wall can come up in weeks.
Ashok Jhunjunwala's WLL technology can cut telecom costs provided enough telecom towers are set up. In the medium run, wi-fi technology can provide a cheap alternative to costly VSATs. Later still, wi-max technology will yield wireless internet connectivity within a radius of 30 KM or more, slashing costs further. In due course, these new technologies can cover the whole country cheaply.
But, Mr Chidambaram, please do not wait for new technology. Even the old technology (VSAT and solar energy) is worth the cost. Make a start with a three-year programme to commission one lakh Holes-in-the-Wall. You say you want to be known as a Minister for Investment, not just for Disinvestment. Here is your chance for a breakthrough investment.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Internet cafe culture, Bulgaria
Globetechnology: Internet cafe culture, Bulgaria
Globetechnology: Internet cafe culture Internet cafe culture By KATE BAGGOTT Monday, August 15, 2005 Updated at 10:48 AM EDT Globe and Mail Update Lovech, Bulgaria. The backwards N is followed by an H. After that, as long as you know the P sounds like R, you'll know you've found it. Almost five years ago, the first symbols I learned to decipher in Cyrillic script spelled out "Internet Club." It's a phrase that, along with "Internet Cafe," still makes me feel at home no matter where I am. True, its a sentiment that has become old fashioned. In this era of lightweight laptops, other portable means of accessing the Internet and the proliferation of global wireless networks, the Internet cafe is becoming obsolete to travellers like me and even student-age North American backpackers who count wireless devices among the baggage on their backs. It's too bad really. The glimpses of how Internet Cafes provide access to technology for entire communities are as profound for travellers to witness as any other cultural event. Advertisements Here, every week, early in the morning, an entire team of young men comes in for their regular gaming session before beginning the work day. They wear matching shirts like a bowling team, but this being Europe after all, the shirts were a lot more fashionable. They played much the way the kids do, yelling mild curses at each other, offering advice and using nicknames based on time spent together at one activity. The kids come later in the day, each of them clutching a single Lev (about 90 cents) for an hour of play. My husband's 10 year-old nephew and I recently spent almost an hour here, sitting back to back before one of us noticed the other. I was blogging, he was playing Counterstrike. I got an hour of escape to my own thoughts from the demands of a foreign language and foreign relatives. Our nephew got an hour's taste of international youth culture. His mother got two hours of child-free peace during the hottest hours of the afternoon. One hour of walking back and forth to the Internet Club in addition to the one hour of play time. Actually, a second mother or grandmother got a break too. As is usual among gaming boys here, a friend accompanied my nephew. He spent the hour hanging over my nephew's shoulder acting as commentator and consultant. On another day, when the opposite boy has a Lev, the roles will be reversed. In early evening, house or trance music will blast from the speakers (but then it does all day long) and the place fills with teenagers and young adults dressed to the nines. Screens show multiplayer games and Chat Rooms. For the first time in the day, the gender balance between male and female occupants of the room is equal. Instant Messages are exchanged with relatives abroad, with friends sitting at home (some families do have computers) and even with the fetching flirt across the room. Outside the cafe, life for most Bulgarians seems to be improving compared to when I was first here five years ago. Buildings are occupied with new tenants, roads are being repairs slowly, but surely. Facades have stopped deteriorating. There are still limits to what technology can do to be part of this improvement. The physical infrastructure of the country (especially here in the poorer provinces), the postal system and questionable network security practices make the expansion of e-commerce and e-finance applications unlikely in the near future. At the same time, watching these kids in the Internet Cafe gives me hope. No technology is passing them by. they use it, are comfortable with it, and understand it as early as any wealthier western kid. When the time has come for technology to play a bigger role in the economy here, the kids will be ready. That's the real potential created by Internet Cafes, the reality that makes them worth a visit for any traveller anywhere.
Globetechnology: Internet cafe culture Internet cafe culture By KATE BAGGOTT Monday, August 15, 2005 Updated at 10:48 AM EDT Globe and Mail Update Lovech, Bulgaria. The backwards N is followed by an H. After that, as long as you know the P sounds like R, you'll know you've found it. Almost five years ago, the first symbols I learned to decipher in Cyrillic script spelled out "Internet Club." It's a phrase that, along with "Internet Cafe," still makes me feel at home no matter where I am. True, its a sentiment that has become old fashioned. In this era of lightweight laptops, other portable means of accessing the Internet and the proliferation of global wireless networks, the Internet cafe is becoming obsolete to travellers like me and even student-age North American backpackers who count wireless devices among the baggage on their backs. It's too bad really. The glimpses of how Internet Cafes provide access to technology for entire communities are as profound for travellers to witness as any other cultural event. Advertisements Here, every week, early in the morning, an entire team of young men comes in for their regular gaming session before beginning the work day. They wear matching shirts like a bowling team, but this being Europe after all, the shirts were a lot more fashionable. They played much the way the kids do, yelling mild curses at each other, offering advice and using nicknames based on time spent together at one activity. The kids come later in the day, each of them clutching a single Lev (about 90 cents) for an hour of play. My husband's 10 year-old nephew and I recently spent almost an hour here, sitting back to back before one of us noticed the other. I was blogging, he was playing Counterstrike. I got an hour of escape to my own thoughts from the demands of a foreign language and foreign relatives. Our nephew got an hour's taste of international youth culture. His mother got two hours of child-free peace during the hottest hours of the afternoon. One hour of walking back and forth to the Internet Club in addition to the one hour of play time. Actually, a second mother or grandmother got a break too. As is usual among gaming boys here, a friend accompanied my nephew. He spent the hour hanging over my nephew's shoulder acting as commentator and consultant. On another day, when the opposite boy has a Lev, the roles will be reversed. In early evening, house or trance music will blast from the speakers (but then it does all day long) and the place fills with teenagers and young adults dressed to the nines. Screens show multiplayer games and Chat Rooms. For the first time in the day, the gender balance between male and female occupants of the room is equal. Instant Messages are exchanged with relatives abroad, with friends sitting at home (some families do have computers) and even with the fetching flirt across the room. Outside the cafe, life for most Bulgarians seems to be improving compared to when I was first here five years ago. Buildings are occupied with new tenants, roads are being repairs slowly, but surely. Facades have stopped deteriorating. There are still limits to what technology can do to be part of this improvement. The physical infrastructure of the country (especially here in the poorer provinces), the postal system and questionable network security practices make the expansion of e-commerce and e-finance applications unlikely in the near future. At the same time, watching these kids in the Internet Cafe gives me hope. No technology is passing them by. they use it, are comfortable with it, and understand it as early as any wealthier western kid. When the time has come for technology to play a bigger role in the economy here, the kids will be ready. That's the real potential created by Internet Cafes, the reality that makes them worth a visit for any traveller anywhere.
