The approach of regulating Cyber cafe is just not restricted to Maharastra or Karnataka but also at Ahmedabad (http://www.123bharath.com/index.php?action=fullnews&id=22233 )kolkata & Hyderabad. We at ApiAp belive the proposed regulations will have a multiple repurcussions: ENFORCEMENT PROBLEM: To any industry, governance/ regulations show sign of maturity & brings legitimacy but unfortunately the proposed law will be weak in enforcement & further it will be prone to be misused . ( http://apiap.blogspot.com/2004/08/fake-police-raids.html ) Our members are worried of increased the police harassment or private agencies who claim to represent the local police, anti piracy cell etc. Many would opt to go underground (As convert into a sham Computer training institute etc) this will actually increase the nascent Cyber crime cell ' burden. Communist China has been trying with such regulations since year 2000 & has not yet achieved much success ( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/01/china_net_crackdown/ ) , how can democratic India achieve it? PRIVACY: The proposed law makes the Cyber cafe operator responsible in managing the visitor’s database. The average age of a cafe operator is less than 22 years. Can we depend on the young Cyber cafe operator capability to safe guard the data from being misused/stolen? Or unknowingly become a breeding ground for cyber stalkers. SUSTAINABILITY: The Internet cafe industry has be a boon to the customer & the entrepreneur in many third world countries where basic education or electricity is not available; Cyber cafes have been a boon for entrepreneur to get to know opportunities in Info tech offers them to learn the trade while they earn & race straight into the Information super highway - Given the low entry/exit barrier to the industry. & Intense competition. The access rate is just Rs 10 to 20/- per hour that barely covers expenses. Today a small operator earns less than a cushy job in a call center; the average mortality is less than 3 years. They eventually migrate to better opportunities as in vending computer hardware, data processing, programming etc. & a new breed of entreprenuer takes their place. With the proposed regulations, how many micro entrepreneurs will dare to venture in such a business? Who bears the brunt ? The brunt of such regulations will be borne by masses that are waiting to embrace the digital world. ITU puts Internet penetration at 1.59 %in India. How will the rest of the 98.41% get an opportunity to acquaint the power of the WWW ? Today our scare resources are competing between better education / drinking water / health & other issues, Can we expect each of them invest 14 months gross income to buy a personal computer ( cost of computer to per capita income of India, yr 2002 estimate )? In all we appeal don't burn the bridge that is aiding to close the Digital Divide.

To Get Online, Most Indians Go to Cyber Cafes

Anjana Pasricha, August 15, 2004 — VOA News Service

NEW DELHI — In India, cyber cafes are steadily gaining in popularity because few people own computers and Internet access is expensive. Internet usage in India remains limited even though the country is known as an information technology hub.

Nineteen-year-old Jaskaran Lamba heads straight for a cyber cafe every afternoon after his classes at a New Delhi college are finished. For several hours, he logs on to the net, searching for material for his college projects, checking his e-mail and chatting with friends.

He is among the thousands of Indians who flock daily to the cyber cafes that are sprouting up in crowded markets, shopping malls and rail stations. Cyber cafes offer computers with Internet access to anyone who pays a fee.

Nearly two-thirds of the 12 million Internet users in India frequent cyber cafes, according to industry estimates, and in the last two years, the number of establishments has doubled to 50,000 to meet the demand.

Industry experts say the business is likely to thrive. Less than one percent of Indians own computers. And like Jaskaran Lamba, even those do who do often prefer to use cyber cafes to avoid the high cost of Internet access at home.

Amitabh Singhal, president of the Internet Service Providers Association of India, says most private Internet users in India rely on expensive dial-up connections costing nearly 60 cents an hour. Cyber cafes, on the other hand, run on high-speed broadband connections, cutting the cost by nearly half.

"Cyber cafes have been a successful model," he said. "We see a quality of service which is better than the dial-up, [and] the prices are also very reasonable, so a lot of people find that a better option."

Mr. Singhal says the government wants to widen access to the Internet and aims to increase the number of subscribers to 40 million in five years' time. It hopes to do so by reducing tariffs to make high-speed broadband access more affordable for ordinary Indians.

