special issue: inauguration 2009 - National Peace Corps Association

Opinion
SURF SAFELY
Internet cafes in less developed countries can pose health, safety and security risks
by Lieutenant Colonel Bob Feldman
For Americans living or
traveling overseas, the working
assumption is that connection
to friends and loved ones is just an
Internet café way. However in less
developed countries, Peace Corps
Volunteers (PCVs), development
workers and other travelers may be
unwittingly exposing themselves
to health, safety, and security risks,
especially in inexpensive cafes that
appeal to the budget-minded.
HEALTH
Perhaps the most noticeable risk is
the poor air quality. Many cafes lack
adequate ventilation to deal with the
mix of ozone from old wiring inside
and the traffic fumes outside wafting
in. Besides irritating eyes, these could
lead to respiratory problems such as
bronchitis, or aggravate existing ones
such as asthma.
A cacophony of coughing should
be a warning that contagious
diseases such as tuberculosis
might be present. People who
spend long times in these
overcrowded, poorly ventilated
cafes may find themselves
getting sick.
SAFETY
In addition to the risk of the often
poorly-maintained generator next
to the café’s only door exploding,
wiring also frequently poses
a significant threat. In Rube
Goldberg-like designs, wires, often
with crumbling insulation, are
frequently crisscrossed in multiple
ways, stopping only to attach to
worn-out outlets.
Should fire occur, escape is
made less likely due to narrow
cluttered pathways as well as a
lack of emergency lighting, sprinklers,
and extinguishers. My rule of thumb:
the first thing to think about when going
into a cybercafé is how to get out.
PERSONAL SECURITY
Internet cafes present special challenges
for personal security, especially in
those countries where criminals or
terrorists target Americans. In such
places preventing disclosure of U.S.
citizenship to various unsavory
characters is extremely important.
Unfortunately, many seem to view
the Internet café as a place to meet
and greet other Americans. English is
sometimes freely spoken, names called
out, and personal information loudly
shared not only with fellow volunteers
but unwittingly with foreign nationals.
Additionally, many PCVs appear at the
same Internet cafés the same time each
day, failing to observe the basic security
rule of varying one’s routine.
An Internet café in Senegal.
COMPUTER SECURITY
Those using cybercafés also risk identity
theft. Once I sat at a terminal following
its use by a young American. When the
system was activated, her e-mail appeared,
still in “send” mode. Apparently, her
computer time ran out before the letter
was sent, allowing anyone who came after
to read the contents.
There were many more times where
I stumbled across names and other
identifying characteristics of Americans
in café computers. This information
could sometimes be found on saved
documents, which were not always
automatically erased when a new user
started working at a computer someone
else had just left.
Decreasing the Risks
There are numerous ways to reduce
risks when using Internet cafés,
beginning with visually scanning
the premises before committing to
Malcolm Smith www.thesmith.org.uk
34 Spring 2009