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Free Internet, Screen Sharks & The Bizarre World of The “Forbidden Internet”Aug 25 '05 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Free internet? Free entertainment? You bet!
When I moved I had hope that I would be able to get cable internet within a month, I was so used to the “always on” access that when the cable company told me week after week that there were so many people that were waiting to get service I gave up calling to get an install date. That’s when I discovered this weird, funny and sometimes frightening world of “free internet” - yes, the public library. I hit the occasional cyber cafe but when you are paying $3.00 an hour it adds up when you want to surf for Lego sets, play at Neopets or scour Epinions for new reviews. Getting set up at the library to access the internet isn’t tough, all you need is some type of proof that you live in the area. Kids can get their own card if they are over 13 by filling out a card, having it mailed to their house then bringing it back to the library. Most places will give you an unlimited amount of time if you are doing school work or research and others are a little more stringent if they have a lot of people using the computers. You do get to meet all kinds of people when you use public computers, the funniest are the guys that are married and stop by to check their email. They are “playing the field” and trying to hook up with women [or men] and have probably been busted when their wives checked the computer history or they forgot to erase their cache or temp files / cookies. So far I’ve seen about ten of these guys and let me just say, they are the most paranoid people there. If you make eye contact with them you are almost instantly a suspect - they will eye you up and down, start up a conversation to see why you are there and try to find out if you know their wife. These are some of the funniest people to watch if you are sitting around waiting for a computer. Seeing them feverishly type out their emails, read profiles and try to make a hook up - all this before their cell phone rings and their wives start asking where they are. Within the public computer system there are all types of people, most of them are there to do one thing - get online. You get the occasional person that wants to use Word, Works or Lotus but 99% are there to get online. On a busy afternoon I started looking around at all the different people that where there, making up little classifications for them. Teens, tweens, seniors, college students and even soccer moms - if up spend enough time at the library or cyber cafe you’ll see almost every type of person walk through the doors. A funny thing happened just the other day; a kid started shouting that he won a PS2 Handheld game and his mother looked over her book at him and said “Don’t even thing about filling that out, I don’t want no weirdo showing up at my door”. It was one of the pop up adverts that lead you into this free promo offer but the catch is that you have to complete a “few offers” to get your prize. Kids, they are a constant source of amazement and humor but they are so innocent that they are usually the ones that get sucked into these kind of things. Screen Sharks Since you are dealing with a public setting and most library computers have restrictions on the pages you can access there isn’t much of a chance of getting on to porn pages but that doesn’t mean that people aren’t interested in what you are looking at. If you laugh, gasp or have the slightest reaction to what you are seeing you can almost head the necks snap when you do so. Everyone wants to know what you are looking at and if they can’t get a clear view of the screen they’ll wait until you log off then look at your browser when you leave. This is why you want to make sure that you log off of your accounts and double check them - I’ve even gone so far as to get half way home then turn around to go back to the library to log back on to make sure I logged out of my accounts. Since your sessions are timed most people aren’t going to waste time with idle chit chat, some of them won’t even bother to answer you if you ask them something or they wear headphones to deter people from talking to them. The kids between 11 and 14 are there to use AIM and Yahoo Messenger [the lite versions, you can’t do an install of the full versions] so the girls are all in groups giggling over messages and the guys are elbowing each other talking about who has a crush on who. When you are walking around looking for a computer or after you’ve signed up for one - that’s when you really see the screen sharks in action. If they find someone that has something interesting they feel compelled to stand behind them and lurk. They hide in the stacks [library lingo for the book shelves], pretend to stand there and read or just get bold and peek over someone’s shoulder. Try to do that to them and they’ll will throw a fit but to them it’s fair game when someone else is on the computer. The Snooty People I remember when libraries were places where you whispered, never ran and always pushed your chair in when you were done. Wasn’t I in for a real shock when I showed up to use the computers and saw kids running around, people reading stories to kids and everyone talking about the days events at school, work or “the park” [where all the kids go for lunch or after school before they hit the library]. Then there are the snooty people, these are the ones that “shush” you when you talk and flip out when kids are, well, being kids. That’s part of what you have to deal with when you are using public computers. You have to take a certain amount of talking or chit chat but if you get there during the day you are pretty much guaranteed that you’ll have some peace and quiet. There was one lady that yelled at my son for reading something off the computer out loud; this really got to me. I mean, you aren’t paying for the service so don’t get all ticked when you can’t have complete silence - then again - there are some people that cause a real scene and need to be told by someone