CUBA-COMMUNICATIONS: Government Wary of Internet

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Jan 30 1996 (IPS) - The government-controlled media in Cuba, leery of the unfettered flow of information on the Internet, is looking at ways to regulate access to the service.

Jesus Martinez, director of the Center for Automated Information Exchange, says that regulations affecting informatics connections and security are being studied “that do not anticipate including individuals.”

Such a policy, that would provoke an uproar in other countries, was greeted largely with indifference in Cuba, where few people own personal microcomputers.

Experts estimate that the local market cost of the equipment needed to gain Internet access exceeds 2,000 dollars and users would have to pay an additional initiation fee and monthly charges.

The Cuban educational system began teaching students how to use computers 10 years ago, but only a few intellectuals – earning foreign exchange from the sale of their works abroad – can even hope to buy a personal computer.

Internet’s potential users in Cuba, therefore are prone to be state office workers, international diplomats, and members of scientific or professional organizations, non-governmental organizations and religious entities.

Local communications workers, however, regard the Internet’s quick access to specialized information exchange as indispensable to the nation’s scientific development and above all to the new industries that Cuba is seeking to develop, including biotechnology.

Access to the network becomes even more important for Cuba given the dearth of specialized national and international publications that leaves experts with a “fierce hunger” for current information.

Although they recognize these advantages, Cuban officials look warily at the international political information that access to the Internet would provide, since this information is now controlled by the official media.

Rosa Elena Simeon, the Minister of Science, Technology and Environment, said earlier this month that Cuba must learn how to “use the Internet’s capabilities and advantages while reducing its risks and disadvantages as much as possible.”

“The First World uses the network to introduce viewpoints that work to the detriment of the ethical and cultural values” in the developing nations, she declared at a meeting called to discuss the regulatory issue.

Among the problems frequently cited are the use of English, the Untied States dominance of information, and the risk to local scientific achievements.

The Internet link now operates in 130 countries, connecting 16,000 networks and processing billions of “pages” of information daily. The professional sector dominates Internet users in most countries and enjoys free access to about 70 percent of the information on the system.

Although Cuba was accepted as a participant by the Internet’s administrative body last September it remains – together with Paraguay, Haiti and Belize – one of the four countries in the Americas that has yet to benefit from the services of this network of networks.

But non-governmental organisations believe Cuba will finally connect to “the information superhighway” in upcoming months once the access regulations are developed.

At the beginning of May, Cuba will hold the first national “Ariadna 96” telecommunications and informatics conference to discuss the assimilation of Internet services, including technological, administrative and security issues.

Havana has been using electronic mail systems for some years.

Despite official political worries, NGOs point to the possibility of using the Internet to distribute accurate information about Cuba from a local perspective and counter the distorted images of the country often seen abroad.

The Cuban connection will “bring more advantages than problems,” one communications expert said, because “information is power in the modern world.”