Internet Cafes

When you haven’t got a book and you need information you would probably go to a library and look it up. At least you would have done before the internet, for which the equivalent is a trip to your local internet café, where the internet is available to use on the company’s machines for a fee. Usually people will be able to pay for them per hour or minute and in some cases they are a real café that serves drinks and food.

The first internet café emerged in San Francisco in 1991 when Wayne Gregori fitted coin operated computer terminals in some coffee houses in the city. They are now a common feature of any town.

In some countries, internet cafés are heavily monitored and controlled, particularly in Singapore where certain sites cannot be accessed (such as pornography). Even in places like LA, certain websites would be restricted (like sites accessed by street gangs).  In the past there have also been problems with people illegally burning CDs in internet cafés and making copies of things – a practice that has since been stopped.

As long as there is the internet, there will probably be internet cafés – which means they are likely to be around for some time to come.