behind the counter that they need to tone it down or leave. The Computer Illiterate These are the nicest people to talk to but if you are trying to get your stuff done, avoid sitting next to them. They aren’t dangerous or evil but if you offer them even one little tidbit of help with something there is a good chance you will end up spending your computer time helping them. Normally the people that work at the library or cyber cafe are there to help but if they are busy or have people on lunch or a break, you might be the person that they ask for help. Some know how to open the web browsers and do the basics but others will sit there looking at the log in screen and be completely baffled. You might feel sorry for them but be careful, if someone sees you helping someone else chances are you will be the person that they turn to when they need help and before you know it your session is up. I have nothing against helping people but if they are really in need of help then they need to sign up for a free class to learn the basics about exploring the internet. The Spies No, that’s not a joke. There are people there, mostly kids, that will watch you enter your log in number or library card so they can use it when you leave. See, with most public library systems if you log out before your session is up the computer doesn’t “know” that you had a session. This means that you can sit there for hours and hours without getting kicked out of the system, just log out before your time runs out and you can log back in. If they spot someone that is new or someone that doesn’t hit the library often then they’ll try to catch their number as they enter it so they can use it. So if you can get unlimited sessions by cheating then why bother to have other card numbers? So if someone at the counter starts to check to see who has been online for more than their fair share of time they won’t see your card number coming up. This can be dangerous if someone else gets a hold of your number - let’s say someone started looking online for strange and bizarre things or words that are set to trip government computers - then your card number might be attached to that search and who knows, a year from now someone might be knocking on your door. Likewise, you should never let someone use your card number; a kid asked my son if he could use his card number to get online and my son, being slightly gullible, said sure but he had to ask me first. Since it’s easy to get a card there is no reason why someone should have to ask someone else to use their card. I shook my head no and the kid started to get a little verbal with my son about it. That’s when I stepped in and told him that if he didn’t stop harassing my son I’d go to the front counter and tell them that he was asking to use his card - a complete no-no that could get you banned for a week or more. If you aren’t someone that uses the library computer often and you see a message saying that you used all your sessions for the day, hit the counter and ask them what the deal is - someone may have phished your library card number. Most libraries will give you a card with a long number like 19012012041985 - someone can sit there and play around with the last two numbers until they find one that is active. After that they can use that number for computer time .. or more devious things. The Forbidden Internet Cyber cafes don’t usually restrict pages but they might have kid friendly computers that won’t access pages that have adult content. The library is a different story; they have somewhat strange filters that will block pages for any number of reasons. If you are doing a search and one of the links leads to a banned page then you can try to view the cached version; sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t. There’s no real rhyme or reason for what pages get blocked; sometimes it could be an advertisement on the page that trips it, sometimes something in the meta tags. I am sure that there are ways around it but I’m not that computer literate to know it. What still amazes me is that they don’t block pop ups but they block a list of certain words, body parts and sexual functions. You can still look up words like Viagra, coitus, Playboy and vagina but most of the results you get, even if you get past the main page, will be blocked from view. There’s nothing more startling than seeing this big blue screen pop up with the words “Banned Site” on the screen - you sort of feel like everyone is looking at you because you are doing something wrong. You could be looking up snow shoes or a recipe for grape jelly and if there is a certain combination of words then it will trip the sensor. Erase Your Tracks! One thing that people really seem to like to do is to go through the history of other users. Most of the time people are pretty careful to log out of email accounts and sites that they sign in to but even I have forgotten to do so or I wasn’t paying attention to the timer and got logged off. This has led to me going back to the library or cyber cafe and having to wait to get back on to the specific computer I was using to log on to make sure that I logged out confusing huh? Libraries usually power down the computers at the end of the day and this erases everything but there are times that they don’t and that is when you could get in to some hot water. Usually when you close a browser it removes temporary cookies like for Yahoo Mail but there have been times that I went to log in to check my mail and it opened someone else’s account. In the hands of the wrong people this could really ruin someone. Imagine if you had sensitive information or passwords in your email. That’s why it’s important to go through and check all the sites that you logged in to make sure that you are logged out. Even when I read the “pay to click” emails from My Points it opens my account so I have to go to the site and log out. Someone won’t be able to cash out my account if I don’t log out because you still have to enter the password to do so but it’s still unsettling that someone could see my accrued points or things that I’ve done in the account. Cyber