Friday, August 12, 2005
Taipei Times - archives
Taipei Times - archives
Internet cafe proprietors protest `unfair' regulations
FIGHTING BACK: In response to the draconian measures proposed by the city government, owners say they are willing to compromise and monitor their customers
By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Jun 14, 2001,
"If the city pushes too hard, we might as well drop out of the game and go underground."
Murphy Wang, director of a cybercafe association.
Debate over the draft bylaw recently approved by the Taipei City Government for the regulation of Internet cafes heated up yesterday as Internet cafe owners criticized it as "unfair" and "unreasonable."
Though the draft has yet to be sent to the city council, cyber cafe proprietors have not ruled out a public demonstration to highlight their opposition to the proposed rules.
They also said that they were willing to pay for the installation of monitoring systems connecting their premises to the police, and to implement self-monitoring measures in exchange for the city government's relaxation of the regulations.
"We refuse to accept regulations that are so unfair to the proprietors [of cyber cafes]," said Jacky Wu (吳振彰), chairman of the Taiwan Cybercafe Industry Development Association (網路咖啡產業發展協會), during a public hearing held at the city council yesterday morning.
"If we are required to play by these rules in the future, only six percent of legally registered information-recreation service providers would be qualified to continue in business.
"In other words, about 250 of them would be forced to either shut down or go underground," Wu said.
The city currently has 286 legally registered information-recreation service providers. The true number of providers in the city, however, is estimated to be more than 1,000.
As a mark of their sincerity to regulate themselves, Wu said that they were willing to install monitoring systems and hardware designed to prevent users from accessing pornography and gambling services.
In return, they request that the city incorporate their proposal in the draft legislation so that Internet cafes outside the association would be obliged to abide by the same measures, and to loosen some of the regulations that "are unfair and unreasonable," Wu said.
"If we fail to receive any positive response from the city government, we do not rule out the possibility of staging a demonstration on June 21," he said.
Among the regulations which "are unfair and unreasonable," Wu said, is one which would outlaw the establishment of cyber cafes within 200m of schools.
"We think that the distance should be dropped to 50m. We also think that the article barring minors under the age of 15 from entering such facilities unless accompanied by their parents or legal guardians should be scrapped."
Murphy Wang (王培芳), a former television entertainer and director of the association, expressed the same opinion. "Internet cafes are not evil places to be, and we're totally different from those video arcades which provide gambling services," he said. "It's unfair to blame us for negatively influencing young students."
Wang added that the regulations should take the interests of cyber cafe proprietors into consideration.
"There's no point in enacting a city ordinance which is too strict to be followed. If the city pushes too hard, we might as well drop out of the game and go underground," he said.
KMT City Councilor Chen Hsueh-fen (陳雪芬), who chaired yesterday's meeting, assured cyber cafe owners that there is still room to amend the bylaw when the council reviews it.
The draft is scheduled to be sent to the city council this week for further review and approval. The council will convene a seven-day provisional session starting June 18 to consider the proposal.
Chen also proposed that association members team up with the police to connect the monitoring systems for a trial run. Her proposal, however, received a lukewarm response from Chen Cheng-hung (陳承鴻), of the Taipei City Police Headquarters (台北市警察局), who suggested instead that independent groups monitor what the cafes and their customers do online.
"I think it would be a better idea for the association to work with volunteer groups, which have enough people to monitor such regulations," he said.
Internet cafe proprietors protest `unfair' regulations
FIGHTING BACK: In response to the draconian measures proposed by the city government, owners say they are willing to compromise and monitor their customers
By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Jun 14, 2001,
"If the city pushes too hard, we might as well drop out of the game and go underground."
Murphy Wang, director of a cybercafe association.
Debate over the draft bylaw recently approved by the Taipei City Government for the regulation of Internet cafes heated up yesterday as Internet cafe owners criticized it as "unfair" and "unreasonable."
Though the draft has yet to be sent to the city council, cyber cafe proprietors have not ruled out a public demonstration to highlight their opposition to the proposed rules.
They also said that they were willing to pay for the installation of monitoring systems connecting their premises to the police, and to implement self-monitoring measures in exchange for the city government's relaxation of the regulations.