Even if that happens, cyber cafes are confident they will stay in business. Industry experts say computers will remain out of reach for most of India's one billion people for years to come, so cyber cafes will continue to be the vehicle for taking the Internet to the masses.

That is why one of India's largest cyber-cafe chains, "iWay," is opening three new outlets a day, branching out from big cities to smaller towns.

Cafe controls in India's tech hub

Correspondents in Bangalore

INDIA'S southern state of Karnataka, of which the technology hub of Bangalore is the capital, is to restrict the use of internet cafes to fight cyber crime and pornography.Proposed new laws will make it compulsory for those using cybercafes to carry a photo-identity card and enter their details on an address book to be kept at the counter.

If no identity card is available, customers will be photographed by a web camera at the cafe and their photographs will be stored in the computer for a year.

"The main aim is to prevent the misuse of cybercafes," said M.K. Shankaralinge Gowda, secretary in the state's Information Technology and Biotechnology department. "It is meant to fight cyber crimes and pornography."

The law would be passed very soon, Mr Gowda said. "A bit of regulation is necessary and we do not want freedom to be misused."

Industry pundits, IT bodies and users, however, slammed the planned legislation, arguing it was an infringement of individual rights and will deal a severe blow to the industry which has been fighting to bring internet access to the poor.

India's premier IT body, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), said the move would not help tackle the problem of security or pornography.

"It is not a good idea at all," said NASSCOM president Kiran Karnik. "We understand that there are security compulsions but this step will not be useful or good to tackle it as the system can still be abused either by the cafe owner or by customers."

Mr Karnik said a majority of the internet users in India used cybercafes as they could not afford to buy a computer.

"I do not think checking and registration of subscribers is a good idea. It also infringes on individual freedom," Mr Karnik said.

"This move will kill (cybercafe) business. In India internet access is a problem. The rich own personal computers while the poor cannot even afford to use it," he said.

According to NASSCOM, there were an estimated 13 million internet users in India last year. The base grew from less than a million subscribers in 1998.

Ashish Saboo, president of the Association of Public Internet Access Providers, a body of cybercafe owners, said the government step would hit the industry hard.

"Operating a cybercafe is no longer a lucrative business," Mr Saboo said. "When these regulations come into effect, I wonder how many will still risk operating?"

Cybercafes revenue was on the decline even though "about 30 per cent" of India's total internet users depend on them, Mr Saboo said.

Over the couple of years fierce competition has cut the cost of accessing the internet at cybercafes to as little as 15 rupees (45c) an hour.

Agence France-Presse

Ahmedabad & Bangalore's Cyber Crime cell on outsourcing mode !

The Police force of the world's largest democratic country is on an outsourcing mode! At least this is what I conclude reading the rules being passed by the Ahmedabad & Bangalore police's nascent Cyber crime cell. Some significant measures announced are :

If you are not carrying a photo-ID card, you will have to get your photograph taken by webcam in the cafe and enter your details on the computer and your photograph will be stored in the computer for a period of one year.

Ahmedabad city police goes a step further :

Apart from these instructions, the directive also stipulates that cyber cafes will not be allowed to function near educational institutions, hospitals and places of worship.

I think the honorable office of the Cyber Crime investigations considers only criminals visit Cyber Cafe or all those who access Internet in public domain as suspicious . Until now the police department used to keep records and photographs of only people booked for offence. Now in this billion people nation setting up a database of each of us is a task which the police is confident only the "till now" ubiquitous Cyber cafes can execute. I think it is a great recognition of our strength and spread, considering the previous two national agencies viz the Election Commission with the Voters photo ID card and the Income Tax Authority with the Permanent account number PAN scheme are still struggling to set their records updated even after a decade! So how can a small commercial telecentre achieve it ? This action will also bring India in the club of worlds most Autocratic countries namely: China, Cuba & Vietnam to maintain such strict vigil. The city of London too is host to numerous cyber cafes but none have faced such severe restrictions and none of the developed countries have framed such laws then I wonder why Indian city regulators are planning such laws . Exactly a year ago the Mumbai police too had proposed similar regulations. Thankfully the authorities were considerate enough to understand the cyber cafe problems and offered to defer such laws. Operating a cyber cafe is no more a lucrative business . With earning significantly less than the one can expect a salary from a call centre job . With effect of such regulations I wonder, how many will still take a risk to operate in this business . Already the commercial cyber cafes are declining. Further Will people wile l be comfortable visiting a Cyber Cafes, where all your data, activity are under scrutiny . How can the police or the poor cyber cafe operator safe guard this data from being misused ? How will the Cyber cafe manger convince the women in the veil to be photographed ? In India only 1.59 people per 100 have access to Internet, Commercial telecentres with their pay per use model are the best bet to increase Internet penetration significantly but unfortunately such draconian law will burn the bridge to digital divide.

