So I'm in an easyInternetCafe. It's an European chain of internet cafes. The really cool thing about it is that the access rates vary. You walk into the store, press a button, and it quotes you a rate depending on the number of people already using terminals in the store. In theory, it's as low as .50 euros. Lots of people mean you pay more.
You purchase a ticket from a vending machine, and it spits out a code on a piece of paper. You log in with this code, and you are given an amount of time calculated from the amount of money you put in, and the current rate for access. You can return at a later time, and your balance will be consumed at the rate that is then in effect.
The other cool thing is that the machine will restart itself after you logoff. Anything you've downloaded to the machine, and all of your viewing history is deleted.
Here in Italy, there is an anti-terrorism law that requires internet providers to keep track of exactly who is using each terminal. So the first time you get a slip from the machine, you must present ID to the worker. They make a photocopy of it, and then you get to surf. All of the little mom and pop places do this as well. I've not had this anywhere else...
3 comments:
In Zadar a few years ago I found a "cyber caffe", wandered inside and it just seemed like a regular bar. Confused, I walked back outside, and looked around some, convinced I had walked into the wrong door or something.
Suddenly, a fellow (loitering across the way) lurched over towards me and said, in an eastern european accent, "You vant Internet, yes?"
Then I had to follow him back inside where he showed me to the basement compound where email mixes with booze and cigarette smoke... and where the warez flow freely...
that was on one of the lesser east-west streets in the old city... the actual name was "Cyber caffe" and they had one of those bi-fold signs out in the street that stands up on its own like an A-frame house.
There's another regular bar with a little cyber cafe in the center of the bar but their computers were all jacked up with popup blockers and crap. That place is a funky looking bar with green bikes hanging from the ceiling and such.. on the main east-west street in the old city.. usable but prefer cyber caffe if it is still there..
/pbz
You know, I never really thought that looking at kiddie pron was something to do in a cyber cafe. It does make me more understanding of the whole thing.
It was just a surprise to me. And I usually don't carry my passport with me, so it seemed a bit inconvienent. But everyone has seemed happy with my IL driver's license, as it actually has an address on it...
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