Slashdot Mirror
Young Cubans Set Up Mini-Internet
An anonymous reader writes: Internet connections remain illegal for Cuban households, but many of the country's citizens still want to tap into the power of networked information exchange. A group of tech-savvy young Cubans has set up a network comprising thousands of computers to serve as their own miniature version of the internet. They use chat rooms, play games, and connect to organize real-life activities. Cuban law enforcement seems willing to tolerate it (so far), but the network polices itself so as not to draw undue attention.
One of the engineers who helped build the network said, "We aren't anonymous because the country has to know that this type of network exists. They have to protect the country and they know that 9,000 users can be put to any purpose. We don't mess with anybody. All we want to do is play games, share healthy ideas. We don't try to influence the government or what's happening in Cuba ... We do the right thing and they let us keep at it."
One of the engineers who helped build the network said, "We aren't anonymous because the country has to know that this type of network exists. They have to protect the country and they know that 9,000 users can be put to any purpose. We don't mess with anybody. All we want to do is play games, share healthy ideas. We don't try to influence the government or what's happening in Cuba ... We do the right thing and they let us keep at it."
It stays because there is a large group of voters in Florida who still want it.
And they're hypocrites. They've exempted themselves from a lot of the restrictions that the rest of us have.
They've also done their compatriots a huge dis-service. One of the things that corrodes Communism faster than anything else is seeing the people next door bringing home big-screen TVs and buying cars made after 1957 Materialism trumps ideology anyday when you're talking the masses.
I'd be quite willing to give odds on the implosion of Cuban Communism the minute the USA truly opens the borders. Even the fundamental obnoxiousness of American tourists isn't likely to hold it back.