Cuba: Next Hotbed for IT Investment

I always wonder what information I’m not seeing on the Internet because of invisible censorship and subtle manipulation.

Is the information I see online being chosen to shape my opinion on matters of politics and belief?

It’s possible — and being mindful of that possibility doesn’t make you a paranoiac.

When I find myself reacting to online media, I have to consider why my reactions occur and who or what might have triggered them. I’d say my awareness of the issue is pretty well founded, too.

A few months ago, Facebook admitted it can basically control your emotions by altering which posts you can see at a given time.

Facebook participated in a psychological experiment that showed social media contributed to “emotional contagion” and that social feeds could be tailored to manipulate users’ emotional states.

The United States has serious problems with Internet censorship and surveillance, but it has not affected the spread of the technology. Internet penetration in all of North America is the highest in the world at 87.7%.

I can’t even imagine what it’s like in a Communist country where it’s understood that the government is actively working to control you.

In Cuba, Internet censorship and surveillance are widespread, and government control is tight. You can bet anything you read on the Cuban Internet has been put there as either active or passive thought control.

As a result, Cuba has the worst rate of Internet access in the entire Western Hemisphere.

At below 15%, it’s quite a stark contrast to the U.S.

Last week, President Obama announced that the 54-year trade embargo against Cuba will be lightened to allow travel, commerce, and financial exchanges with the Communist republic.

Our embargo against Cuba was a major contributing factor to the pathetic growth of the Internet there.

At least, that’s what Cuban authorities liked to say.

But with a change in the embargo and Cuban excitement for improved communications, American IT companies have access to a new client.

The State of the Cuban Internet

Access to the Web in Cuba has been severely limited.

The quality of access is very low, it’s prohibitively expensive, and connections made within the country are heavily censored.

Most of the population is denied access to anything outside of a government-censored intranet. Any potential dissent on this intranet is blocked, and any material that is published there must be approved by the National Registry of Serial Publications.

Even access itself is limited to sanctioned Internet cafes that charge users by the hour.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says Cuba is one of the 10 most censored countries in the world, along with Eritrea, North Korea, Syria, Iran, Equatorial Guinea, Uzbekistan, Burma, Saudi Arabia, and Belarus.

While the communist regime has maintained strict control over all media for decades, the advent of blogging has had a positive impact. In 2011, the Castro regime unblocked web portals Desde Cuba and Voces Cubana, which contained content that is critical of the government. A prominent community of independent bloggers arose despite poor conditions.

While some of these bloggers were imprisoned for their writing, the most famous among them announced she would start publishing her own general-interest online newspaper this year. Official statements from the government also put a huge emphasis on expanding the Internet directly into homes via ADSL connections.

Two weeks ago, the Cuban Communist Party paper Granma ran an editorial called, “The Computerization of Society, A Priority for Cuba.” The editorial said:

Cuba has been, and is determined to connect with the world, despite the propaganda against the economic blockade, the redoubled vigilance and fourth generation wars. The decision has been made not only to drink from that immense source of knowledge that is the “information highway”, but to put in it the best of our culture, education, knowledge and humanism, which are the core foundation of the Cuban Revolution and thinking of its leaders.

The government opened 154 public Internet cafes and has 26 projects to expand the network’s footprint. It is also open to working with the United States.

Despite numerous points of contention, Granma says Cuba is seeking to “strengthen international cooperation” in network infrastructure and security.

Changes to the Embargo

In 2009, the Obama administration began to allow telecommunications companies to obtain licensing deals in Cuba. The idea was to increase access to cell phones and satellite television to open the country up a little bit.

In the latest round of changes, telecommunication “items” and their related infrastructure will be allowed to be exported to Cuba. This follows up on the 2009 change and will open the door for companies offering services to the Cuban government’s expansion program.

Also, U.S. companies headquartered in other countries will be allowed to do business with Cuban individuals headquartered in those countries. All the tech companies that have been moving to Ireland, for example, will be allowed to meet and negotiate with Irish Cubans.

These are obviously incremental changes and don’t constitute a huge open door with the country. After 54 years of blockade, it will require a lot of walking on eggshells if the U.S. and Cuba are going to start working together again.

Fortunately, communications technology looks to be one of the first inroads, and if the embargo is lightened, it could act as a crowbar to pry open Cuba’s tightly sealed front gate.

Good Investing,

Tim Conneally

 @TimConneally on Twitter

For the last seven years, Tim Conneally has covered the world of mobile and wireless technology, enterprise software, network hardware, and next generation consumer technology. Tim has previously written for long-running software news outlet Betanews and for financial media powerhouse Forbes.