[freenet-chat] Crisis Among "Internet Police" Revealed in Video

[RKent20551 at cs.com]

          The Friends of Cuban Libraries
     http://www.friendsofcubanlibraries.org
                   June 1, 2006

Crisis Among "Internet Police" Revealed in Video

A video filmed at Cuba's University of Information Sciences has revealed a 
crisis within the elite being trained to administer the island's high-tech 
industry, including the branch of the security police which tries to suppress 
access to the World Wide Web. The secret video, filmed on Feb. 18 and designated 
for restricted viewing among the island's ruling elite, was smuggled out of Cuba 
and placed on the Internet by La Nueva Cuba, an electronic journal critical 
of the Castro government. The 58-minute long Spanish language video, entitled 
"Necessary Point of Reflection," can be seen at: 
(http://lanuevacuba.com/video_Ucien_info_asp/guerra_cibernetica.wmv).

The video shows a panel consisting of the University's rector, Melchor Felix 
Gill, and three student leaders, including the head of the local Communist 
Youth organization, lecturing an assembly of students and faculty. The panel 
members sternly denounce "serious violations" of university regulations: large 
numbers of students and faculty members have been detected surfing the Internet, 
distributing passwords allowing other persons to access the World Wide Web, 
e-mailing people outside of Cuba without authorization, and setting up 
clandestine chat rooms. These "serious security violations" are a breach of Cuban laws 
which outlaw access to the Internet and the possession of unlicensed 
computers, except for a small number of persons considered trustworthy by the regime. 

The secret video contradicts public claims by the Cuban government that the 
Internet is readily accessible to all Cuban citizens. Many nations devote 
resources to censoring or blocking individual websites, but the Castro regime is 
one of the few governments which tries to completely ban all access to the World 
Wide Web, except for a privileged few. Foreign tourists are allowed to surf 
the World Wide Web at a few Internet cafes, to which the average Cuban is 
denied entrance, but the tourists are charged six dollars per hour or more for this 
privilege. Cuba has been named among the world's "Ten Worst Enemies of the 
Internet" by Reporters Without Borders.

In addition to criminalizing access to the Internet, Cuba also persecutes a 
group of volunteers who have opened uncensored libraries throughout the island 
in an effort to challenge government control of information. A number of 
Cuba's independent librarians, now serving 20-year sentences following one-day 
trials, have been adopted as "prisoners of conscience" by Amnesty International, 
which is demanding their immediate release.

In the video smuggled out of Cuba, the offending students and faculty at 
Havana's prestigious University of Information Sciences are accused of using their 
expertise and government-supplied equipment to circumvent the information 
security laws they are being trained to enforce. The regime is especially alarmed 
by the fact that these alleged crimes are being committed by the students of 
an elite university, who are subjected to intense scrutiny by the State 
Security police before admission; 80% of the students at the University of 
Information Sciences are members of the Communist Youth organization.

In the course of the video, as the camera scans members of the audience whose 
facial expressions range from impassivity to defiance, the students and 
faculty are reminded that they are banned from surfing the Internet outside of 
supervised classroom exercises. Details on the cases of four students expelled for 
breaking the rules, complete with mug shots, are highlighted by the panel 
members. The assembled students and faculty are warned that new legislation will 
make such security breaches punishable by prison terms of up to five years, 
and they are urged to serve as informers against any colleagues who commit 
"crimes" such as surfing the World Wide Web outside of class.



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