By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The State Police have decided to come down hard on misuse of internet cafes in the State by issuing certain guidelines to cyber café owners who have been directed to strictly implement the same.
Cyber café owners now have to seek identification proof from every user before they log in. Besides, they have also been asked to maintain log books with details of the users on a daily basis.
Informing this here on Friday, Director General of Police (DGP) N Ramachandran said cyber café operators now have to strictly adhere to the new guidelines.
The State Police decision comes in the wake of growing cases of cyber crimes emerging in the country.
“It is the responsibility of the cyber café operators to ensure that the identity of the user is established before he/she logs in,” Ramachandran stated while speaking to reporters here on Friday.
According to Ramachandran, police will take punitive actions against any cyber café operator who fails to follow the guidelines.
“We will check internet cafes in the days to come as per the IT Act and all cyber café owners have to cooperate with us,” he added.
The State Police directive to cyber cafes is seen as timely and necessary considering that hardly any cyber cafés in the city seeks any identification documents from any user or maintains any log book with details of users or the history of the sites visited by the user.
This scribe recently visited many cyber cafes in and around the city and found that none of the café owners bothered to ask for identification proof from the users.
Unlike other places in the country where every user has to produce identity proofs before they log in, the same is not followed in Meghalaya.
As per the guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Information Technology, every user will have to provide an identification proof. If he/she does not have one then the cyber café owner will have to take a digital picture of the user using a webcam. And the log register should have information about every individual visiting the cyber café.
Those users, who refuse to give any form of identity, should not be allowed inside the café.
The cyber café owner also needs to record details of websites accessed by users and also maintain logs of proxy servers installed at cyber cafés.
One important guideline issued by the IT Ministry makes it mandatory for cyber café owners to disallow any minor from logging in if they are not accompanied by their parents or guardians.