"We refuse to accept regulations that are so unfair to the proprietors [of cyber cafes]," said Jacky Wu (吳振彰), chairman of the Taiwan Cybercafe Industry Development Association (網路咖啡產業發展協會), during a public hearing held at the city council yesterday morning.
"If we are required to play by these rules in the future, only six percent of legally registered information-recreation service providers would be qualified to continue in business.
"In other words, about 250 of them would be forced to either shut down or go underground," Wu said.
The city currently has 286 legally registered information-recreation service providers. The true number of providers in the city, however, is estimated to be more than 1,000.
As a mark of their sincerity to regulate themselves, Wu said that they were willing to install monitoring systems and hardware designed to prevent users from accessing pornography and gambling services.
In return, they request that the city incorporate their proposal in the draft legislation so that Internet cafes outside the association would be obliged to abide by the same measures, and to loosen some of the regulations that "are unfair and unreasonable," Wu said.
"If we fail to receive any positive response from the city government, we do not rule out the possibility of staging a demonstration on June 21," he said.
Among the regulations which "are unfair and unreasonable," Wu said, is one which would outlaw the establishment of cyber cafes within 200m of schools.
"We think that the distance should be dropped to 50m. We also think that the article barring minors under the age of 15 from entering such facilities unless accompanied by their parents or legal guardians should be scrapped."
Murphy Wang (王培芳), a former television entertainer and director of the association, expressed the same opinion. "Internet cafes are not evil places to be, and we're totally different from those video arcades which provide gambling services," he said. "It's unfair to blame us for negatively influencing young students."
Wang added that the regulations should take the interests of cyber cafe proprietors into consideration.
"There's no point in enacting a city ordinance which is too strict to be followed. If the city pushes too hard, we might as well drop out of the game and go underground," he said.
KMT City Councilor Chen Hsueh-fen (陳雪芬), who chaired yesterday's meeting, assured cyber cafe owners that there is still room to amend the bylaw when the council reviews it.
The draft is scheduled to be sent to the city council this week for further review and approval. The council will convene a seven-day provisional session starting June 18 to consider the proposal.
Chen also proposed that association members team up with the police to connect the monitoring systems for a trial run. Her proposal, however, received a lukewarm response from Chen Cheng-hung (陳承鴻), of the Taipei City Police Headquarters (台北市警察局), who suggested instead that independent groups monitor what the cafes and their customers do online.
"I think it would be a better idea for the association to work with volunteer groups, which have enough people to monitor such regulations," he said.
China : Jiangsu Standardizes Internet Cafe Administration
Jiangsu Standardizes Internet Cafe Administration
East China's Jiangsu Province has established a specialized website in the provincial capital, Nanjing, to standardize the management of Internet cafes.
Officially opened Wednesday, the www.njwx.cn was established by the Nanjing Internet Service Association, founded in December 2002.
An official with the association said the website would provide a platform of information technology services to Internet users not only in Jiangsu, but also in the nearby provinces of Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Shandong, Hunan and Hubei.
The website offers information concerning Internet cafe management, and related laws and regulations, said the official.
He said cafe owners could exchange experiences and hire Internet technicians through the website, while Internet users could have an overall view of cafe information, including addresses, charges and scales.
The website would help the local government to intensify the administration of Internet cafes, dealing with disputes among café managers and between Internet users and cafes, said the official.
The provincial government has approved 756 standardized Internet cafes, which provide jobs to over 20,000 people and bring in over 20 million yuan (US$2.4 million) to the provincial government coffers, the official said.
(Xinhua News Agency December 26, 2003)
East China's Jiangsu Province has established a specialized website in the provincial capital, Nanjing, to standardize the management of Internet cafes.
Officially opened Wednesday, the www.njwx.cn was established by the Nanjing Internet Service Association, founded in December 2002.
An official with the association said the website would provide a platform of information technology services to Internet users not only in Jiangsu, but also in the nearby provinces of Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Shandong, Hunan and Hubei.
The website offers information concerning Internet cafe management, and related laws and regulations, said the official.
He said cafe owners could exchange experiences and hire Internet technicians through the website, while Internet users could have an overall view of cafe information, including addresses, charges and scales.
The website would help the local government to intensify the administration of Internet cafes, dealing with disputes among café managers and between Internet users and cafes, said the official.
The provincial government has approved 756 standardized Internet cafes, which provide jobs to over 20,000 people and bring in over 20 million yuan (US$2.4 million) to the provincial government coffers, the official said.
(Xinhua News Agency December 26, 2003)
Microsoft drafts partnership deal w/ Internet caf owners in Cebu, Philippines
Microsoft drafts partnership deal w/ Internet caf� owners
Business
Microsoft drafts partnership deal w/ Internet café owners
by Ehda M. Dago-oc
July 13, 2005
The marketing arm of Microsoft Philippines in Visayas and Mindanao, Microsoft Development Partner (MDP) is currently working on a partnership deal with the Internet Café Association of Cebu (ICAC) to help its members maintain licensed Microsoft software products.
It is an “open secret” that a number of Internet Cafés are operating non-licensed Microsoft software, and under the law it is not allowed.
Already, the business of Internet Café alone has breached the regulation stipulated in the end-users agreement that the owner of the Microsoft software is not allowed to rent out, or let other party to use it with a cost.
However, according to MDP marketing communications manager Ivy Llena, Microsoft has reached out to the Internet Café operators, and came up with an agreement to amend the end-users license regulation, in order to help the booming Internet Café Industry.
Llena said in Cebu, MDP is trying to establish good relationship with the ICAC in order to convince Internet Café owners to use genuine software to avoid being caught by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), with its active campaign to run after establishments which are using pirated software.
