JAKARTA ~ Indonesia plans to tackle internet crime by tightening the supervision of web surfers, an official said this week.

“The aim is to minimize the misuse of the internet, including for criminal activities,” Gatot Dewa Broto, a spokesman for the country’s telecommunications regulator, said on Tuesday.

He said teams were being prepared to monitor when and where surfers log on to the internet and the addresses of the sites they visit.

The initiative would apply to all surfers, including those at home, in the office or at internet cafes, in a bid to tackle crime like the fraudulent use of credit cards online, he said.

It would not record the identity of individual surfers but could help locate where and when computers were used in online crime.

About 16 million people surfed the web in Iindonesia in 2005, according to the latest figures available from the Association of Internet Providers in Indonesia.