Increasingly fearful that terrorists and other criminals are taking advantage of cybercafes, Bombay police want to require customers to show photo identification and give their home addresses. Cafe owners would have to retain such records for up to a year and show them to police on request.

The proposal is to be presented next month to the Maharashtra state government and is expected to pass; critics have not been united in mounting opposition.

The requirements initially cover Bombay's 3,000 cybercafes, used by an estimated 1.5 million, but Internet users fear that other cities will follow suit for the 200,000 cybercafes across the country.

Cybercafe owners fear they will be held liable if police investigators find that hackers, extortionists or terrorists operated from their cybercafe. Other critics worry about delays in accessing information.

"Speedy communication will be that much more difficult if people are asked 20 questions and interrogated before entering a cybercafe," said Somasekhar Sundaresan, a lawyer specializing in technology.

Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C., said a threat to anonymity is a threat to free speech.

"Governments can use the records of what people say in the e-mail messages that they send as a basis for prosecuting journalists, dissidents and political opponents," he said.

Shreya Kedwal, a bank executive interviewed in Bombay, said she wouldn't mind showing her ID but opposes the retention of home addresses.

"What if the police come knocking on my door and blame me for something I have not done?" she said. "How can I prove I didn't do it? And worse still, what if they come to my office and ask questions?"