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<section id="preface-overview">
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<title>Overview</title>
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<para>
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On April 2009, I decided to stop working for cuban State. This
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decision emerged with the increasing feeling of repression
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experimented when one, as system administrator, isn't agree
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with the restrictions impossed by cuban State and tries to
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find an alternative way to express oneself differently. In
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this environment, one can realize that the cuban political
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system lacks of such independent alternatives for cubans to
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use. I don't pretend to use this book to detail the political
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system I live on, but I do want to say that the more I got
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involved with the cuban political system the more distance I
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felt between the most pure of myself and the actions the
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system expected from me to do as system administrator.
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Nevertheless, it is motivating to see how we are able to
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realize about such things thank to bright minds like Richard
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Stallman with his philosophy about freedom and an immense free
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software community under constant development which provides
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the medium to express the free software philosophy as a way of
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living.
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</para>
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<para>
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In these last years (2009-2011), the cuban State has shown
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signs to start using free software distributions with the idea
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of <quote>reaching a technology independency</quote> which is
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quiet contradictory to me. What independency we are talking
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about here? Independency for whom, and from whom? The only
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way I see the cuban State will be able to reach such
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independency (as long as I understand its political system)
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would be creating and maintaining an entire technical
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infrastructure (e.g., computers, network devices, operating
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systems written from scratch, etc.) inside its political
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boundaries without any intervention from the outside.
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Otherwise, the cuban State would be inevitably attached to
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someone that can differ from it and, that would be something
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unacceptable for cuban State because it would compromise the
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former idea it had about independency.
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</para>
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<para>
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The cuban State is misunderstanding or trying to distort the
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real meaning of free software and the philosophy behind it.
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The free software is built by people and dedicated to people
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whom might be in need of it, with the hope of being useful and
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garantee the freedom of computer users paying a monetary price
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or not for it. The cuban State, on the other hand, introduces
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free software at convenience because there are entire
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operating systems free of charge the cuban State can study and
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change as needed, not in the sense of the freedom it provides
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to people. The cuban State uses free software as another
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impositions to control what software does people use and which
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one doesn't.<footnote>
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<para>
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When I was working in the health sector of cuban State, my
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superior told me once that I couldn't keep using &TC;; on
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servers any longer, because system administrators at
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central level stopped using Red Hat related distribution
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and started to use Debian. I don't want to enter in a
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debate why one or another distribution, that's not the
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point. But I do want to mentione that this decision
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couldn't be taken from one day to another without any
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consideration about all the time people spent studying
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(and working for) one specific GNU/Linux distribution. My
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opinion was rejected and they kept themselves showing me
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that it was a politics to follow, no matter what I thought
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about it. I couldn't accept that and fired up myself. I
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cannot change from one operating system to another just
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because someone wants to.
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</para>
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</footnote> Some people might see that it is free software
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anyway. Yes, that's true, but think that again: Shouldn't you
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have the freedom to decide what free software to use, and also
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what community you join to? No one must impose you anything
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about which social community you participate in, that is a
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decision you need to take yourself, not someone else. The
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free software isn't free because of its name, but the legal,
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social, economical and political environment it is used in. If
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licenses used by software producers (either free or privative)
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to release their work isn't protected somehow, software
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producers won't be motivated to create any software at all
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(either free or privative).
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</para>
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<para>
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Consider what's happening in Cuba with Windows, the operating
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system produced by Microsoft corporation. When one install the
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Windows operating system, one of the first screens in the
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installation process is the License under which Microsoft
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releases its product. This License expreses what you can do
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and cannot do with this product (e.g., you cannot install it
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without paying Microsoft for doing so). In Cuba, I've seen no
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protection to make users to comply with such licenses. Anyone
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is able to install a Windows system, even in at statal levels.
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Now, if the Microsoft license has no protection in Cuba, what
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interest does the cuban legal system would have to protect the
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free software licenses (e.g., GPL) which give freedom to
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computer users?
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</para>
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<para>
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The main problem here, as far as I can see, is based on
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different ideas about the same concept. The free software
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movement was initiated by Richard Stallman in the United
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States of America, based on the political system of that
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country. In order to use free software, in the sense of
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freedom thought by Richard Stallman, it is required that a
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similar political system be present, or at least one that
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respects the free software licenses. Otherwise, I don't see a
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way for cuban people to understand what free software is, nor
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the philosophy behind it.
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</para>
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<para>
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Free software communities are the place where free software is
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produced. There are international, national and local
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communities grouped under free software philosophy. In Cuba,
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because all the communication media are controlled by cuban
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State and cuban State uses it to its own benefits, it is
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difficult to people whose differ from cuban State to
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have access to communication media where the free software
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communities live in. I strongly beleive that for the free
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software philosophy to touch the heart of cubans, the free
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software communities must be accessable to all cubans.
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However, while the cuban State keeps itself being inbetween,
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controlling how the cubans can or cannot integrate any
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specific way of living, there will not be free software in
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Cuba, nor any freedom for cubans to make use of.
