Cuba Offers Its Citizens Better Access to Internet

NY TIMES ^ | 6/18/15 | Victoria Burnett

[SoFloFreeper]

Cuba, one of the Western Hemisphere’s least-wired countries, is poised to expand access to the Internet by introducing about three dozen Wi-Fi hot spots around the island and reducing the steep fees that Cubans pay to spend time online.

.....“Their model was, ‘Nobody gets Internet,’ ” he said in a telephone interview. “Now their model is, ‘We’re going to bring prices down and expand access, but we are going to do it as a sovereign decision and at our own speed.’ ”

Cuba’s Internet isolation is not the result of the United States’ five-decade economic embargo, Mr. Henken said, but President Obama’s announcement last December that he would restore diplomatic relations removed a pretext for fencing off the web.

The tentative steps toward a less restrictive online future could also provide justification for Mr. Obama’s decision, which has come under criticism....

[SoFloFreeper]

The FLORIDA media is applauding Castro and Obama over this supposed "success".....

Unspoken is that the Castro regime is going to monitor the internet and charge people $2 per hour...

The average salary in Cuba? $20 a month

[ClearCase_guy]

“This proves that communism is the way to go!” /[s]

[Popman]

Unspoken is that the Castro regime is going to monitor the internet and charge people $2 per hour...

Is this a way for the Castro Brothers to root out dissent...?

[MNDude]

Good old Cuba, envy of the world.

[Kid Shelleen]

>> Hector, who asked that his full name not be used for fear of attracting the authorities’ attention <<

The Times missed the irony that the subject of their article is afraid to give his real name. Access to the Internet will be another service that the tyrants use to control their population.

[bigbob]

More pron

[Delta 21]

Net neutrality much?

[tet68]

The tentative steps toward a less restrictive online future could also provide justification for Mr. Obama’s decision,

Amazing how that works...

[moovova]

Commodore 64’s for everyone.

(Or, my personal favorite...the TRS 80.)

[fungoking]

Unless you police, then you get $50. Keep the police loyal and invested in government, not the people.

[DPMD]

Universal internet. Unfortunately, Castro doesn’t allow them to own computers.