ApiAp - Academic interest

Logged out: Cyber cafes aren't too hot

web-admin — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0800

RITWIK DONDE

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2006 12:00:32 AM]

MUMBAI: When cyber cafés began mushrooming across Indian cities they were considered a window to the world, a source of knowledge and information. Parents and teachers were a happy lot, expecting the youth to make full use of the new technology.

But, having coming under constant security scanner and being touted as shady joints promoting vices, the industry seems to be in the doldrums, with a majority of small players exiting the business.

There are about 200,000 cyber cafés in the country with more than 80% owned by individuals. Say café owners in the city, “It is getting difficult to conduct business with impending cyber café regulations and escalating operating costs. An average private cyber café gets about 50-60 footfalls in a day while the likes of Reliance Web World have 125 footfalls per day per store.”

Says Dilip Chaitalia, a café owner in South Mumbai, “Our footfalls have gone down by nearly 50%, with overall business decreasing by as much as 25%.” Also the cost of technology is rising with the advent of faster printers, webcams and regular software upgrades, he adds.

Café owners say business has been hit mainly by the impending regulations to police the cafes. “Our net earnings are even lower than a salaried job for the same skill set,” says Neelkanth Shanbaug, owner, Grafiti Cyber Café in Mumbai.

Where we used to earn Rs 100 an hour a few years ago, the rate has gone down to Rs 10-15 an hour along with the usage time. And now with regulations stating there would be a need to maintain an electronic log book of customers and monitor activity in the café, our costs would increase even more driving down margins, he adds.

Asserts Sarup Chowdhary, Director & CEO, Reliance World, “The compliance with the new rules and regulations would ensure a secure access but one that comes at a cost.” To put into effect rules like customer identification and constant monitoring of the premises, would mean an addition to the operating expenditure for all the players.

While the bigger cafes would be better off with this back-end addition it would be damaging to the smaller individual players, he adds. Reliance World which has as many as 25 outlets in the city offering internet access has not seen any physical growth in this number since its inception. An increasing number of smaller players are putting their hands up and saying they cannot afford to pump in the excess capital needed for the business.

Experts say that the biggies like Reliance can afford to play the volume games they can house as many 5,000 PCs in their cafes, the small guys can do with only 5-6 PCs. The downtrend in the industry may also be a reason why Reliance World now offers value-added services like video conferencing, video resumes and video mails to attract more users.

The fall in the use of cyber cafes is reflected in a recent survey by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International has revealed cyber cafe users have declined from 52% in ’03 to 39% in ’06. Increased home PC usage and higher broadband penetration is also affecting cyber cafe footfalls. However, not all industry players believe cybercafes are becoming less attractive.

According to a latest survey conducted by AC Nielsen, as many as 34% users now surf the internet from cybercafes, 30% from home, while internet users from offices have fallen to around 20%. Explaining the fall, Dr Subho Ray, President, IAMAI says that the rise in Web 2.0 applications like blogging and the growing e-commerce business have also contributed to an increasing number of users preferring the privacy of their homes over public access points.

Says Ashish Saboo, president, Association of Public ICT Tools Access Provider, less dependence on shared access and stricter regulations are making the case worse for the small entrepreneur in this industry. “The opportunities are huge and globally the e-commerce business is growing but the odds are stacked against us,” he adds.

©Bennett, Coleman and Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Survey on Mumbai Cyber Cafes - June 2005

admin — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 23:37:43 -0700

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.
97% of cafes operate from rented premises.
Almost all access Internet through cable internet (ADSL connection or extended LAN networks using cat5 cables)
Median rate for Internet access fee is Rs 15/- per hour ( USD 0.34 ) Median traffic ranges from 34 - 40 visitors a day This converts into a probable Gross collection of just Rs 350 to 600 a day (USD 8-14)
Most cafes offer a significant discount to regular customers.
While 82% concurred to be their significant source of earning but at the same time 78% claimed other sources of earning too, popular options are PCO, DTP, Training etc.
55% claimed they know most of the customers, 30% claimed they know some of them & only 15% knew none of their customer.
When asked to rank the significant problems faced in operating the business: The number one problem was attributed to Business competition followed by Regulation problem, Hardware maintenance & last managing customers.
Only 43% & 39% of respondents knew the concept of Hacking & Piracy. 65% felt that their cafe can be misused but none could explain how.
95% of those surveyed claim to maintain a register of visitors for sake of business accounting, 15% even ask for proof of identity.
Conclusion: The Cyber café operations are not sustainable; most of the operators are early entrepreneurs. Although many claimed to be satisfied by the opportunity but then a significant 77% of the owners are in the business for less than 3 years, It is worthy to note the industry is over 8 years old. & The café business as hand in hand with the Internet rage had peeked in year 2000 with the burst of Dot COM bubble. Perhaps many have not factored the long-term capital cost recovery in the relative high operating cash flow thus look attractive. The low investment requirement added to low entry barrier & low skill base makes an ideal opportunity for micro entrepreneurs to start a venture. Subsequently Cyber café do not seem to be the main stay of the operator’s livelihood. Net earnings seem just about a bit higher than a salaried job for the same skill set. Most of the visitors frequent the same cafes & operators too are acquainted to them. Further for sake of business accounting most do maintain a rudimentary cross check systems. Thus detection of cyber crime under cover of anonymity offered by cyber café is not very non comprehendible But inferring from their responses on possibility of misuse of cafes, it seems most of them have a hazy understanding on Cyber security issues. It may be possible the café owners can be made gullible into abetting the crime. The whole scale policing of cyber café have proved an ineffective solution but a little support and nurturing of these micro entrepreneur community by way of awareness and recognition can certainly make cyber crime in the cover of anonymity manageable.

