A panel of experts picked by the National Police Agency proposed Thursday that Internet cafe operators thoroughly check the identities of users, given the many suspected cases of use of Net cafes for fraud or other illicit purposes, agency officials said.

When police are alerted to an alleged Internet auction fraud or other suspected Web crime, they attempt to locate the personal computer used with the help of the relevant Internet service provider. The police, however, are often unable to pin down the user at a Net cafe when the identity of customers is not checked, the officials said.
In 2005, the police reported 592 suspected cases of unauthorized access to websites, but in 277 of the cases, including 139 involving the use of Net cafes, the police could not take action, such as making arrests, as of May 2006, the NPA said.

An association of Net cafe owners, the Japan Complex Cafe Association, said its members have some 1,400 outlets in Japan and about 70 percent of them conduct ID checks on users. There are another 1,400 Net cafes run by operators that do not belong to the association and many of them do not appear to be doing ID checks, according to the association.