She stressed that what the office is trying to do is to help Internet Café owners maintain a “legal” business operation, which is to use only genuine software Microsoft products.
MDP, which is a privately owned company that serve as the marketing arm for Microsoft Philippines in the Southern part of the country, has no knowledge on the BSA and Microsoft negotiation, especially on providing the list of establishments which are known to use pirated software products, Llena pointed out.
“What we are trying to do is to reach out to the ICAC members and come up with an agreement to help Internet Café owners maintain licensed Microsoft products” Llena said.
She said MDP would like to present to ICAC members the benefits of using genuine software products, including its freedom from being caught by the BSA, which is actively coordinating with Department of Trade and Industry, National Bureau Investigation, and the Philippines National Police (PNP).
In Cebu, there are a little more than 600 Internet Cafes operating, most of them are maintaining unlicensed software, except for those large Internet Café chain like Netopia, among others.
An Internet Café operator interview by The Freeman said what keep the Internet Café owners maintain pirated Microsoft software is the high investment cost an outlet will have to spend if it has to buy licensed Microsoft software.
For a 25-unit Internet Café operation, the owner will be spending at least P200,000, with a cost of P8,000 licensed cost in every computer.
Starting an Internet Café business would cost at least a million pesos capital, and with the stiff competition, average per hour rate in Cebu would range from P25 to P30 per hour.
Aside from the Microsoft licensing investment, the source an Internet Café owner still has to spend for the licensing of its gaming products, which is the highest revenue earner of Internet Cafes today.
About CEBU Internet Cafes
Source : http://www.eitsc.com/ExecSumSMEDSEPCebuITReport.pdf
INTERNET CAFÉS
There are about 500 internet café operators in Cebu and of which 240 are members of the Internet Café
Association of Cebu. It is estimated that there are about 300,000 internet café users in Cebu. About
80% to 90% of the clientele are students. As such, many of the internet cafes are located near the
schools.
When Internet cafés first started sprouting in 1996, the business was very successful and lucrative. But
now, with so many cafes in existence in Cebu, about three Internet cafés close down every month.
Demographically, Cebu has more Internet cafes than any other city by density. Compared to Metro
Manila, it is littered far more with cyber-cafes per 100 people. Fierce competition, however, is working
against the internet café business as the situation continues to bring prices down. Thus, the tension in
the market is creating a culture of commercial anxiety as stores lining the city’s boulevards and alleys
are always on guard —— worried that customers might switch to the neighboring shop at the slightest
price drop. This, in effect, is making customer loyalty an alien term in Cebu. Internet café users are
only loyal to the shop that offers the lowest price. Competition is primarily based on price and location.
A typical internet café would have 10 to 15 computers with one or two attendants. Majority of the
internet cafes are micro scale. Similar to other micro enterprises, the owner handles most of the tasks
and is assisted by one or two attendants. Many of the internet café operators had no previous computer
and enterprise management background. Daily gross income ranges from PhP 1,500 to 3,000.
Many of the so-called neighbourhood Internet cafes are mainly game centers, where majority of the
computers are not Internet-connected but dedicated to running games. Internet cafes near the schools
also offer desktop services such as printing and scanning. On the side, they also sell pre-paid phone
and Internet cards. Others have expanded into selling of food and school supplies. Other internet cafes
are also into the assembly of hardware and computer maintenance services. A few have offered simple
training courses in collaboration with the government.
Main constraints of the industry are the following:
1. The need to upgrade management skills as well as operations system efficiency
2. Lack of product differentiation
3. Difficulties to move up vertically/value-added services
4. The need to build a wider client base
5. Unfair competition from unregistered internet café — lower overhead costs/no taxes
6. Lack of technical skills for maintenance and troubleshooting tasks, network installation – high
maintenance costs
7. High cost of components and licensed software/ online games
The industry also sees the opportunity to increase their income if they would be allowed to offer voice
over internet protocol (VOIP) based services.
Business
Microsoft drafts partnership deal w/ Internet café owners
by Ehda M. Dago-oc
July 13, 2005
The marketing arm of Microsoft Philippines in Visayas and Mindanao, Microsoft Development Partner (MDP) is currently working on a partnership deal with the Internet Café Association of Cebu (ICAC) to help its members maintain licensed Microsoft software products.
It is an “open secret” that a number of Internet Cafés are operating non-licensed Microsoft software, and under the law it is not allowed.
Already, the business of Internet Café alone has breached the regulation stipulated in the end-users agreement that the owner of the Microsoft software is not allowed to rent out, or let other party to use it with a cost.
However, according to MDP marketing communications manager Ivy Llena, Microsoft has reached out to the Internet Café operators, and came up with an agreement to amend the end-users license regulation, in order to help the booming Internet Café Industry.
Llena said in Cebu, MDP is trying to establish good relationship with the ICAC in order to convince Internet Café owners to use genuine software to avoid being caught by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), with its active campaign to run after establishments which are using pirated software.
She stressed that what the office is trying to do is to help Internet Café owners maintain a “legal” business operation, which is to use only genuine software Microsoft products.
MDP, which is a privately owned company that serve as the marketing arm for Microsoft Philippines in the Southern part of the country, has no knowledge on the BSA and Microsoft negotiation, especially on providing the list of establishments which are known to use pirated software products, Llena pointed out.
“What we are trying to do is to reach out to the ICAC members and come up with an agreement to help Internet Café owners maintain licensed Microsoft products” Llena said.
