The Regime Advances in the “Chinese Internet Model” and Creates Its Own Internet Platform

The Regime Advances in the "Chinese Internet Model" and Creates Its Own
Internet Platform / Diario de Cuba
Posted on March 19, 2015

Diario de Cuba, Havana, 19 March 2015 — It prohibits bloggers from
publishing "content that is illegal, counterrevolutionary, harmful,
threatening, harassing, salacious, defamatory, or vulgar," among other
characteristics.

The regime announced this Thursday that it is now equipped with a "solid
blogging platform, open to the entire national .cu online domain," which
is accessible outside the country, according to official media.

"This young interactive space, named Reflejos ("Reflections"),
functioning since September, has permitted millions of users to create
their own blogs to express their interests and opinions," said the
official news agency AIN.

Kirenia Facundo, a specialist with the Cubava Digital Facilitation
Project, explained that the service functions "as a mirror of the
national reality, and contributes to the needed technological
sovereignty that is proposed for digitizing our society."

Diario de Cuba was able to determine that the platform requires
information such as the national identity card data of any potential
blogger.

In addition, the terms of use prohibit bloggers from "transferring,
transmitting or publishing content that is illegal,
counterrevolutionary, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing,
salacious, defamatory or vulgar," among other characteristics.

Raúl Van Troi, director of the Youth Computing Club, indicated in Havana
that "the principal policy governing the use of this space is and will
always be to promote the truth of Cuba and its Revolution, from a
position of commitment and respect."

Recently, the authorities announced that a "secure" digitization, in
keeping with "national priorities," was underway.

In addition to the blogging platform, other services are being
developed, such as La Tendedera ("The Clothesline") and El Pitazo ("The
Whistle"), substitutes for Facebook and Twitter, respectively, which
cannot be accessed from abroad.

In this field, Havana follows the Beijing model, which blocks access to
the most-used, global digital services.

Previously, the regime launched EcuRed, and type of Wikipedia that is
very controlled and scarcely participatory. The China Facebook is called
Renren, and its Twitter, Sina Weibo. There are also products that stand
in for YouTube, Google, and WordPress.

In China, technology platforms are managed by private companies, but
they are strongly controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. Even so,
from time to time, controversies are sparked in those spaces.

Translated by: Alicia Barraqué Ellison

Source: The Regime Advances in the "Chinese Internet Model" and Creates
Its Own Internet Platform / Diario de Cuba | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/the-regime-advances-in-the-chinese-model/