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Viewing cable 08HAVANA660, SURFING THE NET IN HAVANA

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08HAVANA660 2008-08-14 18:09 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY US Interests Section Havana
VZCZCXYZ0009
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHUB #0660 2271809
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 141809Z AUG 08
FM USINT HAVANA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 3627
UNCLAS HAVANA 000660 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR WHA/CCA, DRL AND R-BUD JACOBS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EINT TINT KDEM KPAO CU
SUBJECT: SURFING THE NET IN HAVANA 
 
1. (SBU)  Chief of Mission and spouse (providing technical 
support) set forth Tuesday afternoon to cruise the internet, 
Havana-style.  Armed with a list of internet centers supplied 
by the PD section's local staff, COM wanted to check what he 
had heard from Cuban users of USINT's internet facilities as 
to the limitations on Internet access elsewhere. 
 
2. (SBU)  Our first stop on the list was a GOC site with two 
Internet centers.  It looked promising: at the entrance was a 
sign listing prices -- six dollars an hour, three dollars for 
thirty minutes.  Unfortunately, the lady at the entrance 
informed us the center was closed for the day.  At our second 
stop, another GOC site listed with one Internet center, we 
were told they had no Internet, but the employees helpfully 
pointed out a hotel a block away that for certain offered 
Internet.  Wandering over to the hotel's front desk, we were 
told that they used to have an Internet center but closed it 
down when they began to offer Internet in the hotel rooms. 
One computer remained for public access, but it was located 
in an open air patio and thus frequently was broken, as was 
the case that afternoon. 
 
3. (SBU)  However, the front desk pointed us in the direction 
of another hotel four blocks away.  Upon arrival, we 
discovered the Internet center tucked away on the third 
floor.  Five terminals, $6 dollars an hour, with the 
clientele a mix of Cubans and Spanish-speaking tourists. 
 
WHERE CAN ONE SURF? 
------------------- 
 
4. (SBU)  Using Google Cuba's (google.cu) web browser, you 
can access the USINT website, the Department of State, or the 
United Nations.  You can read on-line the Washington Post or 
New York Times.  You can access the websites of international 
human rights NGOs, such as Human Rights Watch or Amnesty 
International, and even download the entire HRW 2007 report 
if you have patience and twenty minutes to spare.  Access is 
by satellite, and speeds were only a bit slower than those in 
USINT or in the Chief of Mission's residence. 
 
WHERE IS SURFING PROHIBITED? 
---------------------------- 
 
5. (SBU)  You cannot change your browser from Google.cu to 
Google.com, or to Google.ch (Switzerland) or even to 
Google.cr (China).  You cannot access the webpages of some 
past and present USG grantees for Cuba programs, such as 
Directorio Democratico Cubano, the Cuba Center for a Free 
Cuba, or the Grupo de Apoyo a la Disidencia.  If the 
Google.cu browser is set on the "Cuba pages" option, the 
results of Google searches are strikingly different from a 
search done using Google.com.  Typing in USINT using 
Google.com, for example, yields the USINT webpage as the 
number one site.  Typing in USINT using the Cuba pages 
browser yields a long list of vitriolic GOC sites depicting 
skullduggery between USINT and the Cuban dissident community. 
 
FINAL THOUGHTS 
-------------- 
 
6. (SBU)  The Internet center operator said that users stick 
mostly to e-mail, not surprising at a cost of six dollars an 
hour.  Buying an Internet card is easy if one can afford it, 
and the cards last for thirty days.  USINT will be looking 
more into the evolving local conditions for Internet, and how 
this can be used in our outreach and website operations. 
USINT welcomes input from Washington, where ongoing work on 
programs to evade Internet filters may have relevance here. 
FARRAR