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.

K YATISH RAJAWAT AND RITWIK DONDE in Ecomomic Times report

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2006 03:24:28 AM]

MUMBAI: This time round, they don’t want to be left limping in the chase. The 7/11 blasts have spooked the Mumbai police into tightening the noose around cyber crime. With terrorists using internet-based communication to manage their sleeper cells and plan operations, the Mumbai police wants to monitor the city’s cyber cafes.

The police wants to licence all internet cafes in the city, classifying them under the public amusement category. Each internet cafe owner will have to shell out a licensing fee of Rs 500 per computer for registration.

Based on feedbacks form various groups we have made a guidlines for visiotrs accessing the Cyber Cafe.

Cyber Cafe operators are requested to display notice prominently in the cafe.

Download the pdf document  

Public Notice for cyber cafe visitors.pdf  ( ver 2.03 )

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’).