Thank you Anshu & Shirish & your other guides , Cyber Cafe operators owe you a lot ! We look forward more researchers like you & Anikar Haseloff take interest in this omni present yet anonymous participants in the ICT4D.

Opinion The Law on pornography in India & implication on Cyber cafe operators

web-admin — Mon, 26 Dec 2005 00:00:00 -0800

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’).

Although neither the IPC nor the IT Act defines what ‘obscenity’ is, section 292 of the IPC and section 67 of the IT Act, (which corresponds to section 292 of the IPC) explain ‘obscenity’ to mean anything which is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest or if its effect is to deprave and corrupt persons. Therefore according to the law in India, anything that is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest or if its effect is to deprave and corrupt persons would be considered to be ‘obscene’.

Obscenity as an offence under the Indian Penal Code.

Section 292 of the IPC comprehensively sets out the circumstances in which ‘obscenity’ and / or any ‘obscene’ material is an offence.

According to section 292, (i) whoever sells, lets to hire, distributes, publicly exhibits or in any manner puts into circulation, or for purposes of sale, hire, distribution, public exhibition or circulation, makes, produces or has in his possession any obscene book, pamphlet, paper, drawing, painting, representation, or figure or any other obscene object whatsoever or (ii) imports, exports or conveys any obscene object for any of the purposes mentioned in (i) above, or knowing or having reason to believe that such obscene object will be sole, let to hire, distributed or publicly exhibited or in any manner out into circulation, or (iii) takes part in or receives profits from any business in the course of which he knows or has reason to believe that any such obscene objects are, for any of the purposes mentioned in (i) above, made, produced, purchased, kept, imported, exported, conveyed, publicly exhibited or in any manner put into circulation, or (iv) advertises or makes known by any means whatsoever that any person is engaged or is ready to engage in any act which is an offence under section 292 or that any such obscene object can be procured from or through any person or (v) offers or attempts to do any act which is an offence under section 292, is punishable with imprisonment and fine. Therefore, obscenity is an offence if it falls within any of the above prescribed purposes.

Obscenity – personal viewing – Is it an offence

From a plain reading of Section 292 of the IPC it appears that if a person is in mere possession of the obscene material for his personal use without any intention to perform any of the purposes specified in section 292 (as stated above) it may not be an offence under section 292. In the case of Jagdish Chavla and others v/s the State of Rajasthan, 1999 CR LJ 2562 (Raj), the accused was caught viewing an obscene film on the television with the help of a VCR which along with the cassette was seized and a case under section 292 of the IPC was registered. The accused filed a petition in the High Court for quashing of the proceedings and it was held that simply being in possession of a blue film could not make a person guilty under section 292 unless it was further proved that the purpose of keeping the same was selling or letting it on hire. Therefore without proving the purpose of keeping the same no offence mentioned in section 292 was made out and the proceedings were quashed. The law therefore excludes from liability (under section 292) the mere possession of obscene material for ones own personal use without any intention to perform any of the purposes specified in section 292.

However, it would be prudent to be aware that a prosecution may lie for mere possession of obscene material also. It could be argued that a person, even though he is in mere possession of the obscene material which may be for his own personal use, actually aids and abets the publication, sale, hire, distribution etc of the obscene material, which is an offence under section 292. And under section 111 of the IPC, the abettor is held to be equally guilty of the offence which he has abetted provided it is proved that the offence is a probable consequence of the abetment.

Exceptions under the Indian Penal Code

Section 292 also sets out the purposes under which obscenity is not deemed to be an offence and these are when any such material is used (i) justifiably for the public good for e.g. interest of science, literature, art or learning or other purposes of general concern (ii) for bona-fide religious purposes and (iii) in any ancient monument within the meaning of the Ancient Monuments and Archeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 or in any temple, or on any car used for the conveyance of idols.

