Cuban UN representative calls for Internet regulation

Belkis Romeu, Third Secretary in the Permanent Mission of Cuba at the United Nations spoke recently at the current session of the UN Human Rights Council.

She advocated "democratic regulation" of the Internet, saying "while we must ensure the promotion and protection of freedom of expression, there are several examples that illustrate the dire need to regulate and make appropriate use of the Internet," and went on to site governmental Internet surveillance and the "ZunZuneo project aimed at creating situations of destabilization in Cuba to bring about change in our political system."

This vague restatement of the "party line" is characteristic of a hollow bureaucracy. I do not know what sort of regulation she is advocating and I have to assume that she is smart enough to realize that the ill-conceived ZunZuneo project was never a significant threat to the Cuban political system. Like the similarly ill-conceived Alan Gross project, it would have been a drop in the bucket had it gone undetected.

In failing, these projects gave the Cuban government propaganda fodder and embarrassed the US, but they don't explain the sad state of the Cuban Internet. Don't get me wrong -- I am in no way condoning ZunZuneo or the Alan Gross effort -- there are no good guys in this post.

Politically correct rhetoric at a technical conference in Cuba

In a recent post, I argued that the US embargo, the poor state of the Cuban economy and fear of free information had stifled the Cuban Internet at its inception in 1996, but that twenty years later, those constraints were significantly reduced. I suggested that the Cuban Internet was being held back by mundane bureaucracy and political correctness.

We got an example of that at the Latin American and Caribbean Network Information Center (LACNIC) conference in Havana this week. LACNIC is one of five regional Internet registries and technology and policy leaders attend their conferences.

LACNIC assigns Internet addresses for networks in the region.

It is noteworthy that LACNIC25 was held in Cuba this year and, since it is a prestigious event, ETECSA was one of the sponsors and ETECSA president Mayra Arevich Marín gave a talk.

She said that the "economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States was the main obstacle to the development of ICT and the Internet in Cuba." She also called for regional cooperation to stop "the illegal use of computer systems of nations by individuals, organizations and states to attack third countries"

Ms. Arevich Marín knows that President Obama has essentially ended restrictions on the export of Internet infrastructure and services to Cuba and they have succeeded in financing and doing business with companies from China and other nations.

I assume the illegal use of computer systems she alluded to are the foolish efforts of USAID -- projects like ZunZuneo and the Alan Gross affair. Again, I think she knows that, had they gone undetected, these projects would have not made a huge difference, but they have been used as propaganda tools.

Bureaucrats in any nation are under pressure to remain politically correct and Cuba's bureaucracy is close to 60 years old. I hope this sort of rhetoric is only for show.

What stopped the Cuban Internet in 1996 and what is stopping it today?

The problem today is bureaucracy and its companions -- fear of competition, change and stepping out of line.

Cuba connected to the Internet in 1996, but three factors stifled the Cuban Net: the US embargo, economic depression during what the Cubans call the "special period" after the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the Cuban government's fear of free information, which was also fed in part by the Soviet collapse. As Raúl Castro said in 1997, "Glasnost, which undermined the USSR and other socialist countries consisted in handing over the mass media, one by one, to the enemies of socialism." Cuba would not make the same mistake.

Twenty years later, time has eroded each of those obstacles. China and other nations have filled the gap left by US Internet infrastructure suppliers -- Huawei has replaced Cisco and China played a major role in the financing and construction of the undersea cable connecting Cuba and Venezuela.

While Cuba remains poor, the economy has improved since the special period and there is frustrated demand for Internet service. This should have fueled government and/or private investment, but it has not. Cuba's Human Development Index -- a measure of national income, health and education -- is the second highest in Latin America and the Caribbean, but it is the least connected nation in the region.

Finally, the Cuban government points to USAID projects like ZunZuneo and the Alan Gross affair as proof of a US war on the regime. That makes for good propaganda and provides an excuse for Cuba's lame Internet, but I think Cuba's leaders are smart enough to realize that these efforts, had they succeeded, would have been drops in the bucket. Furthermore, Cuba has had twenty years to observe nations like China, which encourage the Internet while selectively blocking content and, more important, surveilling users.

So, if I am right, what is stopping the Cuban Internet today? Or, to take a concrete example, why would ETECSA, Cuba's Internet/phone/mobile monopoly, want to deploy outdated DSL in homes or 3G mobile technology? Who made those decisions and why?

The problem today is bureaucracy and its companions -- fear of competition, change and stepping out of line.

Consider AP journalist Michael Weissenstein's coverage of the recent Communist Party Congress. He reports that "Raúl Castro blamed 'an obsolete mentality' and 'attitude of inertia' for the state's failure to implement reforms meant to increase productivity."

Weissenstein goes on to state that First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel, long seen as Castro's successor, agreed, saying that obsolete ways of thinking led both to inertia in enacting reforms and "a lack of confidence in the future." Diaz-Canel also stated that "Along with other deficiencies, there's a lack of readiness, high standards and control, and little foresight or initiative from sectors and bureaucrats in charge of making these goals a reality," in an excerpt of a speech broadcast on state television.

