Bangalore: The police have asked all cyber centres in the city to strictly follow regulations under the Information Technology Act.

Police Commissioner Neelam Achuta Rao on Tuesday held a meeting with representatives of Internet parlours in the wake of reports that suspects in the Mumbai blasts might have communicated with each other by email.

Representatives of about 500 cyber centres participated in the two-hour meeting held at Audugodi in the morning.

The Police Commissioner said most of the cyber centres were not following the prescribed rules relating to verifying the identity of customers. "Customers should be screened and the cyber centres should keep a strict watch on them. Pornographic websites should be blocked and a register of all customers using the Net on a specific day should be maintained with the time they spend online," he told them.

Mr. Rao cautioned the cyber centres to cooperate with the police.

He said cases would be booked against those not adhering to the rules.

The cyber centre owners listed their difficulties, especially in verifying the identity of customers, or to keep a watch over what "chat rooms" they visited, the emails they sent or received and the websites visited by every one of them. The police have suggested that cyber centres install web cameras and also ask for identity cards as in the case of prepaid mobile phone cards. Once a database of cyber centre users was built, it would become easier to zero in on anyone using the Net for anti-social activities, they said.

The police have found that anyone could walk into a cyber centre, pay for user time and browse the Net or send emails with not being watched.

While the business angle has resulted in competitive rates, cyber centre owners and staff were neglecting their social responsibility at a time when there was a security threat, the police feel.

Those who attended Tuesday's meeting included Additional Commissioner of Police (law and Order) Bipin Gopalkrishna, Joint Commissioner Gopal Hosur and the Deputy Commissioners of all five city police zones.

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