Episode notes
In March 1988 two professors in Seoul opened an electronic cafe with two 16-bit computers wired to online services over phone lines. In July 1991 Wayne Gregori put coin operated terminals into San Francisco coffeehouses as the SFnet network, a 32 line bulletin board with FidoNet email. Artist Ivan Pope coined cybercafe in early 1994 for an arts weekend at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts, and by late 1994 Cyberia in London, the Binary Cafe in Toronto, and the High Tech Cafe at the Dallas InfoMart were open.
Where home connections lagged, cafes became utilities: shops in Mombasa paired computers with pharmacies and manicures, Indonesia had urban warnets and rural telecenters, and operators in India guided people through government forms. India fell from 180,000 cafes in 2008 to 50,000 in 2017, and the survivors live on printing and scanning. Where broadband spread, cafes turned into gaming halls, and governments pushed back with copyright suits, ID rules, and outright closures.
- South Korea has over 20,000 PC bangs charging about 1,000 won an hour, making money on food and drinks.
- Italy's 2005 anti-terror law required cafes to photocopy users' passports or IDs.
- US sweepstakes parlors around 2010 sold internet time bundled with slot style entries until police raids and new laws.
- Philippine com shops must keep 50 percent transparent storefronts, and some ordinances ban trash talk in multiplayer games.
- In Japan, net cafe night packs gave rise to workers who live full time in booths because they cannot afford apartments.