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This page contains all of the posts and discussion on MemeStreams referencing the following web page: Los Angeles clamps down on cybercafes | CNET News.com. You can find discussions on MemeStreams as you surf the web, even if you aren't a MemeStreams member, using the Threads Bookmarklet.

Los Angeles clamps down on cybercafes | CNET News.com
by Decius at 8:47 am EDT, Jul 8, 2004

] Citing problems with truancy and youth violence, the Los
] Angeles City Council on Wednesday approved an ordinance
] restricting the hours during which minors can visit
] Internet cafes and requiring the shops to install video
] cameras for security.

I wonder how much of this is real and how much of this is the typical pattern of mindless news media sensationalism feeding back into a government which clamps down on youth activities because it has nothing better to do and no political reason to think twice.

Of the cyber cafes in LA, what percentage of them actual have a real problem with violence. Is this any different from the number of problems at video arcades, non internet coffee shops, or other youth hang outs?

"86 percent of the people arrested at cybercafes were juveniles and 93 percent were for truancy or curfew."

So in other words there is almost no problem here? All that this statistic tells me is that young people like to play video games. Curfew isn't illegal for adults. Personally, I don't believe it ought to exist at all. In any event, if you already have a curfew, which you are enforcing, then why do you need a new curfew law for internet cafes? What percentage of these cases were truancy?

In either case this is simply people hanging out at the cafe when ditching school or "when they ought to have been in bed." Oh please, please, nanny state, save us from this horror.

How many people hanging out at bars in Los Angeles have been arrested in the past year? How many for violence? Why don't you require bars to have closed circuit television?


 
RE: Los Angeles clamps down on cybercafes | CNET News.com
by noteworthy at 9:39 am EDT, Jul 8, 2004

Decius wrote:
] Of the cyber cafes in LA, ...

Forgive my pendantry, but what is the legal definition of cyber cafe (or "Internet cafe" in the CNET article)?

Does the Starbucks on my corner qualify as a cyber cafe because it has the T-Mobile WiFi service? (Bring Your Own Computer)

Does the McDonald's down the street, which serves coffee and provides WiFi access to the Internet, also qualify as a cyber cafe?

How about the Hear Music in Santa Monica, which sells Starbucks coffee and allows customers to preview music through Internet-connected h-p computer kiosks?

Is there a separate legal definition of "video games"? Does it matter who "owns" the game -- and if so, what about freeware? Is this one of those laws where the definition is based on percentages of sources of revenue? What if I set up a cafe with a bunch of Internet-connected Playstations connected to TV's? Or a bunch of iMacs, or Solaris workstations, instead of PCs? If you can browse to Yahoo, you can play multiplayer video games over the Internet. What if the kids are playing Go instead of Counterstrike?

I guess LAX must qualify as a cyber cafe, because there are definitely more than five computers offering Internet access.


  
RE: Los Angeles clamps down on cybercafes | CNET News.com
by Decius at 11:21 am EDT, Jul 8, 2004

noteworthy wrote:
] Decius wrote:
] ] Of the cyber cafes in LA, ...
]
] Forgive my pendantry, but what is the legal definition of
] cyber cafe (or "Internet cafe" in the CNET article)?
]

Thats the beauty part. Wait 20 years and these laws will be "interpreted" to apply to every public location where beverages are served. The government now requires all privately owned public places to keep CCTV records of their establishments, without all the nasty discussions about privacy that would insue if they didn't do it via the boiling frogs technique.


Los Angeles clamps down on cybercafes | CNET News.com
by Rattle at 12:55 am EDT, Jul 8, 2004

] Citing problems with truancy and youth violence, the Los
] Angeles City Council on Wednesday approved an ordinance
] restricting the hours during which minors can visit
] Internet cafes and requiring the shops to install video
] cameras for security.

"PC Gangers"


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