Free Wi-Fi cut in Beijing bars
By Xu Chi |
July 28, 2011, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SOME of Beijing's bars, restaurants and cafes have cut their free Wi-Fi services after police required them to install a monitoring system to record customers' identities and Internet activities.
The system, which was developed by Shanghai Rainsoft Company and costs 20,000 yuan (US$3,100) to 40,000 yuan to install, requires customers to show ID cards before they can get free Internet access, The Beijing News reported yesterday.
The identities of the Internet users, their location, the websites they visited and their user names, would be kept in the system's files for up to 60 days for police to check, an unnamed company official told the newspaper. He said the system was designed to help police catch suspects at large.
Business owners who cut their free Internet services said they could not afford the system or the cash penalties of up to 15,000 yuan if police found them offering Internet access without the monitoring system, the newspaper said.
"The system is too costly for my small cafe and I don't want to be held responsible if my customers' privacy is violated by it," one cafe owner in Beijing's Dongcheng District said.
A Dongcheng police announcement has been posted in entertainment venues in the district, saying that all public venues offering free Internet access should buy and install the monitoring system in a campaign to strengthen network security. The announcement said owners who refused to install the system would have to cut their Internet services or face fines and have their Internet suspended for up to six months.
Beijing police told the newspaper they would not profit from the installation of the software and said the campaign would be promoted across the country in the future.
Shanghai police said that there were no plans so far to install the system in Shanghai.
The system, which was developed by Shanghai Rainsoft Company and costs 20,000 yuan (US$3,100) to 40,000 yuan to install, requires customers to show ID cards before they can get free Internet access, The Beijing News reported yesterday.
The identities of the Internet users, their location, the websites they visited and their user names, would be kept in the system's files for up to 60 days for police to check, an unnamed company official told the newspaper. He said the system was designed to help police catch suspects at large.
Business owners who cut their free Internet services said they could not afford the system or the cash penalties of up to 15,000 yuan if police found them offering Internet access without the monitoring system, the newspaper said.
"The system is too costly for my small cafe and I don't want to be held responsible if my customers' privacy is violated by it," one cafe owner in Beijing's Dongcheng District said.
A Dongcheng police announcement has been posted in entertainment venues in the district, saying that all public venues offering free Internet access should buy and install the monitoring system in a campaign to strengthen network security. The announcement said owners who refused to install the system would have to cut their Internet services or face fines and have their Internet suspended for up to six months.
Beijing police told the newspaper they would not profit from the installation of the software and said the campaign would be promoted across the country in the future.
Shanghai police said that there were no plans so far to install the system in Shanghai.
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