The government is under pressure to consider introducing a licensing system to regulate internet cafes after lawmakers passed a motion yesterday seeking such a system.
The Legislative Council's home affairs panel said it was unhappy with a review by the Home Affairs Bureau, which decided it was unnecessary to tighten controls over the city's 210 internet cafes.
The bureau said it was difficult to define what an internet cafe was and that the existing voluntary code of practice was sufficient.
Lam Tai-fai, representing the industrial sector, said he was puzzled by the decision. 'I don't understand why, on one hand, you say it is difficult to define the venue, but on the other, you say staff from several departments do regular patrols to Net cafes. Isn't this contradictory?'
Grace Lui Kit-yuk, deputy secretary of the bureau, said borderline cases could prove problematic if a system was introduced. Borderline cases could include a computer centre for the poor run by a community organisation.
She also said that of the 152 crimes associated with internet cafes reported last year, 81 concerned theft, while the others were less serious offences.
Panel members voted unanimously in favour of a motion by Wong Kwok-hing, of the Federation of Trade Unions, calling for the bureau to study a licensing system for internet cafes and lay down a timetable for the plan.
