Net nannies: you're on cafe camera.

• Author: Sanchez, Julian

IF YOU WALK into an Internet cafe in Garden Grove, California, you should smile. In January the state's 4th District Court of Appeal upheld a city ordinance requiring Net cafe owners to install video surveillance systems. The ordinance, wrote Justice David Sills in an unusually vitriolic dissent, "literally forces a 'Big Brother' style telescreen to look over one's shoulder while [one is] accessing the Internet."

The law--which also controls hours of operation, mandates that the businesses hire security guards, and stipulates hours during which minors may not be admitted--was prompted by a series of violent incidents "in or around" city Internet cafes. Cybercafe owners challenged the rules, which they say invade privacy and unduly burden free speech. The court agreed on the second point only, striking down a requirement that new Net cafes obtain a permit before opening.

Ronald Talmo, the Western State University law professor who argued the cafe owners' case, maintains that the remaining regulations are not narrowly tailored to meet the city's safety concerns. He also worries that the requirements may chill speech. The majority's reasoning, he says, amounts to: "We're all on tape so much already. What's the big deal?"

Lead plaintiff Diane Vo, who owns the Vietnam Internet...