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</para>
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<para>
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Another popular affair frequently mentioned by the cuban State
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information media is the migration from privative to free
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software. The migration from privative software to free
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software must be initiated from people deepest comprehension
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of what they are doing, not from impositions of another
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inquestionable order everybody needs to comply with. So,
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cubans need to feel what freedom is and express it in order to
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perceive a deep impact of free software in cuban society. We
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cannot pretend that cubans will use free software based on a
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lie or a distorted idea of all the freedom it provides, that
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idea won't last much before it falls itself into pieces.
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People need a way of identifying themselves apart from any
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social or political system in order for them to be able of
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decide whether or not to be part of one.
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</para>
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<para>
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It is impossible to truly defend freedom if one doesn't have
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felt what it is. The cuban State never talks (at least on its
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information media) about introducing free software for freeing
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the cuban society from privative software. In fact, if you
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compare the privative software and the way cuban State
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restricts information,<footnote>
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<para>
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See resolution 129 emitted by the cuban Ministerium of
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Informatics and Telecommunications (MIT).
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</para>
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</footnote> you may find them very similar. The resolutions
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emitted by cuban State are specific to statal instituions that
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use computers to share information. I don't know of any legal
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estipulation about using information and communication
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technologies by nautural people outside the statal sector and
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spite of it, I've heard of people that has been called by the
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cuban State security departament to explain why they built a
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computer network in the neighbourhood to share information
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(isn't that obvious) and finally they were intimidated to stop
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doing so. There isn't a legal instrument in either direction
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that one can use as pattern to act legally. The cuban State
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has all the legal power to condemn you as cuban, but you are
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completly naked against it.
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</para>
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<para>
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Internet access is another obscured issue inside Cuba. Around
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2008, Cuba and Venezuela signed up an agreement to connect
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each nation with a trasatlantic fiber optic cable for high
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speed Internet access. In 2011 the cuban State announced the
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cable had been touched the cuban territory, but nothing more
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has been mentioned so far. There is a terrible silence about
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it. Some people are woundering why to spend so much money on
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that if very few cubans can make use of it, others prefer to
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think that the entire project failed. It is difficult to know
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what happend exactly because, again, there is no alternative
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way of communication but those provided and controlled by the
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cuban State. The fact is that there isn't a way for cubans to
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contract an Internet service at home, nor a viable way to
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acquire a fixed telephone line at home either. However, the
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same isn't true for extrangers coming from other countries
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whose are visiting Cuba or staying inhere as residents. The
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cuban State permits these persons to access Internet paying a
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service in offices called Telepuntos or from home using
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different fees. Some cubans cannot understand this, nor the
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logic behind it either.
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</para>
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<para>
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In Cuba there is only one telecommunication corporation named
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ETECSA. This organization gives the impresion of being very
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tied to cuban State and controls everything related to
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telephone networks and dedicated links for data transmistion
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in the island.<footnote>
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<para>
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I heard of a case where someone tried to establish an
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independent connection from Cuba to another country using
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the air as phisical medium for data trasmission and that
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person is pressently suffering years in a cuban prison for
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doing that. The cuban State considered such action as a
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risk for national security. At this moment I haven't more
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information about this case. It is very difficult to be
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accurate about such things without an alternative
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information medium, apart from those under cuban State
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control.
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</para>
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</footnote> Based on the fact that the telephone network is
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the only communication medium most cubans have direct access
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to, my attention is centered on it, as phisical medium to
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exchange data using computers. It is important to remark
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that, when using the telephone network as medium for data
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transmission, there are limitations in the number of
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simultaneous connections it is possible to phisically
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establish between computers, it could be difficult to obtain
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the required communication devices inside the island, and it
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could be too much expencive to make international calls in
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order to exchange information with public services available
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on different networks outside Cuba's political boundaries.
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Besides all these restrictions, the telephone network has a
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national scope that can be efficiently used by computers to
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transfer data all over the island at a cost of national
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telephone calls providing, thus, an alternative medium for
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data transmision that people can use to communicate themselves
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whatever thing they need to.
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</para>
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<para>
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To protect the information passed through the telephone line,
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people can make use of the <application>GnuPGP</application>
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application or the <application>Openssl</application>
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cryptography toolkit, both available in &TC;;.
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06f3d0 |
</para>
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06f3d0 |
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06f3d0 |
<para>
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I beleive that most of problems the cubans presently have are
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caused by a lack of information we need to face in order to
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understand what we are and where we are going to, in the sense
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of an interdependent human being's society. To face the
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information problem, it is needed to make available
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independent ways for cubans to express themselves in freedom
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and provide, this way, the routes needed to work out the
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problems we face today. That's my goal with this work:
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educating myself in the compromise of providing an independent
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space for cubans to discuss and coordinate how to create
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collaborative networks using the cuban telephone
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network<footnote>
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2f162f |
<para>
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Considering that I and most cubans haven't Internet access
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at present time.
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2f162f |
</para>
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</footnote> as phisical medium to transmit information using
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computers in freedom.
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06f3d0 |
</para>
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06f3d0 |
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06f3d0 |
<para>
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06f3d0 |
The motivation for this work was taken from the free software
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06f3d0 |
philosophy exposed by Richard Stallman in his book
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|
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06f3d0 |
<citetitle>Free Sofware Free Society</citetitle> and my
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35b3ac |
personal experience from 2003 to 2009 as active member inside
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35b3ac |
&TC;; international community.
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2f162f |
</para>
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2f162f |
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2830b6 |
</section>
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