Pornography in computer labs causing concern
By Michael Kibaara Muchiri
YOGYAKARTA (JP): The Internet is finally causing ruffles here in Yogyakarta. And a lot of institutions, particularly universities, are riding the wave of its popularity and taking advantage of its reputation as a source of easy money by installing easily accessible and cheaper Internet services.
In fact, the hourly rate at campus computer labs couldn't get any lower. For between Rp 2,000 and Rp 3,000 an hour, students can enjoy surfing the Internet, reading their favorite newspapers or checking current journals, or sending e-mails to friends all over the world.
Obviously the browsing of journals is of minor significance because, as most of us guys at the campus have noted, contrary to conventional wisdom, the biggest effect of the World Wide Web is to facilitate more student idleness and skipping classes. Wait a minute - did I forget aimless chatting and looking at pornography?
Where one's arrival at a Warnet, warung Internet, or Internet cafe was once met with knowing blushes, this phenomena is now being pushed to the university computer labs.
Only this time, the hourly rates are cheaper and there are no cubicles to guard against prying eyes from the people in the neighboring seats, who could range from curious innocent freshmen discovering their adolescence late in life to "couples" who unashamedly gaze with glee at the steamy sites.
Regrettably, the campus computer labs were designed to maximize space and hence have no wall partitions for privacy. We'll talk about freedom and its embarrassing moments.
The Internet has often been referred to as a limitless source of information. In Yogyakarta, despite the initial good intentions to operate cheap, comfortable and affordable Internet computer labs it is proving a fertile ground for bad behavior.
On several occasions, a computer has been left on with the remnants of a steamy site. The guy on the queue could be anybody ranging from that innocent pea-eyed girl to a serious porno fan looking for a chance such as this one. Forget the "these are modern times" line. This is Yogyakarta and the steamy sites can get Internet clients very nervous at times.
Well folks, the story of pornography on the Internet is neither here nor there. The universities are apparently powerless to stop the spread of this vice and it is difficult to envisage a modern university without the Internet. It would be unrealistic for the university to strictly control or sift through everything the students are watching as this is clearly in contravention of the ethic of privacy that is so fundamental to Internet communication. Nor can a university run away from the presence of the Internet for fear of pornography. The Internet has landed in university campuses, and is here to stay.
The low hourly rate of campus labs has its hidden cost. It can be frustrating having to queue to use the Internet while the guy on the computer is merely chatting nonsense, or plainly watching some lewd act on a steamy site. And it can be quite disheartening to see the top brains of the nation being influenced by the malaise of pornography.
Clearly these are hard times that require tough choices. And even tougher choices will have to be made as we move ahead into the future. But surely there must be some way to curb the malaise. Like, for example, putting some rules on what not to surf, watch or read in the campus computer labs, or advising students to help cull the offenders. It is time the university authorities set some candid rules that are either abided by or result in the offenders getting kicked out of the lab. That way campus computer labs will help foster intellectuals instead of perverts.
The writer, studying for his Masters in Psychology at the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, works for the Ministry of Education in Nairobi in Kenya.