Like Leopoldo says it's very important to exert pressure to open up the state telecom monopoly to new players. What few people realize amid the current excitement is that this window of opportunity will not last long. Historically, the Cuban government has negotiated with the USG, only to later retrench to their old ways as soon as they can afford it. They may be very well preparing the next shootdown of an airplane with american citizens onboard or looking for any other excuses they can come up with to return to the old status quo and blame the US for all their failings.
Also, very important at this time are the USG democracy promotion programs because, among many other positives not related to the tech world, they provide some economic independence to Cuban activists and civil society actors. The fact is most people in Cuba depend on government jobs to survive, to be able to eat at a minimum. The few "cuentapropistas" (ultra small private businesses) are very heavily controlled and taxed, government inspectors remove their licenses for anything they don't like. Money from the USG democracy promotion programs allows many Cuban activists to pay for the little bit of censored Internet access they now have at the Nauta navigation rooms, they can pay for email (also through Nauta) and International SMS on their phones and report abroad and inside Cuba what's happening in the island. If these programs didn't exist, most Cuban activists would be looking for food all day and affording $5 an hour for Internet access would be nothing but a dream to them. It's no wonder they are constantly vilified as "shady" by the cuban government costly media campaigns and their no so disguised "Cuba offices" in the US. It's a very thick thorn on their foot. PGP <http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0xA5BA76902CB232E3> On Fri, Jan 9, 2015 at 2:01 AM, Andrés Leopoldo Pacheco Sanfuentes < alps6...@gmail.com> wrote: > Here's a feasible approach: > > > http://www.shareable.net/blog/cuba-is-using-cooperatives-to-decentralize-its-economy > > The technologies I mention are in use already in Cuba, although outside > the legal system and thus subject to confiscation - case in point the > newsclip about dusmantlement of an underground wifi network leveraging > Ubiquiti Networks technology. Now they have a chance to set up coops to > provide the same service within the boundaries of the legal system. It is > very important for the progressive technology sector (people like the > subscribers to this list) to exert pressure to open up the state telecom > monopoly to new players, especially those based on democratic control of > the means of production, like Coops. > On Jan 8, 2015 4:19 PM, "Bill Woodcock" <wo...@pch.net> wrote: > >> >> > On Jan 8, 2015, at 12:49 PM, Collin Anderson <col...@averysmallbird.com> >> wrote: >> > >> > >> > On Thu, Jan 8, 2015 at 2:27 PM, Bill Woodcock <wo...@pch.net> wrote: >> > It’s called fiber. >> > >> > Fiber is cheap? >> >> Relatively. It’s sand, somewhat processed. And it carries a lot of >> bits. Nothing else carries a lot of bits. So, since it’s the only option >> that actually carries lots of bits, it’s sorta academic how much it costs >> relative to other things, that don’t carry lots of bits. So, yes, less >> than a penny a strand-foot is cheap. >> >> -Bill >> >> >> >> >> -- >> Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable on Google. Violations >> of list guidelines will get you moderated: >> https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech. >> Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by emailing moderator at >> compa...@stanford.edu. > > > -- > Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable on Google. Violations > of list guidelines will get you moderated: > https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech. > Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by emailing moderator at > compa...@stanford.edu. >
-- Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable on Google. Violations of list guidelines will get you moderated: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech. Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by emailing moderator at compa...@stanford.edu.