If you question what Castro and Diaz-canel are saying, check out the goofy list of occupations that are eligible for self-employment in Cuba, then read New York Times columnist David Brooks' experience as a member of a delegation of distinguished American writers, artists, musicians, and cultural leaders that traveled to Cuba last week. Brooks wrote:

The country has many things going against it as it tries to make the journey. It suffers from the dysfunctions that afflict countries that have giant bureaucratic states lying heavy on society. Those at the top have been trained all their lives to regulate and control. The governing elites speak (at great length) in lifeless ideological jargon.

It would be depressing if that were the end of the story, so let me digress on what makes Brooks optimistic. When he met with Cuban artists, he felt "a sense of national solidarity and a confident patriotic spirit that is today lacking in the United States." He attributes Cuban national pride to their impressive cultural achievements and singles out the writing and life of José Martí, the 19th-century poet and journalist "who shifted the national imagination, who told Cubans who they were and what their story was" -- inspiring a "common faith in a dignified future."

Martí died fighting for Cuban independence from Spain, but feared the possibility of a cultural and economic takeover by the United States. You have to admire a man who both sides of the Cuba debate claim as theirs. He is Cuba's national hero, but, when the Reagan administration began broadcasting "Radio Free Europe/Radio Free Liberty" to Cuba, they named it "Radio Martí" and Obama honored him during his recent Cuban trip. Brooks writes that he "was amazed how much Martí’s name came up in conversation [during the trip] and how little Fidel Castro’s did."

José Martí Memorial. He was honored by Reagan, Castro and Obama.

Having digressed, let's get back to the Internet.

The grip of bureaucracy on the Cuban Internet is not unique. Bureaucracy arises wherever game-playing, not merit, determines success. Excellence and hard work -- "rate busting" -- can become liabilities.

Many nations have made transitions since the dissolution of the Soviet Union -- Cuba is only the latest. Cuba can consider and learn from the Internet strategies of nations from Estonia to Russia. (That should be an easy choice).

Cuba is also free to consider the Internet infrastructure ownership and regulation policies of non-Soviet governments and create a uniquely Cuban Internet -- one that benefits the Cuban people and provides ideas for the rest of the world.

The old guard leaders and bureaucracy made a strong showing at the recent party congress, and their view may prevail -- the future of Cuba and the Cuban Internet is uncertain. As José Martí said “The problem of independence did not lie in a change of forms but in change of spirit." Pogo got it too --

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Update 10/25/2017

Cuba's recent home Internet expansion provides an example of the impact of stultifying bureaucracy when compared to home connectivity in the US. If I go to the Web site of my home ISP, I am given a choice of three plans -- each with a different speed and price. If I go to ETECSA's home Internet site, I find four speed options (1,2,3 or 4 Mbps) and 85 frequently asked questions (FAQs) describing the service.

My Spanish is not so great so after looking at the FAQs, I asked my wife, a native Spanish speaker, if she could help me understand the offering. For example, a monthly payment covers 30 hours of connectivity at a given rate, but what happens if one uses their 30 hours in less than a month? Can they purchase an additional 30 hours? If so, do they have a month to use that time or must they use it during the month they already began? It seems that one cannot carry unused time from one month to the next ("Estas horas no son acumulativas").

ETECSA's home service also seems to differ from other nation's in that the account is not associated with a home, but with a user. If two or more Nauta users live in the same home, would they each be expected to have accounts? It seems there is some flexibility in the place from which one uses their account -- home, a WiFi hotspot or a fixed "navigation" facility, but my wife lost patience and was not willing to humor me by continuing to study the FAQs.

My favorite FAQ is number 84 -- "Why is the navigation slow?" Their answer is that it could be many things and they list four that might be wrong with the user's computer or configuration, but don't mention network congestion or the fact that their offering is too slow for today's dynamic, multimedia Web pages.

The exorbitant price of this slow (the US FCC defines "broadband" as at least 25 Mbps download) connectivity can be explained (not justified) by ETECSA wanting to make a profit on their DSL investment, but the fact that it takes 85 FAQs to define the service is a reflection of the same sort of bureaucracy that led Cuba to enumerate the 201 occupations that are eligible for self-employment. Bureaucracy might also explain the 2015 decision to invest in DSL technology in the first place.

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Update 8/6/2018

Cuba has adopted new regulations for private enterprises and, lest you think the Cuban bureaucracy situation is improving, consider the new regulations for private day-care facilities:

Such a child-care attendant must have a space large enough to devote a minimum of 21.5 square feet to each child and be able to lay in a stock of personal toiletry items for each of the children.

That includes a comb, toothbrush, bath towels, hygienic towels, cutlery, mugs and other items — all labeled with the child’s name. And the new rules specify the hooks for their towels must be a minimum of 20 centimeters (3.94 inches) apart.

