Google, Cuba Sign Deal Allowing Faster Access To Company's Data (go.com) 42
Google has signed a deal with the Cuban government on Monday that will grant internet users in the Communist-run country quicker access to its branded content. Google plans to install servers on the island that will store a majority of its most popular content. ABC News reports: Storing Google data in Cuba eliminates the long distances that signals must travel from the island through Venezuela to the nearest Google server. More than a half century after cutting virtually all economic ties with Cuba, the U.S. has no direct data link to the island. The deal announced Monday removes one of the many obstacles to a normal internet in Cuba, which suffers from some of the world's most limited and expensive access. Home connections remain illegal for most Cubans and the government charges the equivalent of a month's average salary for 10 hours of access to public WiFi spots with speeds frequently too slow to download files or watch streaming video. The deal does not affect Cuba's antiquated communications infrastructure or broaden public access to the internet, but it could make Google websites like YouTube or Gmail up to 10 times faster for users inside Cuba. Content hosted by other companies will not be affected.
"Google signs colocation deal" (Score:2, Informative)
Was it that hard?
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"Google signs colocation deal"
Yeah, but if they wrote that, nobody would have clicked on the story because it's too boring.
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You are part of the problem...
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Over/under on the expropriation of the hardware by the Cuban government?
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If you look at the article's headline on the face of it, absent the article, It sounds like a deal with Google intelligence to share more private/personal data about Google's wordwide users (including US users) with Cuba's government.
"Allowing faster access to the companies data"
Let's not forget what kind of data Google has on us, I mean..... things like our full browsing history..... very interesting to some governments of the world, not just our own government, I'm sure.
What happened to "do no evil"? (Score:1)
Seriously - any deal to give Cuban government insiders (do you really think any of the little people will benefit from this?) better internet access - or better anything - is evil.
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What happened to "do no evil"?
I'm pretty sure that it was reported upon and in fact even re-posted here on Slashdot when it was noticed publicly that they had removed it from their company charter. It's worth noting though that it was never any sort of official, legally-binding commitment. More just an idea about a statement of purpose that they have since apparently changed their minds about.
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What happened to "do no evil"?
I'm pretty sure that it was reported upon and in fact even re-posted here on Slashdot when it was noticed publicly that they had removed it from their company charter. It's worth noting though that it was never any sort of official, legally-binding commitment. More just an idea about a statement of purpose that they have since apparently changed their minds about.
Sigh.
1. The motto is "Don't be evil", not "Do no evil". The latter is impossible for anyone to accomplish, the law of unintended consequences -- among other issues -- guarantees that. The former makes clear that the goal is to avoid systematically doing evil, which is achievable.
2. It was never part of any company charter. It was an important internal guideline.
3. Google has never "changed their minds" about the motto. It remains an important internal guideline. I can vouch for the fact that it still
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Bringing faster Internet to more people in Cuba is not evil, even if only a limited number of government insiders benefits for it. They will be exposed to more freely available information that is not directly controlled by the government, which is good.
The naivety hurts. The whole point of the deal is for the information to be directly controlled by the government, which is bad. It's only for government insiders, anyway. If Google (or anyone else) wants to set up free, uncensored internet cafes there I'd love to see it.
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Been to Cuba about 10 times.
The Cuban immigration officials stamp a paper that they hand you upon arrival (tourist visa), and take it back upon departure. If you lose that paper, you cannot leave the country (but you simply pay a fine IIRC and you leave).
Cuba is not what american propaganda TV has led you to believe it is.
There is definitely poverty, just like pretty much every country in the Caribbean, democratic, capitalist or communist, but generally speaking Cubans seem as content as any other citizen o
Real fix (Score:1)
is to run a cable from Miami to Havana.
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Why don't they extend and upgrade the high-speed fibre links back to the US mainland that exist in Guantanamo bay, Cuba ?
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Undersea cables are an expensive long term project. It takes years to go from concept to surveys to permits to installation and finally to actually selling services over the line, and that's assuming a friendly political enironment. If politicans are obstructive it can take even longer or stall indefinately.
Local CDN nodes on the other hand are relatively cheap and quick to deploy
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Internet Users (Score:2)
"will grant internet users in the Communist-run country"
So...all three of them?