Cybercafe goes cold in the West- The Economic Times

Cybercafe goes cold in the West VIKRAM DOCTOR TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 05, 2004 01:29:59 AM] Surf 'N' Earn -Sign innow The 10th anniversary of a globally transforming technological innovation should have been widely noted and celebrated. Yet 10 years on from when Eva Pascoe, a Polish PhD student studying in London opened Cafe Cyberia, the world’s first cybercafe , there’s been little to mark the occasion. Yahoo! which understandably has benefited from the phenomenon launched its first Yahoo! Mail Internet Cafe Awards, choosing from the over 20,000 cybercafes it estimates are now operational in over 171 countries, to give out awards for the Most Remote Cybercafe (Cafe Polyvalent in Timbuktu, Mali) or Most Stylish (Phlegmatic Dog in Moscow). But that was about as far as formal recognition of the anniversary and where it did attract media comment, it was mostly to note how passé the cybercafe concept now seemed. In a rather patronising leader entitled ‘Ye Olde Internet Cafe’, the Daily Telegraph noted that when they were first started they were frequented by the coolest trendsetters but today were mainly for “gap-year students, far from home, or the urban poor.” It concluded: “the internet cafe is already on its way into the footnotes of history. Many will find it remarkable that the first one opened only 10 years ago. But few will be surprised when the last one shuts.” Well, maybe the writer of that leader should come to India. “There are over 50,000 cybercafes in India,” says David Appasamy, chief communications manager at Satyam Infoway which in just three years has set up a chain of over 2,000 cybercafes across 67 cities. “We’re opening at the rate of three cybercafes a day.” The company estimates it gets over half a million users a month and that’s growing at a 25% rate. Now are these all English speaking elite. “Its aspirational. Everyone wants to move ahead and computers are seen as the means,” says Appasamy. And since most people can’t afford their own computers, they go to the cybercafe. Nor will falling computer prices change this, as it did in the West. No matter how low prices fall, they will always be too costly for most Indian families. Amitabh Singhal, president of the Internet Service Providers Association of India points out that compared to the West, Internet access is relatively expensive in India, so going to a cybercafe where the cost is spread among many users makes economic sense. Home usage is also inconvenient. “Using the Internet over the dial-up connections that most people have at home is very slow and annoying,” he says. “Especially with the sort of data-rich content that most websites have these days it can take forever to download.” Surfing the Net today really does need broadband, and for most people the only way to get it is through their friendly neighbourhood cybercafe. In a larger sense too, cybercafes fit into a very Indian approach to technology. This is the country, after all, where cable operators receive satellite TV to dish out to their subscribers and most people access long distance telephony from STD/ISD booth. Many of which, in fact, simply added on a couple of computers to become the first cybercafes. Most technology in India ends up getting distributed through intermediaries, and cybercafes are just the latest form. And what truly Indian ways we’re finding to use all this! “Families arranging marriages use video conferencing at Infoways to interview prospective candidates in other cities!” says Appasamy. Other common usages include salesmen in remote locations filing their reports with HO, senior citizens calling their children abroad using Net telephony, students sending college applications and even sitting for their entrance tests, HR professionals getting CVs of potential employees and stock traders accessing the markets, people maintaining their personal websites - in addition, of course, to the email, chat and computer gaming. It’s not just Indians who have come to depend on cybercafes. For tourists, particularly the backpacking gap-year students noted by The Telegraph, they have become vital technology. Tom Hall, senior web producer at Lonely Planet, the backpacker’s bible, says that they use them for much more than just email. “There are also online trip journals, such as the MyTripJournal feature on LonelyPlanet.com which help travellers relate their experiences to everyone at home by posting writing and photos online,” he tells us. “Travellers are also using the internet to get information on destinations, such as our WorldGuide section, and the ThornTree travel forum, which is often used by travellers on the road to get advice and find travel partners. Also, travellers use the internet to book a hostel at the next destination.” Most of this is true across the developing world, which suggests that there’s a long future to the cybercafe’s role as a gateway to technology. When countries open up, a cybercafe is often among the first businesses to be established. Iran got its first cybercafe as early as 1998, with separate sections for women and men. In 2000 Bhutan got its first cybercafe, just a year after it got TV. In 2002, just a year after the Taliban fell, Kabul got its first cybercafe, and today there are many. Even the world’s most repressed country, North Korea, got its first cybercafe in 2002, reportedly because its leader, Kim Jong-Il, is an avid surfer (unfortunately the initial rates were $100 per hour, which kept most North Koreans away). This openness has often sparked alarm with governments and cybercafes commonly find themselves caught in the backlash, with threats of closure or heavy penalties for allowing access to porn or different political views. In India states have followed different policies, with some like Maharashtra occasionally threatening to crack down on cybercafes. Lonely Planet’s Hall says that, in common with most tech specialists, he believes that cybercafe usage will eventually fall, because of home and work connections and, even more, due to wireless and cellphone technologies. “That being said, I think this will take quite a while to occur,” he says. “We’re different from the West. I think we will be using the cybercafe for quite some time to come,” says Singhal. As proof perhaps of how firm the future of the cybercafe outside the West is, consider what’s happened to the first one of them all. After expanding into a chain, Eva Pascoe sold the business to South Korean investors, who renamed it ‘Be The Reds’ after the cheer used by supporters of the South Korean national football team. That first outlet is still running and is mainly used by the Korean student community in London.

