In this Jan. 4, 2015 photo, Rafael Antonio Broche Moreno talks during an interview with The Associated Press, next to his computer, modem and intranet network cabling at his home in Havana. Disconnected from the real Internet, the intranet network is limited, local and built with equipment commercially available around the world, with no help from any outside government, organizers say. Photo by Ramon Espinosa, AP
Cuba's Stalinist government has a problem: their education system is doing what it should, turning out a lot of smart young people. The problem is, they are going to use that education to counter government efforts to control the information they get. Here's the story from Michael Weissenstein and Anne-Marie Garcia at AP:
Cuban youth build secret computer network despite Wi-Fi ban
Excerpts:
Home Internet connections are banned for all but a handful of Cubans, and the government charges nearly a quarter of a month's salary for an hour online in government-run hotels and Internet centers.
A small minority have covertly engineered a partial solution by pooling funds to create a private network of more than 9,000 computers with small, inexpensive but powerful hidden Wi-Fi antennas and Ethernet cables strung over streets and rooftops spanning the entire city.
Before Obama moved to restore full diplomatic ties with Cuba, the U.S. made several attempts to leverage technology against the Cuban government. Contractor Alan Gross was sentenced to 15 years in prison after a U.S. Agency for International Development contractor sent him to Cuba to set up satellite Internet connections.