Cafe 101 Cyber cafes are the new breeding ground; most places are next to a coffee shop of some sort but there are some that are there just to offer you computer access. Some offer you time plans - 30 hours for 50 dollars instead of $3.00 and hour. The one thing you have to check out before you sign up for a plan is if the time expires in a month, two months or is good forever. Some places make you show and ID, others just ask for your first name - places like Kinko’s can charge anywhere from $8.00 - $12.00 and hour to use their internet services so avoid them at all costs. Scout out the places that are near you, most shopping malls have places like this and they are extremely popular with people who play online games like Ruinscape and Everquest. If you are someone that spends a lot of time online check to see if they have an unlimited pass for a month; a place near me offered this once and I was a fool for not getting it. They offered you unlimited computer access for $40.00 a month but you had to sign up for it during their first week. The benefits were tremendous - you never had to worry about your computer breaking or needing repair, you had a high speed connection and you were inside a mall so anything you could possibly want or need was within walking distance. I passed on this and am still kicking myself. As long as they pay their monthly fee they can have unlimited internet from the time the store opens at 8:00 am to when it closes at 9:00 pm [11:00 on weekends]. I doubt they will ever offer that again but if they do, I am going to be the first one there. It is cheaper than a cable connection, they repair anything that is broken and like I said, it’s inside the mall! When you are dealing with a cyber cafe there are some rules to follow like no swearing or beating the computers, each place has their own list of do’s and don’ts so make sure you are aware of them. Most of the places that I have visited are on the cold side - not that they are rude but rather that they have the air conditioning cranked. Maybe this is to keep the computers running better or to keep people from falling asleep. Always check to see what the deal is with unused time, if someone in your family can use your account and if they have any special packages for school students. Then there are the places that offer free wireless service. This is done to bait people into coming to the shop knowing that most will feel guilty about being there without buying something. One of the kids that comes into the shop says that he purposely rented the apartment above a coffee shop so he could have a free internet connection by leeching off their wireless signal. I have no idea how this all works - my son tried to explain it to me and it went right over my head. I stopped into a couple of these places to get a coffee and have to say, most of the people there seemed pretty rude or stuck up .. and charging $4.00 for an iced coffee is something that I am not prepared to do. I guess these places are nice but I prefer something a little more relaxed and where I can work on a desktop computer instead of a laptop. Mine is so old that when I tried AOL on it I was connecting at 28.8 and it took forever for pages to load even with the graphics turned off. I can’t imagine trying to get it hooked up with something that’s is wireless. Yes, I need a new computer ... badly! The Bottom Line The library is a great place to hit if you don’t have a fast internet connection but you have to be careful - if someone gets ahold of your card number they can do a lot of damage. You have to remember that these are public computers so if you are saving things make sure that you are saving them to a floppy disc or a CD-R and remember to take it with you when you leave. If you have the chance or want to kill some time - look around at all the different people that hit the cyber cafes or library computers. Stay there long enough to earn your ‘regular’ title [the correct lingo is ‘a reg’] and you will be sucked into this little community of people; some are too cheap to spring for an internet connection, some are people that move often and some are just the ones that are trying to get a hookup without someone else finding out about it. Several cyber cafes offer all ‘lock in’ events where kids can stay there all night long for a flat fee and use the computers to their hearts desires. I went to one of these and paid $20.00 for the whole night - it started at 9 pm and ran until 7 am. These are nice events for kids who like to play the role playing games or my personal favorite - Neopets. These aren’t places to drop your kids off then go out and party all night long - most will want to have a contact phone number in case they get sick or are thrown out. Since most of these places are inside a mall, they will be removed from the computer and forced to sit in a chair until you show up to get them. My youngest went with me to a ‘lock in’ so he could play some online games and when they gave the ten minute warning that the computers were going to power off - he broke out into a cold sweat - even after hours of playing he still hadn’t had enough! My biggest piece of advice about public access is pretty simple - follow the rules, don’t read over someone’s shoulder unless you want someone to do it to you and never, ever give out your card or access number to anyone. I do miss having the internet at home and I already made plans to have a high speed line dropped in the new place after we move - but I am sure that I will be hitting the libraries in New York - just to see what kind of people lurk in the stacks, use the computers and skulk around waiting for their turn to get online. Cyber cafes in NYC are a dime a dozen these days - hopefully I will be able to find a laptop with wireless internet ... but I’m not holding my breath. I am lucky if I can get the desktop I have now to work correctly - can you see me trying to figure out the whole wireless thing?!? As always, thanks for the read! ~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~ © 2005 Freak369  |
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