China to impose control on Internet cafe customers

Now that the Olympics is over, it’s back to imposing controls on the Internet in China. This time, even Internet cafes will be under watch. As part of a new rule that will take effect by the end of this year, all Internet cafes in the main city’s 14 districts must install cameras to record the identities of their customers.

All Internet cafe customers should have their photographs taken before using the computer. These photos will then be stored in a database under the Cultural Law Enforcement Taskforce.

Internet cafe customers in China must be at least 18 years old. It seems that people in China are used to restrictions of this nature, so I can only doubt if there will be strong opposition on this new rule. I hope so.

Photo courtesy of eschlaik through Flickr