She said MDP would like to present to ICAC members the benefits of using genuine software products, including its freedom from being caught by the BSA, which is actively coordinating with Department of Trade and Industry, National Bureau Investigation, and the Philippines National Police (PNP).
In Cebu, there are a little more than 600 Internet Cafes operating, most of them are maintaining unlicensed software, except for those large Internet Café chain like Netopia, among others.
An Internet Café operator interview by The Freeman said what keep the Internet Café owners maintain pirated Microsoft software is the high investment cost an outlet will have to spend if it has to buy licensed Microsoft software.
For a 25-unit Internet Café operation, the owner will be spending at least P200,000, with a cost of P8,000 licensed cost in every computer.
Starting an Internet Café business would cost at least a million pesos capital, and with the stiff competition, average per hour rate in Cebu would range from P25 to P30 per hour.
Aside from the Microsoft licensing investment, the source an Internet Café owner still has to spend for the licensing of its gaming products, which is the highest revenue earner of Internet Cafes today.
About CEBU Internet Cafes
Source : http://www.eitsc.com/ExecSumSMEDSEPCebuITReport.pdf
INTERNET CAFÉS
There are about 500 internet café operators in Cebu and of which 240 are members of the Internet Café
Association of Cebu. It is estimated that there are about 300,000 internet café users in Cebu. About
80% to 90% of the clientele are students. As such, many of the internet cafes are located near the
schools.
When Internet cafés first started sprouting in 1996, the business was very successful and lucrative. But
now, with so many cafes in existence in Cebu, about three Internet cafés close down every month.
Demographically, Cebu has more Internet cafes than any other city by density. Compared to Metro
Manila, it is littered far more with cyber-cafes per 100 people. Fierce competition, however, is working
against the internet café business as the situation continues to bring prices down. Thus, the tension in
the market is creating a culture of commercial anxiety as stores lining the city’s boulevards and alleys
are always on guard —— worried that customers might switch to the neighboring shop at the slightest
price drop. This, in effect, is making customer loyalty an alien term in Cebu. Internet café users are
only loyal to the shop that offers the lowest price. Competition is primarily based on price and location.
A typical internet café would have 10 to 15 computers with one or two attendants. Majority of the
internet cafes are micro scale. Similar to other micro enterprises, the owner handles most of the tasks
and is assisted by one or two attendants. Many of the internet café operators had no previous computer
and enterprise management background. Daily gross income ranges from PhP 1,500 to 3,000.
Many of the so-called neighbourhood Internet cafes are mainly game centers, where majority of the
computers are not Internet-connected but dedicated to running games. Internet cafes near the schools
also offer desktop services such as printing and scanning. On the side, they also sell pre-paid phone
and Internet cards. Others have expanded into selling of food and school supplies. Other internet cafes
are also into the assembly of hardware and computer maintenance services. A few have offered simple
training courses in collaboration with the government.
Main constraints of the industry are the following:
1. The need to upgrade management skills as well as operations system efficiency
2. Lack of product differentiation
3. Difficulties to move up vertically/value-added services
4. The need to build a wider client base
5. Unfair competition from unregistered internet café — lower overhead costs/no taxes
6. Lack of technical skills for maintenance and troubleshooting tasks, network installation – high
maintenance costs
7. High cost of components and licensed software/ online games
The industry also sees the opportunity to increase their income if they would be allowed to offer voice
over internet protocol (VOIP) based services.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Cyber cafe owner regrets using unlicensed software
New Straits Times - Malaysia News Online
A 25-year-old cyber cafe operator regretted that he used unlicensed software in his business.
Lim Thian Chai, who was caught by enforcement officers recently, faces a fine of up to RM20,000 for each unlicensed software and a maximum of five years imprisonment under the Copyright Act 1987.
Today, watched over by Microsoft Corp representatives and officials of the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, Lim gave an undertaking that he would not flout the law.
“Unfortunately, I realised this too late and my cyber cafe was raided by the ministry’s enforcement division for using unlicensed software.”
About noon on Aug 2, enforcement officers Lim’s cyber cafe in Taman Seri Rampai, Wangsa Maju, and seized 20 copies of suspected unlicensed software worth an estimated RM25,000. They also seized 10 computers worth RM30,000 for further investigations.
Lim said he was repentant and was working with the software owners to ensure this malpractice did not recur at his one-year-old cyber cafe.
A 25-year-old cyber cafe operator regretted that he used unlicensed software in his business.
Lim Thian Chai, who was caught by enforcement officers recently, faces a fine of up to RM20,000 for each unlicensed software and a maximum of five years imprisonment under the Copyright Act 1987.
Today, watched over by Microsoft Corp representatives and officials of the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, Lim gave an undertaking that he would not flout the law.
“Unfortunately, I realised this too late and my cyber cafe was raided by the ministry’s enforcement division for using unlicensed software.”
About noon on Aug 2, enforcement officers Lim’s cyber cafe in Taman Seri Rampai, Wangsa Maju, and seized 20 copies of suspected unlicensed software worth an estimated RM25,000. They also seized 10 computers worth RM30,000 for further investigations.
Lim said he was repentant and was working with the software owners to ensure this malpractice did not recur at his one-year-old cyber cafe.
Saturday, August 06, 2005
Tokyo internet cafes offer B&B for only £7 (That's without breakfast and, oh yes, there's no bed either) :Telegraph | News
Telegraph | News
Tokyo internet cafes offer B&B for only £7 (That's without breakfast and, oh yes, there's no bed either)
By Colin Joyce in Tokyo
(Filed: 05/08/2005)
For generations of Japanese "salarymen" a night in a capsule hotel was almost a rite of passage.
