[freenet-chat] Computers Legalized, Net Still Banned for Cubans

[RKent20551 at cs.com]

In a message dated 5/5/2008 2:30:23 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
toad at amphibian.dyndns.org writes: 
> 
> Woah! So the sneakernet underground in Cuba was entirely using either 
> government-approved (i.e. non-home) computers, or black market hardware?
   
      Cubans are ingenious about evading government controls. Bureaucrats 
(such as reporters for government newspapers), who are allowed limited access to 
the Net, sell their passwords on the black market.

     But the average salary in Cuba is only about $17 per month (yep, you 
read right), so there are limits to what people can do to sneak onto the Net.

    In addition to banning the Net, the government also jams a number of 
foreign radio stations and systematically searches rooftops to hunt down people 
who use antennas to capture satellite television channels. Volunteers on the 
island have opened more than 200 independent libraries to provide public access 
to uncensored books smuggled into the island or provided by embassies, 
including the U.S. Embassy. In 2003 the government staged a major crackdown and used 
one-day trials to sentence a number of the librarians to 20-year prison terms. 
And the repression continues.

    The Cuban court documents on the trials of the librarians, such as court 
orders to burn the confiscated library collections (including classics such as 
Orwell's "Animal Farm"), were removed from the island and published on the 
Internet. But the nutcakes who run the American Library Association refuse to 
publish news of these "smoking gun" court documents on their anti-book burning 
website because they suspect the documents are CIA forgeries.

    The world needs to know more about (1) the grim situation in Cuba, and 
(2) the disgraceful and unbelievable collusion of the American Library 
Association with the Cuban government. Contact the Friends of Cuban Libraries, a 
support group for the persecuted library volunteers, if you can help in spreading 
the word.  We need to bust this scandal wide open.

Sincerely,

Robert Kent
Friends of Cuban Libraries
(http://www.friendsofcubanlibraries.org)   
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