• 
• 

Published on December 21, 2007

"The Internet cafes participating in our project must offer a safe environment, must ban smoking and must not allow anyone younger than 18 to stay after 10pm," Social Develop-ment and Human Security Minister Paiboon Wattanasiri-tham said yesterday.

They must also provide sufficient lighting, strictly prevent access to obscene or illegal websites and totally ban any illegal activities.

"In return, they will receive benefits such as low-cost software," he said after chairing a Safe and Creative Media Committee meeting.

Many operators have flouted the curfew for minors in cafes. Some of them even sold cigarettes and booze to underage children.

A survey found that youths under 20 were the major customers of Internet cafes, and they spent almost all of their time on entertainment, especially playing games, browsing pornographic pages and trying to seduce new online friends.

Paiboon, who is also a deputy prime minister, said authorities plan to crack down heavily on these offending Internet cafes.

"We will also recruit the help of local communities," he said.

The Social Development and Human Security, Culture, Interior and Education ministries and National Police have jointly launched this project, he said.

A family network alerted the Safe and Creative Media Committee to eight websites featuring perverted sex and incest.

"We have already assigned the Culture Ministry and the Information and Communica-tions Technology Ministry to take action," he said.

The Safe and Creative Media Committee has been operating for more than a year and is supposed to end when the interim government steps down.

It has seen Special Branch police stamp out Bt9 million worth of illegal media, the launch of safe and constructive Internet programmes at five schools and the issuance of a protection policy for students' personal information.

Paiboon said he proposed a draft regulation to ensure that the committee could continue its work after the government's term expires.

 The Nation