The Ilham Winter 2010

20 THE ILHAM A Journal of Contemporary Digital Policy WHAT’STHE DIFFERENCE? Responsible access.When it comes to the teenage audience, all public access facilities in the U.S. must comply with the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), including filtered Internet access for youth under 17 years of age. Exploitive behavior is not tolerated. China’s growing pains with the Internet harkens back to the “two steps forward, one step back policy” of earlier regimes. A lesson to be learned for other regions trying to manage an explosive growth of Internet usage among a increasingly youthful population. THE INTERNET, COFFEE HOUSES ANDTHE MIDDLE EAST The issues associated with coffee house hot spots and web connectivity has an interesting history in countries of the Near and Middle East. In centuries past, some countries in the region followed strict Muslim law regarding coffee consump- tion, though today, coffee shops are now commonly accepted as part of the cultural fabric of these diverse societies. In many countries, drinking coffee was once thought to run counter to Islamic law because it is an intoxicant and, thought by some, to harm the body.Today, coffee houses are common, popular gathering places in large urban centers and small, countryside villages. Qahwa has been used throughout the THE INTERNET INTHE WEST TheWorldWideWeb (W3) is viewed quite differently inWestern nations. Starbucks,a popular coffee chain,is known as an Internet hot spot.Starbucks’ customers can log on to the Internet freely,keeping these customers in place drinking espresso, lattes and other coffee concoctions at sometimes shocking prices. The social sites, whether accessed from the home system or from a cyber café, point visitors to interesting blog posts, informative articles and differing opinions. Debate is a part of the social media experience in the West. In addition to national chains, like Starbucks, each small town in North America and Europe has its own cyber café with names like Molten Java,The Java Joint and Beans.These web hot spots are gathering places for cyber-savvy web users.They’re places in which discussions, debates and the exchange of ideas and opinions are simply part of the coffee house experience. In fact, some of these local coffee houses hold regular meetings to discuss issues of the day (and, of course, to sell more coffee and snacks). In Canada, the UK, the United States, Norway and other “Western” countries, access to the web is unfettered and even encouraged.The governments of these nations don’t view engagement with others as a threat. In fact, these countries encourage the exchange of opinions and ideas through the development of social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Plurk, Brightkite, MySpace and other sites on which members post their thoughts and opinions freely. These social sites, whether accessed from the home system or from a cyber café, point visitors to interesting blog posts, informative articles and differing opinions. Debate is a part of the social media experience in the West. It’s encouraged, especially by coffee house owners who maintain hot spots for easy web connectivity.These business owners know that the longer the “web addict” stays on-line, the more espressos these cyber- surfers will order. So, while China actively shuts down Internet hot spots (at some significant expense to the government, BTW, since each cyber cafe generates an average of $150 USD monthly in tax revenues), and sends Internet addicts to “re-education” facilities where these young people are subjected to physical and emotional abuse from counselors and peers, the West encourages web access, simplifies it through the creation of coffee house hot spots providing instant Internet access that facilitates engagement with other cultures without fear.