(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has protested against a plan by the Cuban authorities to crack down on unauthorised Internet users by placing a total ban on the use of the regular telephone network to get online. The government has called on Etecsa, Cuba’s sole telecommunications operator, “to deploy all technical means to detect and block Internet […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has protested against a plan by the Cuban authorities to crack down on unauthorised Internet users by placing a total ban on the use of the regular telephone network to get online. The government has called on Etecsa, Cuba’s sole telecommunications operator, “to deploy all technical means to detect and block Internet access” to unauthorised users. Since Internet use in Cuba is banned for the majority of the population, Cubans are forced to use illegal connections.
“We are extremely worried by this new decree, which is aimed at tracking down ‘informaticos’, Cubans who manage to get Internet access despite an official ban,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. “The Internet is one of the few means of getting around the ever present censorship of news and information in the country,” he said. “Since it is unable to monitor the Internet as easily as newspapers, the government has simply chosen to ban access to the Internet for almost the entire population. Very few countries go this far to control the Internet,” Ménard added.
As of 24 January 2004, Cubans will be forbidden to use the regular telephone network, billed in pesos, to connect to the Internet. Only those individuals specifically allowed to do so by “the person in charge of a body or of a central administration organisation” will be the exception. The change will not affect foreign companies and organisations that use another network, billed in dollars, for Internet access.
In fact, the decree changes nothing for most ordinary Cubans, since a ban on Internet access is already in place for most of them. The chief objective of the decree is to remind the public that only people with specific permission can use the Internet.
Many “informaticos” used personal computers, bought on the black market, to connect to the Internet, by pirating normal telephone lines. Under the new law, the authorities will track down these individuals with Etecsa’s help.
Cubans can still use cybercafés to get online, but at a rate of two euros (approx. US$2.50) per 15 minutes of use, this is beyond the financial means of almost all citizens.
