Cuba Says the Internet Now a Priority 115
lpress writes Cuba first connected to the Internet in 1996 through a Sprint link funded by the US National Science Foundation. A year later the Cuban government decided to contain and control it. Now they say the Internet is a priority. If so, they need a long term plan, but they can get started with low cost interim measures. There is virtually no modern infrastructure on the island, but they could aggressively deploy satellite technology at little cost and, where phone lines could support it, install DSL equipment.
So release the old fart they have in prison... (Score:5, Insightful)
The old guy there was trying to get internet to the island and they threw him in jail. Let's start with forcing the Cuban Government to take bi-polar meds first?
Re: (Score:1)
This is Rule 104, even evil communist dictatoristos must have precious internet porn resources.
Re: (Score:3)
No Net Neutrality for YOU! Pay EXTRA for Hulu!
Re:So release the old fart they have in prison... (Score:5, Informative)
The difference is that the Internet the Cuban government wants (no doubt censored and highly regulated like in China, Russia etc) is totally different to the internet that the old guy was trying to set up (which wouldn't have had the censorship and regulations)
Re:So release the old fart they have in prison... (Score:4, Interesting)
The difference is that the Internet the Cuban government wants (no doubt censored and highly regulated like in China, Russia etc) is totally different to the internet that the old guy was trying to set up (which wouldn't have had the censorship and regulations)
I can't imagine they aren't aware of the goal of these relations. Fidel can say communism isn't dead all he wants... but the reality is, as soon as US money starts flowing in his regime is doomed.
Interesting (Score:4, Interesting)
It'll be interesting to see how they choose to go. Perhaps they'll actually get something set up that is owned by the people, as their social system alleges a strong preference for.
It'd be fascinating to see how it works without big corporations in there making choices for them on a constant basis, if they can manage to avoid that.
Somehow, though, I keep coming back to the fact that no socialist or communist system has ever been seriously tried without some kind of de-facto dictatorship making the end goal impossible to reach. Equality is fine until the idiots who disagree want to be equal, too... All systems seem to have that particular fundamental problem. Equal unless different, otherwise ostracized.
My cynical side tells me palms will be greased, corporations will heavily engage, and your Cuban surfer will have a pretty typical bill to pay. Be delighted to be proven wrong, though.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Fine; but Cuba is one, at least as far as I know, that doesn't have a significantly built-out Internet structure, even though the hardware to do so is pretty far down the road to commoditization. They're very late to the game, and this should (ok, could) afford them some advantages. So what I was trying to say (and apparently, saying badly) was that it will be interesting to see how they go about it.
Re: (Score:1)
I can't imagine they aren't aware of the goal of these relations. Fidel can say communism isn't dead all he wants... but the reality is, as soon as US money starts flowing in his regime is doomed.
You mean like Communism is dead in China? Right. /sarcasm
Re: (Score:2)
Yes. Which it is.
Re:So release the old fart they have in prison... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:So release the old fart they have in prison... (Score:5, Insightful)
Let's start with forcing the Cuban Government to take bi-polar meds first?
No, its a change of policy. We screamed for years about trying to get the Cuban government to change its policy to a more social libertarian one, and they finally start making moves in the direction, and we call them crazy. No sir. This is a step in the right direction. No need for hostilities.
Re: (Score:2)
Was he one of the 53 "political prisoners" released from jail right after the US opened their embassy? Do you even know his name?
Let's start with forcing the Cuban Government to take bi-polar meds first?
No, its a change of policy. We screamed for years about trying to get the Cuban government to change its policy to a more social libertarian one, and they finally start making moves in the direction, and we call them crazy. No sir. This is a step in the right direction. No need for hostilities.
Interestingly, the rest of the world did not join in the USA embargo. Ergo, short of not having access to US Television and soapbox operas, the Cubans lived with tourism and trade with Latin America. Canadians took Cuban vacations almost every winter. So did many Europeans. Just keep out McDonalds, Starbucks, Subways and a few other fat producing fast food outlets.
Re: (Score:1)
He's not the only one. People are imprisoned on Cuba for all sorts of bizarre reasons, even when there's no evidence they've actually committed a crime. Read the shocking story here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/... [washingtonpost.com]
Re: (Score:1)
The old guy there was trying to get internet to the island and they threw him in jail. Let's start with forcing the Cuban Government to take bi-polar meds first?
The government will install fibre around the island. From experience in other countries, they know that copper wire has a habit of getting stolen and remelted to make other items such as cooking pots.