But the younger generation is now rejecting the option of sleeping in a coffin-sized hole in the wall in favour of a far cheaper and more convenient option: the all-night internet cafe.
Cafes specifically designed to attract overnight customers have proliferated in the past two years.
By day, they function in much the same way as an internet cafe in Britain. But by night, they are transformed into dormitories full of exhausted office workers and boozy revellers who prefer to pay £7 to pass the small hours in a private cubicle than fork out up to £50 for a taxi home.
Though Tokyo is a 24-hour city, its public transport shuts down by 1am, leaving notoriously expensive taxis as the only way back to the far-flung suburbs where most Japanese live.
The cafe chains have taken on many of the little comforts and conveniences of a hotel. Media Cafe Popeye, which has several branches, has private booths with locks and a combination mini-safe.
There is just enough space to lie back in the reclining seat while you put your feet on the footrest. Blankets, cushions, slippers and an alarm clock can be borrowed for free but earplugs and eye-masks are £1.
You can help yourself to 50 varieties of soft drinks. Other machines dispense food, including such delicacies as octopus chunks in dough for £2. Showers are free.
The cafes have sought to avoid the "for men-only" reputation that dogs capsule hotels. Popeye cafes have women-only areas and appeal to female custom with luxuries such as nail salons, tanning machines and massage chairs.
Saeko Takasugi, a 23-year-old office worker who missed her last train after drinking with colleagues, said: "I chose to stay at a cafe because it was under £10 compared to £30 in a taxi. It was clean and surprisingly good for sleeping. You can fully extend your legs.
"Then in the morning you can get coffee and juice while checking the internet. Young people now never go to capsule hotels: they look scary and so poky."
Tokyo fully deserves its reputation as the world's most expensive city but at £7, the "chair hotels" are much cheaper than the new easyHotel's £20-a-night shoe-box rooms in London. They are part of a culture that, after more than a decade of recession, appeals to a nation that has become adept at finding ingenious ways to save the pennies and has seen companies that cater to the thrifty consumer flourish.
A night spent sleeping in your clothes requires a certain tolerance for discomfort, but many find it preferable to cutting short an evening out to spend an hour on a packed train home, with the prospect of making the same journey back into work a few hours later.
For the cafes themselves, the economics are simple. The rent is the same even if they close at midnight and the facilities need little tweaking to attract a whole new batch of clientele after the internet users go home.
The traditional capsule hotel, by contrast, lies empty during the day and must charge at least £20.
Tokyo internet cafes offer B&B for only £7 (That's without breakfast and, oh yes, there's no bed either)
By Colin Joyce in Tokyo
(Filed: 05/08/2005)
For generations of Japanese "salarymen" a night in a capsule hotel was almost a rite of passage.
But the younger generation is now rejecting the option of sleeping in a coffin-sized hole in the wall in favour of a far cheaper and more convenient option: the all-night internet cafe.
Cafes specifically designed to attract overnight customers have proliferated in the past two years.
By day, they function in much the same way as an internet cafe in Britain. But by night, they are transformed into dormitories full of exhausted office workers and boozy revellers who prefer to pay £7 to pass the small hours in a private cubicle than fork out up to £50 for a taxi home.
Though Tokyo is a 24-hour city, its public transport shuts down by 1am, leaving notoriously expensive taxis as the only way back to the far-flung suburbs where most Japanese live.
The cafe chains have taken on many of the little comforts and conveniences of a hotel. Media Cafe Popeye, which has several branches, has private booths with locks and a combination mini-safe.
There is just enough space to lie back in the reclining seat while you put your feet on the footrest. Blankets, cushions, slippers and an alarm clock can be borrowed for free but earplugs and eye-masks are £1.
You can help yourself to 50 varieties of soft drinks. Other machines dispense food, including such delicacies as octopus chunks in dough for £2. Showers are free.
The cafes have sought to avoid the "for men-only" reputation that dogs capsule hotels. Popeye cafes have women-only areas and appeal to female custom with luxuries such as nail salons, tanning machines and massage chairs.
Saeko Takasugi, a 23-year-old office worker who missed her last train after drinking with colleagues, said: "I chose to stay at a cafe because it was under £10 compared to £30 in a taxi. It was clean and surprisingly good for sleeping. You can fully extend your legs.
"Then in the morning you can get coffee and juice while checking the internet. Young people now never go to capsule hotels: they look scary and so poky."
Tokyo fully deserves its reputation as the world's most expensive city but at £7, the "chair hotels" are much cheaper than the new easyHotel's £20-a-night shoe-box rooms in London. They are part of a culture that, after more than a decade of recession, appeals to a nation that has become adept at finding ingenious ways to save the pennies and has seen companies that cater to the thrifty consumer flourish.
A night spent sleeping in your clothes requires a certain tolerance for discomfort, but many find it preferable to cutting short an evening out to spend an hour on a packed train home, with the prospect of making the same journey back into work a few hours later.
For the cafes themselves, the economics are simple. The rent is the same even if they close at midnight and the facilities need little tweaking to attract a whole new batch of clientele after the internet users go home.
The traditional capsule hotel, by contrast, lies empty during the day and must charge at least £20.
Friday, August 05, 2005
No place for sex? Get one for Rs 10- The Economic Times
No place for sex? Get one for Rs 10- The Economic Times
No place for sex? Get one for Rs 10
INDIATIMES NEWS NETWORK[ FRIDAY, AUGUST 05, 2005 01:37:11 AM]
For Naren Aggarwal and Swati Sengupta it has become nearly a daily ritual. These 20-something lovebirds pay a few rupees to find privacy in a cyber cafe cubicle in Delhi’s Ber Sarai. It’s not that the owner Ravi Kaushik doesn’t know why these two frequent his cafe so regularly.
