Tight Controls Over Cuban Web Access

Tight Controls Over Cuban Web Access
By Nico Cervantes - Latin America
16 Aug 13

Internet users in Cuba say the first few months of an initiative to
increase access to the web have been marred by tight government controls
and censorship.

Access has also been restricted by high costs and the uneven
distribution of the 118 public access points, similar to internet cafes,
across Cuba.

The 70 million dollar project was launched in early June by the state
telecoms monopoly ETESCA. (See Cubans Get Web Access, But Costs Are High.)

On the technical side, the service has been boosted by a fibreoptic
cable connecting Cuba with Venezuela, Havana's principal political ally.
Jorge Luis Legrá, ETECSA's director of strategic programmes, told the
Juventud Rebelde newspaper that the link would double Cuba's internet
capacity.

Deputy communications minister Wilfredo González said the only limits to
access were technological and financial.

He failed to mention censorship, a feature that has become apparent to
those attempting to use the service.

Users have to sign terms and conditions warning them that they may be
banned for "actions that ETECSA or the administrative and judicial might
consider harmful or damaging to… independence and national sovereignty".

Anyone wanting to open a permanent account must present their identity
card and fill out forms providing personal details.

Once online, users will find that many websites are blocked, including
those critical of the Cuban government. These include the news sites
Martí Noticias and Cubaencuentro as well as blogs such as
www.elblogdemontaner.com and www.oswaldopaya.org.

Also blocked is the Spanish-language news site www.libertaddigital.com,
which reported the death of opposition leader Oswaldo Paya last year in
a car accident which the dissident's family said was caused by the
authorities.

Cuban blogger Walfrido López said the new web access centres had
up-to-date equipment and satisfactory surfing speeds, but this was let
down by censorship and poor digital security. He invited webmasters of
pages on Cuba to email him to ascertain whether they could be accessed
inside the country.

He alleged that ETECSA had manipulated the Windows XP operating system
so as to remove various options like copying and pasting text into
emails and blogs, controls for downloads, and options to delete recent
search history and remove cookies.

Lopez also noted that the computers made it impossible to run programmes
stored on USB drives.

Internet content has been strictly supervised by the state since Cuba
first connected to the web in 1996.

According to the National Statistics Office, by 2011 approximately 23
per cent of the population had access to the internet, mostly through
their workplaces or universities or via computing clubs. Locals could
also get onto the internet at some hotels catering for foreigners,
although this was expensive.

Independent journalist and writer Alina Robeldo said that she had
experienced high levels of online scrutiny in the past.

"It also happens in hotels, where more than once I've had restrictions
on service which other users don't have, and when I ask why, they evade
the question," she noted.

Blogger Lía Villares said the official discourse still portrayed the
internet as something sinister and unsafe.

"I don't know how many times I've seen it said – as much on national TV
as in public debates… that the internet is dangerous for Cubans and that
there has to be censorship to 'protect' us from these threats," she
said. "I don't know whether I should laugh or cry."

Many users are excluded by the high fees charged by the internet
centres. Web access is priced at 4.50 convertible pesos an hour, a
quarter of the average monthly wage. The convertible peso or CUC is a
parallel currency pegged one-to-one with the US dollar, and separate
from the normal peso.

Internet user Rodolfo Márquez says the new system "does not really
satisfy the current demand for internet in Cuban society, as the high
prices prevent all those interested from getting access".

The authorities have said costs will come down as soon as they have
recouped some of the initial investment in the infrastructure.

Another obstacle is that the government-provided service is unevenly
distributed across Cuba, with just 334 computer terminals shared out
among all access points.

Guantánamo, the province furthest from the capital, has nearly 511,000
inhabitants but will only have three public access points. In the Güines
municipality of Mayabeque province where more than 67,000 people live,
no computers will be made available.

Provincial centres Artemisa, Ciego de Ávila, Holguín and Bayamo have
been allocated one access point with three computers each.

Havana has 12 access points, fewer than the 18 points in Matanzas, the
most tourist-friendly part of Cuba. The central province of Villa Clara
comes in second for the number of connection points.

For now, the new public access points are the only viable option for
most people who want to use the internet. Only businesses, state and
commercial entities, or foreigners with temporary or permanent residence
can currently connect to the internet in private homes, although these
packages are sold illegally amongst Cubans at prices between two and
three CUC per hour.

On the banned Cuban classified ad website www.revolico.com, which can
only be accessed through a proxy server, there are adverts for illegal
connections using a normal telephone line and a computer.

The Cuban government has promised to make internet access available in
private homes by the end of 2014.

Some users like Aramís Fonseca have welcomed this step.

"A domestic service will reduce the amount of customers at the access
points, which are fuller and fuller as more people find out about the
service," he said.

Others question whether Cuba has the capacity to make this technological
leap.

"I don't believe that we'll have internet at home in the short term,"
said internet user Marques. "I think the technological infrastructure is
too poor. And anyway, I don't think it would have the same speed as in
the access points."

As independent journalist Robeldo points out, aside from matters of
censorship, cost and availability, the internet has yet to capture the
attention of most Cubans.

"We are talking about a very limited impact on society," she said. "In
addition to high prices, the problem is that in Cuba lots of people
don't know what to do with the internet, or even what the internet is."

Nico Cervantes is a Cuban journalist and photographer.

Source: "Tight Controls Over Cuban Web Access - Institute for War and
Peace Reporting - P57606" -
http://iwpr.net/report-news/tight-controls-over-cuban-web-access