Re: (Score:2)
Cuban girls gone wild? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:1)
Since it would be brand new infrastructure, I'm waiting for the whining posts about how Cubans in shacks made from discarded garage doors have gigabit internet access for $1/mo when Americans in Key West (50 miles away) have to make due with 5mbit DSL for $60/mo.
Celular (Score:2)
Cellular is pretty much the only reasonable option given the lack of infrastructure. It can be installed completely wireless, aside from power. And finally, an answer to where the old phones can go.
Re: (Score:3)
Cellular is pretty much the only reasonable option given the lack of infrastructure. It can be installed completely wireless, aside from power. And finally, an answer to where the old phones can go.
It already is. I was at GTMO on business, and as I was walking into one of the dining facilities, my cell phone rang. Everyone looked at me like I was from Mars, until I explained that as a Canadian phone, it happily roamed onto the Cuban cell network.
Re: (Score:1)
Does your business card state "Have torture-kit, will travel"?
Re: (Score:2)
Hah, no. There's a heck of a lot more that goes on there beyond the detention facilities. The real reason though was pretty boring, I was doing some work for the on-base cable company.
Modern Cellular is the way to go (Score:3)
It's not completely wireless; to get any reasonable bandwidth out to the users, you need fiber to the towers, not just T1 or radio uplinks, but that's not too hard to do. (As another poster says, the telco's run by the government, so they shouldn't have a problem getting permits, just the usual issues with new construction in old cities.)
No reason to use old phones - the newer standards are much more efficient at spectrum usage.
And there's been fiber to the island for a long time; the problem has been tha
Re: (Score:2)
My city, Montevideo, an oldish city, with some similarities to Havana, was also wired by a state owned telco with fiber. Also most of the urban country is already fibered.
It's taking a bit over a couple of years, most of the city is covered, and the smallest plan is 30 dollars (or free if you a single Giga per month is enough for you).
Of course, 35 dollars in Cuba might be expensive, but also most of the cost they had here was labor, construction salaries are high. They wouldn't have that problem over there
Re: (Score:2)
No reason to use old phones - the newer standards are much more efficient at spectrum usage.
No reason? How will their citizens afford new phones?
How they'll afford new phones (Score:2)
They'll buy them cheap from China, just like we do. Maybe they won't buy the fanciest ones, or the ones hottest off the cutting edge of performance, but if you're making a device for internet access rather than mobility, it doesn't have to be as small or power-efficient.
Re: (Score:2)
> the telco's run by the government, so they shouldn't have a problem getting permits...
No problems with corruption, too?
Re: (Score:3)
Cuba's not really that tiny.
Re: Tiny Island (Score:2)
Done. [reuters.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Holy crap, that's the last place I'd expect a cable. It sounds like the only reason they did that is politics because of Chavez. The latency will suck. Why couldn't they get to Mexico? If the relationship with the USA progresses, a cable from the Keys is a no-brainer. You'll get much better round-trips to Miami which a lot of Cubans will want for VOIP, video, etc.
Cable to Cuba (Score:3)
The politics that mattered weren't the ones with Chavez, it was the US pressure on anybody else. Cuba's a really convenient place to run cable, and there's some cable there, but the amount of actual service that it was carrying was very tightly restricted because of the US embargoes. The telcos would have been happy to run a lot more of it, but weren't allowed to.
Re: (Score:2)
Holy crap, that's the last place I'd expect a cable. It sounds like the only reason they did that is politics because of Chavez. The latency will suck.
The latency to where?
Latency to Venezuela can be good.
Re: (Score:2)
It is a tiny island. The solution is 4G wireless everywhere and 4G to wifi ports as public endpoints. There will have to be fiber to the towers, but that is a whole bunch simpler if the build-out is done in a grid pattern. Since Cuba is a dictatorship, they can get permits for anything! Someone will have to build a fiber line to Cuba and where it comes from is the political nit.
Cuba is larger than Hungary, or Austria, or Portugal, or Ireland to name a few.
I say give them Comcast! If they don't all hate us now, then they soon will.
Re: (Score:1)
I say give them Comcast! If they don't all hate us now, then they soon will.
Communist Castro. Where do you think they come from originally?
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
Just have Google come in (Score:1)
They're capable of rolling out Fiber in hellholes like Kansas City and Austin, so Cuba wouldn't be much of a challenge.
Re: (Score:1)
They're capable of rolling out fiber in Kansas City and Austin, so even a communist hellhole like Cuba [usatoday.com] shouldn't be much of a challenge.