Or, take the instance of Anupam Sharma and Alok Gogoi. These two college–going boys bring their girlfriends to cyber cafes whenever they can bunk classes. And like them do some thousands of youth across the country. It’s not just the country’s capital that discourages young people, in love, from spending time together. The Agra cyber cafe incident had sent shock waves across the country.
Late last year police raided a couple of cyber cafes in the city and found school children glued to porn sites. The raid was conducted in the full glare of television cameras. What people thought was a malaise that afflicted only the metros and the upper crust was found to have filtered even to smaller cities and lower middle class.
For today’s youth making out in cyber cafes or surfing for pornography has become the sole reason for going online. And for cafe owners it has meant more business. “I started this cyber cafe in 2000 and initially only technical students and professionals used to visit. But gradually things changed and now 95 per cent of my customers come here only to chat on messenger and surf porn sites,” says Rajeev Bansal, owner of a cyber cafe in south Delhi.
Though cyber cafe owners have seen their margins plummet over the years, they still make a decent Rs 25,000 at a minimum as profit. And a major chunk of this profit is powered by the hunger for sex, either real or virtual.
“If someone is having sex inside the cubicle, how does that harm me? In fact, this non-interference has earned me more customers,” avers Kaushik.
The couples have a point though. Our society is not known to honour the privacy of couples stealing a few moments together. Neither are there public places where couples can hang out without being harassed by local goons or the keepers of law.
“See love needs physical gratification also. In Delhi, a place for love making is a kind of luxury. The only place that affords any privacy are friends’ places or hotels. However, hotels are not safe and cost effective and you cannot always trouble a friend. These cafes offer privacy and they are the cheapest possible option,” says Aggarwal.
Pornography has been there since time immemorial. But what is troubling conscience keepers is its easy availability. The figures are mind-boggling. There are over 4 mn websites that offer pornography. That is 12 per cent of the total sites in the www domain. Daily request for porn touch 68 mn globally and the online porn industry is worth $57 bn.
A recent Times of India report mentioned that in India the porn industry is likely to touch $1 bn. In Delhi’s Palika Bazaar alone there are 1,000 buyers of pornographic material and daily revenue from sales are anywhere between Rs 60,000 and Rs 1 lakh.
The country’s cyber cafes are also notorious for the lewd graffiti that are scrawled. Sample these: “Contact 981....... for one night stand. Secrecy assured.” Or, “Lonely housewives, divorcees and widows, email to.... for complete sexual satisfaction. Accommodation no problem.”
“I initially tried to stop this, but I cannot keep a constant eye on my customers. And believe me most of these nonsense are written (or painted) by educated people. Now, I have stopped worrying about it,” says Rajesh Singh, a cafe owner.
There are some cafe owners like Laxman Pawar who have banned porn surfing in his café. He has put up notices that say, “Please do not expose your perversion by browsing porn sites. We would be forced to throw you out of the cafe.”
He goes on to say, “I had to do away with close door cubicles because of these perverts. Surfing has become very cheap these days. I charge Rs 10 per hour. And to my horror I discovered many couples came here only to make love inside the cubicles. I have caught many of them red handed.”
But as Swati Sengupta so innocently asks, “How does it matter to others what we do inside closed doors?”
Now, this is a million-dollar question: Does it really matter to anyone?
It really matters to law. “A cyber cafe is of course a public place and Indian law does not allow sex in public places. Do I need to say more,” says Deependra Pathak, DCP, south-west Delhi.
No place for sex? Get one for Rs 10
INDIATIMES NEWS NETWORK[ FRIDAY, AUGUST 05, 2005 01:37:11 AM]
For Naren Aggarwal and Swati Sengupta it has become nearly a daily ritual. These 20-something lovebirds pay a few rupees to find privacy in a cyber cafe cubicle in Delhi’s Ber Sarai. It’s not that the owner Ravi Kaushik doesn’t know why these two frequent his cafe so regularly.
Or, take the instance of Anupam Sharma and Alok Gogoi. These two college–going boys bring their girlfriends to cyber cafes whenever they can bunk classes. And like them do some thousands of youth across the country. It’s not just the country’s capital that discourages young people, in love, from spending time together. The Agra cyber cafe incident had sent shock waves across the country.
Late last year police raided a couple of cyber cafes in the city and found school children glued to porn sites. The raid was conducted in the full glare of television cameras. What people thought was a malaise that afflicted only the metros and the upper crust was found to have filtered even to smaller cities and lower middle class.
For today’s youth making out in cyber cafes or surfing for pornography has become the sole reason for going online. And for cafe owners it has meant more business. “I started this cyber cafe in 2000 and initially only technical students and professionals used to visit. But gradually things changed and now 95 per cent of my customers come here only to chat on messenger and surf porn sites,” says Rajeev Bansal, owner of a cyber cafe in south Delhi.
Though cyber cafe owners have seen their margins plummet over the years, they still make a decent Rs 25,000 at a minimum as profit. And a major chunk of this profit is powered by the hunger for sex, either real or virtual.
“If someone is having sex inside the cubicle, how does that harm me? In fact, this non-interference has earned me more customers,” avers Kaushik.
The couples have a point though. Our society is not known to honour the privacy of couples stealing a few moments together. Neither are there public places where couples can hang out without being harassed by local goons or the keepers of law.