The cybercafe business is resembling a graveyard for organised chains

Businessworld - STAY AHEAD EVERY WEEK The cybercafe business is resembling a graveyard for organised chains. Bangalore-based Junction96 has downed shutters. Tata Nova is pulling out. DishnetDSL is closing outlets. Sify's iway, India's largest chain with 1,000 cafes, is yet to make profits. Paradoxically, the market is booming. Cybercafé revenues are seen doubling from Rs 250 crore now to Rs 500 crore in the next two years. IMRB pegs the number of cybercafes at 50,000 today, and this number is also doubling every two years. So far, it is the poky neighbourhood cafes that have seized the opportunity. Will any organised player crack this puzzle? If they do, it will probably be Sify. Its revenues grew to Rs 7.88 crore last quarter. Going by that, it could end this year with revenues over Rs 30 crore. Its billings of Rs 20-25 per hour are shared (70:30) between Sify and its franchisees. That's enough to let most franchisees break even in 24-30 months. The only one yet to make profits is Sify itself. But that is because in the last quarter it spent Rs 6.5 crore on the brand. It spent another Rs 7.3 crore sprucing up its back end. "It was a choice between maintaining cash profits and incurring an one-time marketing expense for the expanding cybercafe business," says CEO R. Ramaraj. It's this willingness to invest which works in Sify's favour. A late entrant, it came in with a nifty business model. Most cybercafes use a leased line/ISDN line for connectivity. More often than not, these are provided by BSNL/MTNL and suffer from severe bandwidth constraints. In contrast, Sify set up a wireless broadband network. Instead of using the BSNL/MTNL lines, its cafes access bandwidth via microwave receivers. Then, there is Sify's national IP backbone. Between the cafes, the ISP and the corporate network businesses, the network sweats more, resulting in faster return on investment. So iway's browsing costs have stayed as low as Rs 20-25 an hour. Then, it introduced a centralised billing system. All users get a unique identity and password, which locks them in and stops franchisees from underreporting revenues. It also lets them personalise their email and Web preferences. Today, 4 lakh registered users have already signed in. For iway, it is just a question of waiting for the profits.