FTFY (mostly)
Re: (Score:1)
The only diffrence between countries that censor the internet, and those who don't, is the ability or inability to do internet-wide intellegence/counter-intellegence opera
Re: (Score:3)
Try going to one of those countries that censor the Internet and making an unfavorable comment about the government and you might find a few other differences.
The Interview (Score:2)
Get busy with the Fidel version before they have the capability to retaliate - Sony, stat!
Re: (Score:2)
Pretty sure Hollywood has done hundreds of movies about assassinating Fidel Castro already. Fidel never cared, because he was too busy worrying about the CIA's actual attempts.
Satellite not needed (Score:5, Informative)
After several years planning and deploying, they have fiber-to-the-shore, courtesy of their sugar daddies in Venezuela. [reuters.com] It's public access that's lacking, and perhaps the showstopper here isn't lack of computers but scaling up their national firewall.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: Satellite not needed (Score:3)
I find it quite believable, seeing how the Venezuelan govt simply issues orders to all ISPs to block the IP ranges of sites that make them uncomfortable; a famous victim is DolarToday.com, a site that tracks the black market currency exchange rate and now publishes unflattering news and opinion. I'd include a few traceroutes but I'm posting from my phone. Even pastebin.com was blocked for more than a year (haven't checked recently) because a list of URLs with leaked emails wad posted there.
Re: (Score:2)
I find it quite believable, seeing how the Venezuelan govt simply issues orders to all ISPs to block the IP ranges of sites that make them uncomfortable; a famous victim is DolarToday.com, a site that tracks the black market currency exchange rate and now publishes unflattering news and opinion. I'd include a few traceroutes but I'm posting from my phone. Even pastebin.com was blocked for more than a year (haven't checked recently) because a list of URLs with leaked emails wad posted there.
Currency black markets are not "unconfortable", they are _illegal_. I'm sure there are examples of censorship in Venezuela, but that's not one.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, a large number of countries [wikipedia.org] have some form of censorship or surveillance system for the internet. A completely free internet is available to few people.
So there may not be any firewall now, but that doesn't prevent them from implementing it later.
Re: (Score:2)
Thank You for an interesting point. I am not as informed about the particular situation in Cuba, but it seems people are ignoring some important realities about the nature of access. In any location lacking infrastructure to support the wide spread deployment of the Internet, the lack of legacy hardware is an advantage. Forget DSL and other ancient technology based on our grandfather's telephone-based communication needs. The technical problems here are best addressed using modern hardware. Freedom and
Re: (Score:2)
Uncensored Access for All (Score:5, Interesting)
I have long wished that Google, Microsoft or even (gasp) the US Government would blanket the airspace worldwide with balloons/drones/satellites connected in an internet mesh. Then airdrop a 100 million tablets and solar chargers to third-world peasants and oppressed everywhere. Plenty of fat in the US military budget to pay for it. Imagine if a Cuban or North Korean suddenly had unfettered access to the world.
This would be a great blow against the domination of the powerful. Oh, oops, nevermind.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The access is not as dire as you would imagi (Score:5, Interesting)
I have been three times to Cuba; first time (in 1999) I went to visit a friend at the Health Ministry, and they had quite a good dialup access point; back then, dialup was still the main Internet access mode where I live (Mexico). The lacking part was, of course, computer access in the population.
The last time I was there (2010) was shortly before the connection to Venezuela started operation. I was invited to give a talk at the "Universidad de Ciencias Informáticas" campus, near La Habana. There, basically every student lives on-campus (the university is in a decomissioned Soviet base). All rooms have a computer — Old one, but working. And yes, network access was quite slow. Students also had a terribly low monthly bandwidth allowance (IIRC it was in the vicinity of 300MB), and after hitting that ceiling, there was no way to get more bits for them. It was quite interesting to see how a large group of people learnt to use the Internet with Javascript off, images off!
There was no censorship I could find (using a regular student account). Of course, I didn't go testing everything, as I didn't want to leave my host disconnected — But the main issue was the limits derived from having a single satellite uplink for the whole nation. I was told the situation improved vastly after the fiber to Venezuela was laid, but I cannot comment first-hand on it.
Of course, I'd expect now a fat fiber will be laid to Florida.
Re:The access is not as dire as you would imagi (Score:4, Informative)
I agree. I went to Cuba in 2009 and in Havana I went numerous times to an internet 'cafe' in the library near Parque Central. It wasn't the fastest thing in the world but there were around 20 machines in there and I didn't have any issues (although they all seemed to run their own operating system or front end or something). I saw internet cafes in Santa Clara and Trinidad too, and when I returned to Havana I stayed in a Casa Particulare just off Prado and the guy had his own computer with internet access.
