Oh the Kids These Days

The L.A. City Council is taking steps to regulate minors' use of Internet cafes. It seems there's been some trouble lately with minors skipping school, staying out late, getting into fights, and getting themselves arrested at internet cafes.

According to the article, "Minors under age 18 would not be permitted in the cafes on school days between 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., or after 10 p.m., and patrons would be required to provide identification on request."

It's no shocker that some kids find videogames way more fun than school, nor is it all that surprising that tensions between young players in RL might lead to an occasional fight. But is the "youth truancy and violence" problem in cybercafes so bad that legislation is now required to keep it in check? The article only mentions one "brawl" between rival Counterstrike players.

I can see it now...

"Hey man, can you get me a fake ID?"
"Yeh sure, got the money?"
"Yeah dude. Can I get it tonight?"
"Going to a big party? Need to buy some beer?"
"Nah man....my EQ guild is kicking some serious ass down at the cybercafe and we need to stay up late tonight."

Cybercafes are interesting sites that blur the boundaries between online communities and RL communities. The emphasis on promotion of "community" is evident in the About Us page for one L.A. area cybercafe, which lists the following as its core operational guidelines:

To embrace diversity and develop satisfied customers.

To apply the highest standards of excellence to providing ICE products and services.

To treat people, as they would like to be treated.

To contribute positively to the communities and environment.

Noble goals indeed. So I wonder what these cybercafe owners think about the new law. On one hand they may feel unfairly burdened with a new responsibility that could be difficult and costly to enforce, but on the other hand maybe they're relieved to be newly empowered with legal grounds to remove a few RL griefers now and then.

(BTW, I may be blogging it but thanks to Greg for finding this one. )

Comments

[Peter Ludlow]

1.

didn't Thailand have issues with this recently? and didn't they ban minors from internet cafes at certain hours? or has my memory failed me yet again.

[Michael Chui]

2.

A little unrelated, but this sounds similar to the numerous incidents of kids being shut down or handcuffed due to expression of violence in various forms of art.

[Casey Sillito]

3.

Sounds like another knee-jerk reaction to the Internet as a "special problem". I mean, are we really to believe that such kids won't just skip school and get into fights elsewhere? Why aren't they passing more general truancy and curfew laws?

Seems like, at best, this law is just going to make the truancy problem less obvious, which is probably the real goal.

[greglas]

4.

Ernest Miller, a copyleft blogger, has some good commentary. Link. Apparenly he was the "point man" negotiating with the city council on this and he thinks there's nothing that bad about the regulation and the media is being alarmist.

The thing that really caught my eye about this was the reference in the article to cybercafes as baangs -- I didn't know that word had leaked into SoCal from SoKorea...

[Ernest Miller]

5.

Hey Greg,

Well, I would certainly have preferred no regulations at all, but given the media alarmism and the public statements and positions of LA City Councilmen/Police Board, no regulations weren't an option. As it is, I think we got as good a deal as could be expected under the circumstances.

As for PC Baangs ... that is definitely a current term in LA. There is substantial Korean-American population, after all.

[Itil Consultant]

6.

Well, i can see that it would be a good idea in one sense, however, if a kid wants to skive off school- regardless of where he goes, he will STILL be skiving off school! Its the parents you need to speak to, not ban people from internet cafe's *rolls eyes*.
The humanity!

_______________
ITIL Consultant

[Betsy Book]

7.

Thanks for the background info, Ernest. Are the cybercafe owners expected to actively check IDs during school hours or is the decision to verify age up to their discretion? Are there any repercussions for owners/managers who look the other way when an obviously young looking group of kids wanders in during school hours?

[Lee Delarm]

8.

So young, so angry, damn that rap music :P

Yah, Korea comes to the US!

[M M]

9.

Someone needs to close an italics tag!