ApiAp protests Banagalore law makers high handedness in regulating cyber cafes

Its unfortunate but true, Banagalore Police has finally passed through the regulation (details: http://www.bangaloreit.com/html/cyber%20crime%20notification1.doc )Its unfortunate, Bangalore city, the Silicon Valley of the east is in the league of China & Cuba for their respect to privacy. The regulation expects all Cyber Cafe operators to record the details along with a photo identity of all the people who access Internet in public places. Those who do not carry a photo identity need to be immediately photographed by a web cam. All the details of visitors have to kept for at least a year! We feel sorry Banagalore Cyber cell officials have not realized the complete implication of the law & perhaps begin a new chapter in cyber stalking. The personal records data can be misused. Begin with we foresee Women will be amongst the first to desert the cafes, refer the report, where a cyber cafe operator chased a girl,Unfortunately for him, he got his lessons from the Girl's brother. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/294332.cms Now the Banagalore regulation offers a complete album -choose your target. It will be a delight for cyber stalkers ? How will a cafe owner ( age between 19 - 25 years )can safe guard this data from wrong intentions & as well maintain accuracy of the record ? Given over 60% of Banagalore netizens depend on Cyber Cafe for access, it will be like mapping the whole city population. The last such large attempts to maintain records were done by IT dept by issuing PAN number & election commission as voter id Card - its over 10 years & still struggling. The regulators do not realize the enormity of the exercise, what will be lost is the ubiquity in access to the net which is very important in developing the Digital society. Fortunately for us Banagalore cyber crime cell has 50 odd cases. This legislation is like a can of worms. The Bangalore regulators estimate 5000 cafes , some what a similar number of cobbler shop, or barber salon shop in Bangalore, Have they been licensed ? Can they be effectively be monitored. ? Countries who are more vulnerable of Cyber crimes, like London city which host as many cafe as Mumbai has & boasts the largest Internet cafes, do not insist on the recording the personal information of Internet surfer? Wonder what transpires and who inspires Indian regulators to do the impossible. We claim Regulation will bring legitimacy but unfortunately such regulations are a loose cannon ball, given the ambivalent cyber laws, many cafes operators from metro to small towns had to face harassments from the police or duped by the conman. It reminds us about the sad tale of the police harassment at Panickanadar Kudieuruppu a small village in the Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu in 2002http://www.rediff.com/search/2002/apr/22cyber.htm & the Conman posing as CBI officer held in Kolkata http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/49968.cms http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/50459.cms Cyber Cafe business in at the crossroad, it promises lot of opportunity & hope to many http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/633478.cms But still a mirage, we are waiting for more meaningful, trusted content till then we are left with the customers preying fingers to what he chooses rather thanwhat we can lead , Whom do we blame ? Few cyber cafe operators who are finding it hard to make a living will from the operations would prefer to move out than face harassments. The result of such regulations is loss not for the operators but for our all initiatives to bring in the Digital society or do we leave it , as a swan song for another ICT4D seminar in another 5 star hotel ? The loss is just not of the micro entrepreneur but its a bigger loss to all the people who have not yet been inducted to the world wide web.

Fake Police raids

Off late I have been receiving a spate of emails/ calls /personal interactions complaining about Police raids on their cafes.

The common situation described is such raids are as follows :

Some people visit the cafe download music files / a recent movie clippings or some sexually explicit images. After downloading immediately these people tip off the so called Police and representatives of Indian Motion Pictures Association ( IMPA ), Anti piracy cell. The Police men orders for the shut down of the cafe and investigates all the computers . Of course in within no time they are able to locate the pirated files. The cafe owner is threatened with severe punishment starting with lodging of First Information Report ( FIR), lock ups etc ... They finally take away a signed confession on a blank piece of paper, in some cases confiscate the computers too. It is rumored in most cases the matter is settled with by meeting the demands and finally the FIR is never lodged or any court notices sent. Our inquiries have revealed most of these are fake raids and have not been authorized by the Police. It is a act of a few black sheep who very well understand the Cafe operators apprehensions. Most of the complainants have been seeking for a legal course. Unfortunately few have been able to corroborate their cases with any evidence for the obvious reasons. Further there can never be any legal course available to those who oblige to such hush money demands.