In the cafes I even went onto the CIA, FBI and White House websites as well as looking up anti-communist blogs, all with no problems.
But yes, it's not quite up there yet but it does exist and the Cubans want it.
Re:The access is not as dire as you would imagi (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I have been to Cuba earlier this year. We travelled around by car from the west to roughly the middle of the island. We slept in private casa particulars and talked to the local people. While it is obviously true that the villages are somewhat impoverished, I can tell you that Cuba seemed so much better developed than other latin american countries, like Peru. In Cuba, our hosts all had internet access. It was slow (dialup), but people were using AirBnB and the like to advertise their casas. They would use
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I was there in 2011, and similarly, I found most larger towns to have an "internet cafe" in the offices of the government operated phone agency. Access was not obviously restricted, but indeed very slow - and expensive at around 8 CUC (=8 USD)/h. If cubans were to pay the same rates, it would be well out of their reach (but I don't know if that's the case, a lot of services in Cuba charge exchangeable CUC to foreigners, but local CUP to Cubans (25 CUP = 1 CUC)).
A lot of people working in any kind of governm
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Old Castro fan calls B.S! on Cuban internet (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm an old Castro and Che fan from the 1960s. . After having met and talked with many Cuban exiles of my own age who have arrived in my city over the years, I now realize that the entire Cuban revolution was bullshit Things suck there. They are always getting worse. I call bullshit on Cuban government's proposal to 'allow' internet access to its citizens. That country is run by fascist assholes. They will never all access to the internet to ordinary citizens. Only Cuban 'stasi' goon-squad assholes and their trusted weasels will be allowed to view Huff Post or Slashdot.
Re: (Score:2)
Let's place bets (Score:1)
What will they become?
The next :
US/Japan (porn mega-producer.)
Russia/Ukraine (Brides)
North Korea (E1eeT h4ck3rz)
Nigeria (gimme a 4, gimme a 1, gimme a 9!)
China (Firewalled beyond belief)
What awesome stereotypes am I forgetting? :)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Russia/Ukraine (Brides)
Cuba is already a good source of brides to Europeans. It's only the US that has had limited access, the rest of the world travels freely to Cuba.
And the U.S. priority (Score:1)
will be to tap into and listen to everything. Be wary of what the U.S offers you.
Gah, just skip it (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
The internet is just a massive propaganda distrubtion and popuation-monitoring system. Why would Cuba want that?
Well... to download spell checkers, for one.
Re: (Score:2)
Coffee out the nose. I wish I had mod points.
More US hypocrisy (Score:2, Insightful)
If you were to start the Internet from scratch... (Score:2, Interesting)
Purrfectly understandable (Score:2)
Fidel is just now realizing how many cat videos he's missed on Youtube.
Internet says... (Score:2)
Internet says Cuba Whoba?
Why go 20th century? (Score:3)
No internet??? (Score:3)
How could a worker's paradise not have 10-gig lines to every single room of every single house and apartment?
Re:No Internet? (Score:2)
How can the capitalist paradise not?
Re: (Score:2)
Because the capitalist paradise never promised that everyone would have everything. That is exactly the promise of communism.
Gut everything and start over (Score:4, Insightful)
Cuba has an opportunity to leap into the 21st century.
The only obstacle is their batshit crazy government. No one wants to invest anything in Cuba because it will just get stolen by the government. And the government is too poor to actually buy anything.
So there you go.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It is the same problem really. Batshit crazy government making things impossible.
Fiber (Score:2)
Free Speech + Internet Camera Phones (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Comcast... or "Cuba" - which is worse? (Score:2)
I think it would be really ironic if Cuba ended up with better, more affordable Internet with better customer service than their "capitalist neighbor to the north".
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Incontrovertible evidence (Score:2, Insightful)
Things are rough in countries that don't bend over to superpowers. Embargoes and sanctions that restrict food and medications to children are just mean and spiteful. The kids that are being hurt now weren't even alive when it all started. What's the point?
Re: (Score:1)
Cuba's health is not much worse than the US (yeah, that's a really low bar, but that's what most Slashdotters use as reference.)
http://www.worldlifeexpectancy... [worldlifeexpectancy.com]
Also Cuba ranks above the US in the Happy Planet Index.
http://www.happyplanetindex.or... [happyplanetindex.org]
Let's say you won't be happy if you're a dissident in Cuba.
You won't be happy either if you're a dissident i