Cafe Crackdown
According to state police, Indian youth are having way too much fun with the internet in public places. Explains one cop quoted in the Asia Times:
Besides watching porn websites, couples also had sex inside the small cabins of these cafes. The cabins have high walls and can be bolted from inside. Also, the entire first floor of these cafes was only meant for couples, with single girls or boys not allowed there. We found condoms strewn all over an empty plot [of land] near the cafes.
The instances are being used justify a series of raids on internet cafes in Uttar Pradesh, as well as proposed new laws to monitor internet usage and require ID cards.
If the internet cafes really are turning into makeshift sorority houses, it speaks more to the difficulty of finding a private space in Uttar Pradesh than any corrupting power of the internet. To a kid who lives in a three room flat with 10 of her relatives and will stay there until she marries, a cabin that can be locked from the inside must be a fairly exciting find.