Why are we targeted ?

The Extortionist studies his prey carefully . They understand the Cyber cafe owner operates by himself, and makes sure has no support base in the vicinity . Those offering Large cabins for in the name of privacy are easy targets. Further thanks to stiff competition few cyber cafe operators in their own vicinity speak to each other thus never are able to share the commonly faced issues. Internet Cafes business are at the forefront of the cutting edge technology . New technology has been a challenges to social norms and old methods of business. so in the course of operations we as service providers have been caught in the bind. If you seek legal redressal then we have to follow the norms. Those who are deliberately promoting porn, selling pirated music are making it hard for all of us. While in certain issues there can be multiple interpretations. As explained by Cyber law practitioner Mr. Pawan Duggal in an article published in the Economic times. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/34093115.cms Thus in such cases, I feel the past conduct of the parties involved determines the course of legal action. you can take a few Precautionary measures as follow: # If you not done anything wrong than do not feel petrified by such threats. # Do not give away to prosecution threats. you are only making your case weaker. # Do not install unwanted software # clean the computer hardisk regularly for all such files which your customer may have downloaded # Keep the cafe environment open. # Build neighborhoods goodwill, finally you are amongst the special business who are able to make access of information affordable. # Speak the issues faced with other operators in the vicinity & seek each others support in countering such fake raids. And finally it is our collective responsibility to make others understand our contribution to the society and perhaps will lead to all of us in gaining more business opportunity and make our business sustainable.

Time flies ...

Its been almost a year since The Association of Public Internet Access Provider was established.

The primary reason was to offer a voice to many struggling micro entrepreneurs in India in operating the community Internet Browsing center's or call it Cyber Cafes or Telecenters.

The nascent Industry which in the USA & Europe as seen as a mix of entertainment and technology had a completely different meaning for the less developed countries . Cyber Cafe sans the Coffee has been the most popular way of offering high cost of Internet access economically by way of a shared access on pay per usage basis.

The Beatles in their book " The Beatles in Rishikesh " shares their surprise of Internet Cafes

I also love the visual variety in India, as one occasionally drives around Brahma bulls as they wander or sit in the roadway, or the juxtaposition of ancient and new, as internet cyber-cafes nestle in beside ancient temples to the Gods. And while I stopped counting long ago....

At the peak of the dot com boom it was not surprising to locate as many Cyber cafes as the barber shop ! The inquisitive for technology may have waned but not the entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs in all the less developed countries have shared the same vision in making Internet ubiquitous. I have been able to get in contact with cyber Cafe owners in interiors of India , China, Philippines, Ethiopia, Indonesia and many more . Every where the story is same . The hopes of a catching a Innovative business opportunity : E-commerce et al but struggling to sustain the operation today & top it off with continuous regulatory pressures, Socially misunderstood. I have been receiving emails from numerous operators with almost the same sort of queries. I hope through this blog I shall try to communicate many of the commonly faced issues.

Wish me luck !

Did you say small town folks ?

Net Indya , A Cyber Cafe in Himachal Pradesh Solan It was fun , acquainting with Internet Browsing center operators from across the world . The more memorable like Dhiraj from Solan, A small town in Himachal Pradesh, India . It is usually the tax authorities chase the people. Here Dhiraj chased the service tax authorities to know how to pay the service tax levied on the Cyber cafes ! . As Dhiraj shared with us . The Service tax Authorities were at a loss to know under what classification cyber cafes are and hence were unable to tax . Here is a lesson to me A common man is more conscientious to his duty . A lack of convenience in compliance forces many to avoid taxes. Hats off Dhiraj !! Praful of Kalingpong, West Bengal ; Prakash from Sagar Madhya Pradesh were some other interesting folks .