Obscenity under the Information Technology Act

Section 67 of the IT Act lays down the law that obscenity is an offence when it is published or transmitted or caused to be published in any electronic form. The expressions, ‘publishing’ or ‘transmission’ have not been specifically defined under the IT Act, but in Taxmann’s commentary under the IT Act, ‘publishing means making information available to people’. The commentary also states that ‘transmission’ and not mere possession, of obscene information is an offence. Transmission may be addressed to an intended recipient for his personal use. But that is not relevant. The act of ‘transmission’ is sufficient to constitute an offence under section 67 of the IT Act. Therefore if any obscene material is published or transmitted in any electronic form it is an offence under section 67 of the IT Act. The provisions of section 67 of the IT Act are therefore similar to section 292 of the IPC where mere possession of the obscene material for ones own personal use may not be construed as on offence, however, it would be advisable to be cognizant of the fact that the prosecution can take a plea of abetment in a case of mere possession.

Although section 292 of the IPC principally deals with obscene material capable of expression in the physical medium such as books, pamphlets, papers, writings, drawings, paintings, representations, and the provisions of section 67 (which correspond to the provisions of section 292 of the IPC as stated above) under the IT Act, deal with computer systems and networks, intangible medium of the internet and electronic communication devices such as the cellular phone handsets, a prosecution can be commenced independently or jointly under both the Acts.

Applicability of the Acts to cybercafé owners

In the context of cybercafés in particular, if a customer downloads any obscene material for his personal viewing on the terminal assigned to him and this fact is known to the owner of the cybercafé it would constitute an offence and the owner of the cybercafé would be liable under section 292 of the IPC read with Section 67 of the IT Act. Provided however, if it is established that this act was without the knowledge of the owner of the cybercafé it could be difficult for the prosecution to sustain its plea under section 292 of the IPC and section 67 of the IT Act. However the owner may not be completely exonerated from liability and it is possible that he may be held responsible for abetting the offence (if not for its commission) in terms of facilitating the circulation and distribution of the obscene material.

The law relating to the liability of cybercafé owners under these provisions of the IPC and the IT Act is not very well settled and therefore open to subjective interpretation. To mitigate liability and to avoid possible criminal prosecution the cybercafé owners could perhaps make an attempt to take protection under section 79 of the IT Act, which absolves ‘intermediaries’, who only provide access to content but do not provide content itself, by extending the argument of intermediaries to cybercafés (although not tested in courts in India). The grounds of defense could be also made stronger by setting up a mechanism (hardware or software) whereby the customers are prevented from accessing any obscene websites and disclaimers are displayed prominently informing customers that obscenity is an offence which is punishable with imprisonment and that despite the warning, if customers still view such websites, they will be personally responsible and not the owner of the cybercafé.

However, this argument (of drawing a parallel between intermediaries and cybercafé owners) has not been judicially tested so far and from a plain reading of section 79 of the IT Act, the intermediaries are restricted to mean only ‘network service providers’ such as Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited etc. Even in such cases, the provisions of section 79 of the IT Act imposes an obligation on intermediaries that they would be able to take the benefit of this section only if it is shown that the offence was committed without their knowledge or that they had exercised all due diligence to prevent its commission. What exactly is this due diligence is unfortunately not defined or explained in the IT Act so it is completely open for the prosecution to define its own level of due diligence.

Under the circumstances, the law as it stands on obscenity with regard to the liability it imposes on the owners of cybercafés is certainly not free from doubt and casts an onerous obligation on them to successfully defend a prosecution under the relevant provisions of the IPC and the IT Act. However, if certain precautions are observed such as establishing mechanisms which block such websites and displaying the disclaimers as suggested above, prominently, at least may help in providing a good defense.

Punishments prescribed under the Acts for obscenity

The punishment for an offence under section 292 of the IPC is on first conviction with imprisonment (simple or rigorous) for a term which may extend to two years, and with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees, and in the event of a second or subsequent convictions, with imprisonment (simple or rigorous) for a term which may extend to five years, and also with fine which may extend to five thousand rupees.

The punishment for an offence under section 67 of the IT Act is on first conviction with imprisonment (simple or rigorous) for a term which may extend to five years, and with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees, and in the event of a second or subsequent convictions, with imprisonment (simple or rigorous) for a term which may extend to ten years, and also with fine which may extend to two lakh rupees.

Prepared by
Lekhesh Dholakia
Lekhs Legal
3rd December, 2005

Govt of India plans to roll out 100000 Internet enabled centres in villages

web-admin — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 00:00:00 -0700

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.

A Common Services Centre is an ICT-enabled Service Delivery outlet providing a range of services to the people in the village / town in which it is located. Various nomenclatures e.g., Common Services Centre, ICT Kiosk, Community Information Centre, e-Community Centre, Rural Service Delivery Points, Village/Rural Knowledge Centre, etc. currently exist in the country for such Integrated Service Delivery Centres, providing similar services to citizens. For the sake of clarity and uniformity, throughout this document, all such Centres are universally termed as Common Services Centres (CSCs).

Download the document : CSCframework.doc ( MS-Word )

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