“See love needs physical gratification also. In Delhi, a place for love making is a kind of luxury. The only place that affords any privacy are friends’ places or hotels. However, hotels are not safe and cost effective and you cannot always trouble a friend. These cafes offer privacy and they are the cheapest possible option,” says Aggarwal.
Pornography has been there since time immemorial. But what is troubling conscience keepers is its easy availability. The figures are mind-boggling. There are over 4 mn websites that offer pornography. That is 12 per cent of the total sites in the www domain. Daily request for porn touch 68 mn globally and the online porn industry is worth $57 bn.
A recent Times of India report mentioned that in India the porn industry is likely to touch $1 bn. In Delhi’s Palika Bazaar alone there are 1,000 buyers of pornographic material and daily revenue from sales are anywhere between Rs 60,000 and Rs 1 lakh.
The country’s cyber cafes are also notorious for the lewd graffiti that are scrawled. Sample these: “Contact 981....... for one night stand. Secrecy assured.” Or, “Lonely housewives, divorcees and widows, email to.... for complete sexual satisfaction. Accommodation no problem.”
“I initially tried to stop this, but I cannot keep a constant eye on my customers. And believe me most of these nonsense are written (or painted) by educated people. Now, I have stopped worrying about it,” says Rajesh Singh, a cafe owner.
There are some cafe owners like Laxman Pawar who have banned porn surfing in his café. He has put up notices that say, “Please do not expose your perversion by browsing porn sites. We would be forced to throw you out of the cafe.”
He goes on to say, “I had to do away with close door cubicles because of these perverts. Surfing has become very cheap these days. I charge Rs 10 per hour. And to my horror I discovered many couples came here only to make love inside the cubicles. I have caught many of them red handed.”
But as Swati Sengupta so innocently asks, “How does it matter to others what we do inside closed doors?”
Now, this is a million-dollar question: Does it really matter to anyone?
It really matters to law. “A cyber cafe is of course a public place and Indian law does not allow sex in public places. Do I need to say more,” says Deependra Pathak, DCP, south-west Delhi.
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
11 arrested in raid at cyber cafe- The Times of India
11 arrested in raid at cyber cafe- The Times of India
11 arrested in raid at cyber cafe
ABHIJIT SEN
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2005 02:18:13 AM ]
HAZARIBAG: Following a raid conducted at the local cyber cafe located in the heart of the town under the direction of deputy commissioner, Hazaribah, Rahul Kumar Purwar, a team, headed by Hazaribag executive magistrate-cum-district supply officer Bivash Chandra Thakur, seized more than 100 CDs, floppies and other objectionable materials, police sources said here on Friday.
According to police sources, Purwar was tipped off that vulgar CDs and CDs of blue films are being shown at the cyber cafe and this was creating immense harm to the society. It was also alleged by the police that duplicate CDs of blue films were prepared there and sold in the market. During the time of raid, the police arrested in all 11 persons, including three young women, two from Laiyo colliery of the CCL under the West Bokaro police station and other from the Telphone Colony of Hazaribagh town.
The cyber cafe has been sealed by the police and a case is being instituted against the owner of the cyber cafe. The police said that they are investigating the case.
11 arrested in raid at cyber cafe
ABHIJIT SEN
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2005 02:18:13 AM ]
HAZARIBAG: Following a raid conducted at the local cyber cafe located in the heart of the town under the direction of deputy commissioner, Hazaribah, Rahul Kumar Purwar, a team, headed by Hazaribag executive magistrate-cum-district supply officer Bivash Chandra Thakur, seized more than 100 CDs, floppies and other objectionable materials, police sources said here on Friday.
According to police sources, Purwar was tipped off that vulgar CDs and CDs of blue films are being shown at the cyber cafe and this was creating immense harm to the society. It was also alleged by the police that duplicate CDs of blue films were prepared there and sold in the market. During the time of raid, the police arrested in all 11 persons, including three young women, two from Laiyo colliery of the CCL under the West Bokaro police station and other from the Telphone Colony of Hazaribagh town.
The cyber cafe has been sealed by the police and a case is being instituted against the owner of the cyber cafe. The police said that they are investigating the case.
Goverment to Promote Internet Cafe Business
Xinhua - English: "Govt to promote Internet cafe business
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-01 16:49:25
BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- The Chinese Ministry of Culture recently set up a special organ to promote the country's 113,000 Internet parlors, which have a yearly income of 25.68 billion yuan (about 3.2 billion US dollars).
The new organ, known as the Center for the Promotion of the Internet Cafe Industry, is subordinate to the Ministry of Culture.
China has more than 1 billion Internet surfers. Though many families and offices have internet access, internet bars receive some 40 million people a day, according to official figures.
A total of 1,056,000 people are hired by Internet parlors with 8.28 million set of computers, and the industry has brought revenues of 128.2 billion yuan (about 18 billion dollars) to auxiliary enterprises. Enditem "
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-01 16:49:25
BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- The Chinese Ministry of Culture recently set up a special organ to promote the country's 113,000 Internet parlors, which have a yearly income of 25.68 billion yuan (about 3.2 billion US dollars).
The new organ, known as the Center for the Promotion of the Internet Cafe Industry, is subordinate to the Ministry of Culture.
China has more than 1 billion Internet surfers. Though many families and offices have internet access, internet bars receive some 40 million people a day, according to official figures.
A total of 1,056,000 people are hired by Internet parlors with 8.28 million set of computers, and the industry has brought revenues of 128.2 billion yuan (about 18 billion dollars) to auxiliary enterprises. Enditem "
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