Cuba will Expose US Internet Discrimination and Prohibition Policy

HAVANA, Cuba, April 20 (acn) Cuba will denounce Washington’s discriminatory actions that ban the island Internet connection and access to public Websites, during the World Forum of Telecommunication Policies taking place in Portugal this week.

The forum, which runs April 21-24, will hear the Cuban demand for equality in Internet access for all nations and the proposal that the International Telecommunications Rules include the prohibition of discriminatory measures as a compulsory requirement for all states and
enterprises around the world, said Pedro Oliva, member of the Cuban delegation to the forum.

In statements to the Cuban News Agency, Oliva said that a similar encounter on standardization approved a resolution in which the International Telecommunications Union declares such proceedings as illicit.

The adopted resolution reads that such a policy denies the right of the states to using the Internet resources, which are practically essential in modern life.

Studies published by the media explain that the Internet band width allowed to Cuba by the United States is only as large as any being used by a single enterprise, or even similar to those of private users who count on that resource in other parts of the world.

Google, for instance, limits the use by Cuba of services such as Google Earth and other applications like Google Desktop, Google Toolbar, and others. When Cuban users try to download such resources their screens display messages reading like this one: “Thanks for your interest, but the product that you're trying to download is not available in your country”, or “Google Desktop is not currently available in your country, and other messages confirming that Internet is another scenario of the nearly-50-year US economic, financial and commercial blockade of Cuba.

(Denunciará Cuba políticas excluyentes en telecomunicaciones)