THE bespectacled man repeatedly cautioned that his identity had to be kept confidential. What he is doing, he says, is actually illegal. Here it is: to obtain FastNet access at 512 kilobytes per second (official rate around Rp200,000), he only pays Rp25,000 per month.

He doesn’t try to cheat the billing system of First Media’s service. He only shares the access with nine other users. This is forbidden. “Our policy doesn’t allow access t