Identity to be disclosed in cyber cafes in Gujarat

For those who visit cyber cafes in the state, there is a new dimension. They have to reveal their identity proof before surfing.

Email id, vehicle number, driving license number and PAN are some of the identities that cyber café operators have now started noting down in a newly formed regulation that these owners fear could bring down the number of customers frequenting the cafes.

Neither the surfers nor operators are happy with this regulation. But the state government believes that this could bring down crime through net. "This is ridiculous. These guys are eating into my personal details which I am not ready to divulge," said Rakesh Chauhan, an Internet user in
Ahmedabad.

This comes in the wake of the revelation by an accused in a high profile murder case that the gang members used Internet to hatch the conspiracy and stay connected.

"But are these criminals fools to visit Internet cafes and hatch this type of conspiracy. They must have done from their private places," Chauhan fumed.

Cyber café owners had difficult time to convince the customers about this mandatory instruction as many of them turned back not agreeing to part with personal information. As a result, the Ahmedabad Cyber Café Owners Association (ACCOA) observed one day strike against this move. 

Subsequently, an agreement was reached between the police and the café operators to maintain a logbook to register the details of the customers.

The police have stated to the ACCOA that violation in implementation of the order would invite sections under IPC, which could also go upto five years imprisonment. Though the practice of maintaining a register containing records of personal details of customers has begun, the ACCOA has expressed its inability to track the site customers' visit citing technical difficulties.

The concern of the police is also over the increasing trend of viewing pornographic materials on the web leading to sex related crimes. Over 80 percent of the youths visit cafes for this purpose, the police believe. But the police have neither a trained force nor enough strength to check this type of trend. But many youths have now questioned the policing of their personal matters saying that they would resist this move.

Cyber News Service

(CNS)