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IP: the Net in Cuba
From: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 08:58:37 -0500
To: farber () cis upenn edu From: Esther Dyson <edyson () edventure com> Subject: the Net in Cuba Date: 27 Dec 2000 08:31:15 -0500 Actually, it's from the Washington Post, but here's where I got it (fair-use amount only): http://www.iht.com/articles/5473.html Laptop Brigade: Cuba's New Rebels Scott Wilson Washington Post Service Wednesday, December 27, 2000 Under Castro, Going Online Without Permission Is Out of Line HAVANA A new rebel has emerged in Cuba: the Internet guerrilla. . His laptop case has replaced the beret as the signature of revolution among thousands of mostly young male professionals, who through subversive cunning have become nearly as wired as anyone in the world despite Cuban law prohibiting unauthorized private Internet use. . Known among themselves as informaticos, they represent resistance to a government that has sought to stifle the flow of information since the revolution four decades ago. . Encouraged by tentative government steps to wire the country, the growing number of Cubans who ignore official prohibitions to look at foreign news pages, listen to pirate music sites and browse computer training courses online are hastening Cuba's plodding journey into the information age. . "I'm a member of the generation born just after the revolution," said an engineer, 31, who like other illegal Internet users agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity. "We all saw the giant Soviet mainframe computers linked together that did so little. The PC and Internet are new, independent ways of thinking. "To us, Bill Gates and Linus Torvalds are gurus," he added, referring to the Microsoft chief and the creator of the Linux operating system. After watching the flow of information help to fuel the Soviet Union's disintegration, Cuba's Communist government has clamped down on Internet technology.......
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