The Economic Times, TIMES NEWS NETWORK

K YATISH RAJAWAT AND RITWIK DONDE

MUMBAI: The Mumbai police’s decision to regulate internet cafes as public amusement places through a gazette notification has boiled over into a national issue. Nasscom, along with other national bodies, is trying to get the IT Act amended to regulate the cafes. The objective is to prevent state government and state police from coming up with their own norms to regulate the cafes.

The move to put in place a centralised legislation gained momentum after ET first reported (in issue dated September 22, ’06) the Mumbai Police’s initiative to regulate the cyber cafes in the city.

 BHOPAL: "Mumbai blasts were to avenge the desecration of Meena Tai's statue." The source of this claim, sent via e-mail to a local Hindi daily turned out to be a 22-year-old errant youth, who meant this as a prank and had no connection with 7/11.

Bhopal SP Anant Singh received a call from the daily in the early hours of Wednesday, informing him of the contents of the e-mail which claimed responsibility for Mumbai blasts.

ApiAp conducted a sample survey on Cyber Cafes in Mumbai in June 2005. A random 40 cafes in Mumbai - South, Western Suburbs, & Central suburbs participated in the survey.

The primary data collection and survey was done by Mr Anshu Shukla & Shrish Kumar Tiwari , students of the Indian Institute of Information Technology ( IIIT) Allahabad, India.

Summary of the Survey:

The cyber café owners surveyed most of them offered Internet access, print & scan service.
77% of 40 respondents ’s cafe existence is less than 3 years 92.5% claimed they are some what satisfied with business.
80% of cafe own 6 to 10 terminals Most have invested less than Rs 200 thousand.

Expressindia.com reports:
A FORTNIGHT after the daughter of Punjab DGP S S Virk’s relative eloped with a youth, the police tracked her down in Bangalore. The couple have been handed over to their parents.

Despite their efforts, the policemen could not trace the couple. Then, about three-four days back, the girl sent an e-mail to her maternal aunt in the USA asking for money.

The UT Police contacted various Internet operators and scanned the source of the email. After finding that the IP number was of Satyam, they procured the address of the cyber cafe from where she had sent the email.

Cyber Cafe operators have many time been implicated for the acts of their customers.  

Legal expert Mr Lekhesh Dholakia has on IAMAI's  request released a paper describing the The Law on Pornography in India & its implication on Cyber Cafe operators
 

THE LAW ON PORNOGRAPHY IN INDIA

Pornography and Obscenity

The term ‘pornography’ when used in relation to an offence is not defined in any statutes in India but the term ‘obscenity’ has been effectively explained in two statutes in India, and these legislations prescribe that ‘obscenity’ in certain circumstances constitutes an offence. These legislations are (i) The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (‘IPC’) and (ii) The Information Technology Act, 2000 (‘IT Act’).

The Govt of India released a draft frame work for roll out of over 100000 common Service centres.

Advances in Information and Communication Technologies have made it possible today to provide a whole range of high-quality and cost-effective services relating to video, voice and data content through a single communication channel using appropriate terminal equipment. This opens up a whole realm of possibilities for provision of e-government, entertainment, education, telemedicine, e-commerce, info-services, etc. ubiquitously. Government of India is committed to leveraging these advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for the benefit of the citizens, especially those in rural and remote areas. It is therefore considered necessary to create a network of access points termed Common Services Centres(CSCs) throughout the country as outlets for such services.