It is reported that a Public interest litigation has been filed in
Delhi, India, calling for the Government to draft a new regulation
of Cyber cafes.
As per early reports, the PIL is said to state that "Cyber Cafe's are
too easily accessible by children who are prone to be drawn into Pornography,
Gambling and Bomb making etc." It appears that the PIL calls for amongst
other things , "Licensing" of Cyber cafes.
For some time naavi.org has been highlighting the problems that the
Cyber cafes have been undergoing due to the wrong interpretation of the
current laws itself. The call for new laws may come as music to the ears
of some "Pro Regulation" conservatives while it may look alarming
for the libertarians.
To be on record, it is of course possible for the young minds to be
corrupted with the vast information that is available on the Internet which
includes Pornography, Bomb making and Gambling.
The point under discussion is however, whether "Regulation" is the
solution and whether "Regulation" will be more harmful to the society.
Even in the developed American society, a lot of discussion has been
going on on the need to protect Children through legislation. It is therefore
not un natural that the demand has come in India too.
It is however necessary for the public to know one thing. Once a "Regulation"
is in place, it will be very difficult to remove it later on. There will
be too many vested interests who will only work towards further increasing
the controls than reducing them. Soon we will have a "License Raj" for
Cyber cafes firmly in place. It will render the business of Cyber cafes
too difficult for honest simpletons to run. It will be another business
which will require greasing the palms of local chieftains. Such business
can only be run by hardened business men who are comfortable in managing
such local politicians and thugs. Once such people take control of Cyber
cafes, they are likely to take advantage of the protection they may get
from their local leaders and use the Cafe for doing things which they are
regulated not to do.
The proposed regulation is therefore likely to have exactly the opposite
effect of what it is expected to do.
Secondly, if it is a question of viewing pornographic sites, it is possible
for the Cyber cafes to have some filters to block the sites and also keep
a few computers separated from the rest so that some supervision can be
exercised by the cafe manager. But the question of sites which may have
objectionable material would be too difficult to filter.
However, the question of anti social activities such as "Bomb making"
etc. could be of interest to adults more than the children and unless the
concept of Cyber cafe is itself killed, one cannot eliminate the possibilities
of misuse of information available on the net.
There is however scope for "Self Regulation" by Cyber cafes and I have
myself come across many Cyber cafe owners who in the recent times have
been asking me how to keep their Cyber cafe image clean. I have been suggesting
several measures in this regard including
1. Maintenance of a log register to identify who accessed a particular
machine at a particular time.
2. Displaying a public notice about the responsibilities of Netizens
and need to avoid Cyber Crimes such as Hacking, Virus contamination and
Distribution of obscene material.
I have also suggested that the public can through a NGO maintain a vigil
on cyber cafes (Please see the details here (Citizen's
Watchdog Committee Proposal).
The Cyber cafe owners through their associations have to immediately
get together and intervene in the PIL as an affected party. Otherwise it
will be too late. In such pleadings they should be ready to set up a "Self
Regulatory Body" and take care of the concerns of the society and convince
the judiciary that further regulation will be unnecessary and counter productive.
I request interested Cyber cafe owners to contact me immediately in
this regard. I also request those who have a view in this regard to send
me their views. Silence at a time when you need to speak up may result
in more regulations about which we may have to regret later.
Citizen's
Watchdog Committee Proposal
The
Beyond Control debate at Oxford University
Do readers have a views on this? or suggestions?. If so, Your
views can be sent here
