Internet in Cuba only for the rich — or enterprising

Internet in Cuba only for the rich — or enterprising
AFP | Dec 6, 2014, 04.17 PM IST

Cubans have to go to extremes just to get an internet connection and
somehow get around the strict control of the Communist authorities.

But these Cubans have to go to extremes just to get an internet
connection and somehow get around the strict control of the Communist
authorities.

In the capital Havana, clusters of young Cubans can be spotted at
weekends in groups near hotels, embassies and business centers in a
desperate attempt to get online — somehow.

"Some people capture wireless signals after getting the codes from
friends who work here, but I know there are others who manage to crack
passwords with special software," one computer enthusiast said, speaking
on condition of anonymity at the foot of an office block.

Lurking down a small street abutting a hotel, another strategy is at
work. Several youngsters tap away furiously on their devices — they are
online thanks to a shared connection courtesy of a classmate posted at
hotel reception.

Suffice it to say that in Cuba, wireless signals — or failing that, any
internet connection — are highly coveted.

They are under strict control, reserved for companies, universities and
institutions. A privileged few — journalists, artists and doctors, in
particular — are entitled to a particular connection. And that's it.

In 2013, only 3.4% of Cuban households were connected to the internet,
according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which
rates the connectivity of countries.

Since June last year, the Cuban authorities have gone a small way to
affording the island's 11.3 million population a rare chance to access
the Internet, opening about 100 centers for the public to get online.

But at $4.5 per hour, rates are prohibitively expensive in a country
where the average monthly wage is around $20.

Previously, only hotels could offer the Internet to the public, but
again with a prohibitive rate of up to $10 an hour that only foreign
visitors could afford.

The state telecommunications service provider, ETECSA, does not offer
mobile Internet to its customers, while the 3G network is only for
foreign visitors using roaming and offers often patchy performance.

ETECSA has now allowed subscribers to access their mail from their
smartphones, but it only applies to the domain @nauta.cu. The company
has also opened a service to send pictures from phones to any email address.

They are minor concessions in a country where foreign-branded
smartphones are increasingly visible.

"Cuba remains one of the most restrictive countries in the world in
terms of Internet freedom," Sanja Tatic Kelly, project director for
Freedom on the Net, at the American NGO Freedom House, told AFP.

"Rather than relying on the technically sophisticated filtering and
blocking used by other repressive regimes, the Cuban government limits
users' access to information primarily via lack of technology and
prohibitive costs," she said.

The Cuban authorities do censor certain websites — press and blogs that
are against the Castro leadership, pornography and Skype -- but Tatic
Kelly noted: "The total number of blocked websites is relatively small
when compared to many other authoritarian states like China, Iran or
Saudi Arabia."

The more tech-savvy Cubans have found a way around that too, downloading
software that can hide their IP addresses to avoid detection and mislead
snooping eyes into thinking they are surfing the net in another country.

For those who are less tech-smart, they can always rely on the "paquete"
— USB sticks packed with pirated films, TV shows, pop music and games
and sold on the black market for a few US dollars.

Cuba's rulers say they need to keep a tight rein on the internet to
protect the island from cyberattacks.

Over 18 months, Havana has been the victim of cyberattacks from
thousands of addresses registered in over 150 countries, according to
deputy minister of communications Wilfredo Gonzalez.

That brooks no argument with Tatic Kelly. "Cuba does not register as one
of the leading countries experiencing cyberattacks," she said, citing
data from online security experts Kaspersky Lab, which ranks Cuba 199th
in terms of countries hit with counterattacks.

At number one, the most targeted, is Russia, it says, with the United
States third.
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