Freelance journalist Ron Gluckman was recently in Tibet and spoke to several Internet cafe managers who are involved in the risky business of providing bandwith to the locals.

“Because of the Internet, we in Tibet aren’t isolated from the rest of the world. That’s been our fate for centuries, and was one reason China could take over,” said the manager of one Internet cafe in the capital of Lhasa. “This has totally turned things around for Tibet. Before, nobody knew about us or cared. Now, we’re connected, free.”

Read more at Asian Pacific Post

[ Johannesburg, 10 April 2008 ] - The ability of low-income people to access e-mail through their mobile phones will not hurt the growth of SA's Internet café market, says mobile phone giant Nokia.

World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck notes that access to e-mail through a mobile phone reduces the time and money users spend to go to an Internet cafe.However, it does not replace the need to go to an Internet cafe to access broader Internet services, he says. SA still has a need for Internet cafes, especially in townships and rural areas, he adds.

Goldstuck  also says that  Internet cafes face big financial challenges as owners' business margins are low, yet the best local locations are expensive.

“All of them were subject to monitoring and some websites were blocked,” he added.

Today these restrictions are gone and Iraqis in their millions are using the Internet for chatting, doing research, dating, keeping abreast of current affairs and to access social networking sites such as Facebook and Hi5. 

Cybercafe owner Ali said most of those using his 16 PCs were young people aged between 17 and 35.

“They mostly use Yahoo Messenger for chatting or checking their e-mails but some download antivirus updates or do research for their studies.

“Our peak hours are from 4:30 pm to 7:00 pm, but the cafe is open until 10:00 pm,” said Ali.

Read more at The Times 

This week I have found few articles about 3 different countries with almost the same title: authorities have ordered Internet cafe owners  to "spy" on their users.

In  Jordan:  the Jordanian Ministry of the Interior increasing restrictions on Internet cafes in Jordan, on the pretext of maintaining security, by installing cameras to monitor users of these cafés. In addition to the cameras, the new security measures oblige Internet cafe owners to register the users' personal data such as their names, telephone numbers and time of use, as well as the IP number of the café and data on the websites explored by the users.

In  Syria  ,  Syrian authorities have ordered Internet cafe users to reveal their identity, the latest measure in their "iron censorship" of cyberspace.

An last but not least, If you are  Internet café user in Beijing, China, you will soon be required to register with your real name and a photo before logging on.  

Internet cafes, which used to be a refuge in  oppresing regime,  are becoming  more and more to be controlled by the authorities. The reason is always the same: Homeland security.

Gina Trapani Shares her tips on the  usage of Technology and  Internet Cafes in Thailand: 

"In the popular tourist areas in Thailand, there were internet cafes on almost every street, and usage was super-cheap: often 10 Thai Baht (30 cents) for 10 minutes. All the machines at cafes that I saw where Windows XP PCs, most equipped with headsets with Skype pre-installed, as well as chat applications like AIM and ICQ and some even with Firefox."

Read more at Lifehacker

Cuban officials have long limited the public’s access to the Internet and digital videos, tearing down unauthorized satellite dishes and keeping down the number of Internet cafes open to Cubans. Only one Internet cafe remains open in Old Havana, down from three a few years ago.

Hidden in a small room in the depths of the Capitol building, the state-owned cafe charges a third of the average Cuban’s monthly salary — about $5 — to use a computer for an hour. The other two former Internet cafes in central Havana have been converted into “postal services” that let Cubans send e-mail messages over a closed network on the island with no links to the Internet.

“It’s a sort of telegraph service,” said one young man, shrugging as he waited in line to use the computers at a former Internet cafe on O’Reilly Street.

Yet the government’s attempts to control access are increasingly ineffective. Young people here say there is a thriving black market giving thousands of people an underground connection to the world outside the Communist country.

Read more at NY Times