Hanoi telecommunications officials ordered an Internet service provider to pull the plug on a gaming cafe on Tuesday because it is too close to a local nursery school.

Hanoi telecommunications officials ordered an Internet service provider to pull the plug on a gaming cafe on Tuesday because it is too close to a local nursery school.

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Game Dat 3 on Giang Vo Street sits across the street from the Hoa Sen Nursery School.

This represents the first such closure since the passage of a new ordinance that established a 200 meter internet cafe-free boundary around schools.

Inspectors from the Hanoi Department of Information and Communications inspected the shop on August 6, and discovered 120 working computers mostly for playing online games.

The department issued an official memorandum giving the shop owner until Monday to relocate outside the 200 meter boundary.

Because the proprietor failed to do so, the department asked FPT to cut off service to the shop and ordered other suppliers not to do business with Game Dat 3, said Nguyen Van Minh, chief inspector of the department.

The department says it plans to conduct joint inspections with Internet suppliers of shops all over the city.

HCMC disagrees with ministry’s online curfew

The Ministry of Information and Communications should cut the supply of online games service rather than institute online curfews at Internet cafes, according to Ho Chi Minh City authorities.

The response came after the ministry ordered the suspension of internet service to all internet cafes nationwide from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. from this September 1.

However, in a written reply to the ministry’s demand, HCMC Department of Information and Communications said there is no legal basis for a government body to order the suspension of internet service to internet shops after their business hours.

According to the department, not all Internet shops have broken the law and there is, subsequently, no reason to punish their businesses.

Worse still, the shops will probably file lawsuits demanding compensation from Internet service providers for cutting service without good reason.

Under local law, shops that allow customers to use the Internet after posted business hours are supposed to be fined between VND1-2 million (US$52.36-104.73), the statement said.

The cutting of Internet services, meanwhile, will only help restrict online game playing by some 1 percent of Internet subscribers, because home Internet subscribers now exceed Internet shops, according to the department.

The city agency proposed that the ministry order online game providers to cut their services to Internet shops from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m., arguing that the move would be more practical and effective.

Source: VNA/Thanh Nien