[liberationtech] Cuba: 5% Internet penetration

[Myself]

Supporting the USG for helping Cuban activists connect to the Internet and
check their emails is not ultra-right wing, it's the right thing to do.

On Fri, Jan 9, 2015 at 10:45 AM, Andrés Leopoldo Pacheco Sanfuentes <
alps6085 at gmail.com> wrote:

> "Myself,"
>
> I believe it is also time to Change the ultra-right wing viewpoints when
> analizing the potential ahead for Cuba. The current status quo in Cuba Re:
> Telecom is not good, but neither is the Government sanctioned and
> subsidized oligopoly we have here in the US!
> On Jan 9, 2015 10:22 AM, "Myself" <falcocom25 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Like Leopoldo says it's very important to exert pressure to open up the
>> state telecom monopoly to new players. What few people realize amid the
>> current excitement is that this window of opportunity will not last long.
>> Historically, the Cuban government has negotiated with the USG, only to
>> later retrench to their old ways as soon as they can afford it. They may be
>> very well preparing the next shootdown of an airplane with american
>> citizens onboard or looking for any other excuses they can come up with to
>> return to the old status quo and blame the US for all their failings.
>>
>> Also, very important at this time are the USG democracy promotion
>> programs because, among many other positives not related to the tech world,
>> they provide some economic independence to Cuban activists and civil
>> society actors. The fact is most people in Cuba depend on government jobs
>> to survive, to be able to eat at a minimum. The few "cuentapropistas"
>> (ultra small private businesses) are very heavily controlled and taxed,
>> government inspectors remove their licenses for anything they don't like.
>> Money from the USG democracy promotion programs allows many Cuban activists
>> to pay for the little bit of censored Internet access they now have at the
>> Nauta navigation rooms, they can pay for email (also through Nauta) and
>> International SMS on their phones and report abroad and inside Cuba what's
>> happening in the island. If these programs didn't exist, most Cuban
>> activists would be looking for food all day and affording $5 an hour for
>> Internet access would be nothing but a dream to them.
>>
>> It's no wonder they are constantly vilified as "shady" by the cuban
>> government costly media campaigns and their no so disguised "Cuba offices"
>> in the US. It's a very thick thorn on their foot.
>>
>> PGP
>> <http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0xA5BA76902CB232E3>
>>
>> On Fri, Jan 9, 2015 at 2:01 AM, Andrés Leopoldo Pacheco Sanfuentes <
>> alps6085 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Here's a feasible approach:
>>>
>>>
>>> http://www.shareable.net/blog/cuba-is-using-cooperatives-to-decentralize-its-economy
>>>
>>> The technologies I mention are in use already in Cuba, although outside
>>> the legal system and thus subject to confiscation - case in point the
>>> newsclip about dusmantlement of an underground wifi network leveraging
>>> Ubiquiti Networks technology. Now they have a chance to set up coops to
>>> provide the same service within the boundaries of the legal system. It is
>>> very important for the progressive technology sector (people like the
>>> subscribers to this list) to exert pressure to open up the state telecom
>>> monopoly to new players, especially those based on democratic control of
>>> the means of production, like Coops.
>>> On Jan 8, 2015 4:19 PM, "Bill Woodcock" <woody at pch.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> > On Jan 8, 2015, at 12:49 PM, Collin Anderson <
>>>> collin at averysmallbird.com> wrote:
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > On Thu, Jan 8, 2015 at 2:27 PM, Bill Woodcock <woody at pch.net> wrote:
>>>> > It’s called fiber.
>>>> >
>>>> > Fiber is cheap?
>>>>
>>>> Relatively.  It’s sand, somewhat processed.  And it carries a lot of
>>>> bits.  Nothing else carries a lot of bits.  So, since it’s the only option
>>>> that actually carries lots of bits, it’s sorta academic how much it costs
>>>> relative to other things, that don’t carry lots of bits.  So, yes, less
>>>> than a penny a strand-foot is cheap.
>>>>
>>>>                                 -Bill
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>
>>
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