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Indian state to monitor cybercafes

BANGALORE: The southern Indian state of Kerala will join two other states in requiring cybercafes record the names and addresses of their customers in an effort to combat online fraud, virus attacks and terrorism, an official said on Tuesday.

The new rules would require cybercafes to verify the identities of Internet surfers and record their home addresses and visiting times, said M Vijayanunni, the top administrator of Kerala’s government. “Our police are trying to learn from the experience of our neighboring states and monitor cybercafes better,” he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

Two Indian states - Kerala’s northern neighbor, Karnataka, and Gujarat - have imposed similar rules, hoping such records would help trace threatening e-mails or unauthorised credit card transactions. Two other states, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, do some monitoring of cybercafes without having specific laws.

Vijayanunni said Kerala’s government didn’t plan to pass a separate law like some states have done, but a police order would bring the new rules into effect. He didn’t give a timeframe.

All Internet surfing leaves an electronic trail that can be traced to the computer it came from. But police need other records to trace the persons that used the computer at a specified time. ap

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