As far as I know, the goofy list of occupations that are eligible for self-employment is unchanged.

Protection of state-run enterprises and bureaucrat's jobs remain significant roadblocks.

NPR on the Internet in Cuba -- repeating party lines

Josefina Vidal

NPR is in Cuba for a week, and a segment on today's Morning Edition program touched on the Internet. Josefina Vidal, Cuban director of US relations said "one of the reasons" for Cuban's inability to access the Internet was the US embargo blocking access to underwater cables, but she did not elaborate on the other reasons  nor did the interviewer, David Greene, push her and forgot to mention the ALBA-1 cable.

She also denounced USAID efforts like Alan Gross bringing equipment into the country and the more recent revelation of their covert sponsorship of Zunzuneo.

The segment concluded with a USAID official saying "The US will continue to support the Cuban people's ability to communicate with one another."

When Greene suggested that the Castro administration was using the embargo as an excuse for their poor economy, Vidal challenged the US to drop it and see what happened.

I wish Greene had challenged her to allow Cubans to have satellite Internet accounts -- I'd like to see what would happen.

Is this man a specialist in cybernetic counterintelligence?

Eduardo Fontes Suárez

A 53 minute video of Eduardo Fontes Suárez giving a presentation on the US attempts at cyber war against Cuba was recently leaked and put online. I won't say more about that because you can read an excellent discussion of its content and likely authenticity here. You can also read a transcript in English or in Spanish.

I will focus on the part of the talk during which Fontes Suárez, who is a "specialist in cybernetic counterintelligence," describes a plot by the US to smuggle ten BGAN satellite terminals into Cuba on order to provide unfettered Internet access by NGOs, bloggers and others.

Fontes Suárez seems to have little knowledge of the technology he is describing, which leads him to grossly overstate its capability.

Fontes Suárez says there are "10 BGAN terminals in different parts of the country" and "These ten terminals are around wireless networks which already existed".  Wow -- ten pre-existing wireless networks with unfettered Internet access sounds like it might be a big deal, but let's look further.

How big are these ten wireless networks? The fastest BGAN terminal is capable of "up to" 492 kbps and subject to the usual high latency of a satellite link. So these "wireless networks" are actually just WiFi hot spots with users sharing a slow, high-latency connection. One user may be able to watch a Netflix video or carry on a VoIP conversation, but if there were, say three or four, they would be restricted to very slow Web surfing or text applications.

Fontes Suárez also refers to people sitting at home and seeing a message pop up that says "you're connected to the Internet." He envisions them as pleasantly surprised and happily "logging on" and starting to search, surf and download. Given this description, I get the feeling that he has never used WiFi.

He goes on to talk about connecting 25-30 machines using WiFi. For a start, 492 kbps/25 = 20 kbps. Web sites are unusable at that speed. He goes on to say the 25-30 machines can be spread out over a half mile to a mile. WiFi is designed for small, local area networks. A WiFi link connecting only one user who was half a mile away would take large antennas with line of sight visibility. Even if the 25 machines were in the same room as the access point, the contention for the limited number of WiFi channels and the access point protocols would slow them to a crawl.

He says the minimum number of users of a BGAN terminal is five. Is there a minimum? Does the equipment refuse to work if there are only four users? When BGAN speaks of five users, they are all assumed to be in the same room as or very close to the base station. If there were five users, remember that they would be sharing a high-latency link of "up to" 492 kbps.

Fontes Suárez also asserts that "in Havana there are thousands of wireless computers connected in any neighborhood, from Playa to San Miguel del Padron" and that kids are using them to play games and university students are using them to study collaboratively. Ten BGAN links in different parts of the country would not be of much use to these "thousands" of computers.

I do not know how widespread WiFi is in Havana or elsewhere in Cuba, but I am skeptical of this image of somewhat ubiquitous WiFi in homes and university dorms. I do know that computer ownership and Internet connection rates are low in Cuba. I also know that there would be little reason to have a WiFi access point that was connected to the Internet via a dial-up line.

It also seems that one must register a WiFi LAN. At the MIC Web site, under the heading "Wireless Networks," we see that registration is required:

Los equipos y dispositivos auxiliares que componen estos sistemas están sujetos a la obtención de un certificado de homologación otorgado por el Ministerio de la Informática y las Comunicaciones (MIC), y podrán ser sometidos a los procedimientos de medición y comprobación de sus parámetros por los laboratorios que designe ese ministerio.

The application form is here. (Note that it describes the radios as spread spectrum in frequency band 2456 to 2482 MHz. The frequency is not exactly WiFi -- this may be a typo or indicate some non-standard technology). Does anyone know whether this registration requirement is actually enforced?

Finally, Fontes Suárez claims that BGAN terminals use "linear transmission," which he claims is difficult to detect and it surely sounds nefarious, but what does that piece of snow/jargon mean?

Some have questioned the authenticity of this leak - it may be a plant. One never knows, but it is hard for me to believe that Fontes Suárez is a specialist in cybernetic counterintelligence.