October 2004 updates

Karnataka to monitor cyber-café users
By Chin Saik Yoon in Penang, Malaysia. October 2004.

Karnataka state, which is home to Bangalore, the premier ICT zone of India, is planning to introduce legislation requiring cyber-café operators to keep track of their customers. M.K. Shankaralinge Gowda, the Karnataka secretary of information technology and biotechnology, told AFP that a law will soon be passed to make it mandatory for users of cyber cafés to produce a photo ID and provide personal contact details before they are permitted to go online. Customers who do not have a photo ID with them will be photographed with a webcam by the café operators and the images stored for a year. Gowda explained that the new legislation is aimed at combating cyber crimes and pornography.Karnataka state, which is home to Bangalore, the premier ICT zone of India, is planning to introduce legislation requiring cyber-café operators to keep track of their customers. M.K. Shankaralinge Gowda, the Karnataka secretary of information technology and biotechnology, told AFP that a law will soon be passed to make it mandatory for users of cyber cafés to produce a photo ID and provide personal contact details before they are permitted to go online. Customers who do not have a photo ID with them will be photographed with a webcam by the café operators and the images stored for a year. Gowda explained that the new legislation is aimed at combating cyber crimes and pornography.