Bridling “The Wild Colt of New Technologies” — Will Cuba and Norway Censor the Internet Nationwide?

Communications technologies have often been national projects. With the notable exception of America, most countries relied on their governments to built their phone, radio and television infrastructure. While this may provide broader access, it also brings up the question of control.

China is famous for not one, but two Great Walls–the earthen one visible from space, and the so-called ‘Great Firewall of China’ which blocks content from passing through a Communist Party controlled network membrane. But China isn’t alone; many Arab countries also have national filters. Nepal’s national service also has a filter, instituted because monks were slowing down the entire Nepalese data pipe because they couldn’t stop browsing for porn.

Two countries in the news this week for national filtering schemes are Cuba and Norway. According to the AP’s John Rice,

A senior Cuban official has defended the country’s Internet restrictions as a response to U.S. aggression and called for controlling “the wild colt of new technologies.”

Communications Minister Ramiro Valdes opened an international conference on communication technologies Monday by complaining that Washington is choking Cuba’s access to the Internet even as U.S. military and intelligence services use it to undermine the communist government.

Internet technologies “constitute one of the tools for global extermination,” he said, referring to U.S. policies, but they “are also necessary to continue to advance down the path of development.”

He defended Cuba’s “rational and efficient” use of the Internet, which puts computers in schools and government computer clubs while prohibiting home connections for most citizens and blocking many sites with anti-government material.

“The wild colt of new technologies can and must be controlled,” he said.

Valdes, who has fought alongside and then governed under Fidel Castro since 1953, is an influential figure in Cuba’s communist hierarchy, although he was not among the small group Castro named to oversee its affairs under acting President Raul Castro after he fell ill in July.

Valdes expressed dire suspicions of U.S. intentions for the World Wide Web, citing post-Sept. 11 security measures and news reports that technology giants Microsoft and Google have cooperated with U.S. intelligence agencies.

“These actions bring the destabilizing power of the empire to threatening new levels,” he said.

Reporters Without Borders responded quickly to Valdes:

Reporters Without Borders took issue today with comments by Cuban communications minister Ramiro Valdes yesterday describing the Internet as a “tool for global extermination” and as a “wild colt” that needed to be tamed.

Valdes also insisted that, if few Cubans were online, this was due to a US embargo that prevented Cuba from have decent Internet connections. In Reporters Without Borders’ view, it is in fact due to the Cuban government’s desire to control the flow of information throughout the country.

“The US embargo prevents Cuba from connecting to the Internet by underwater cable and this obviously does not favour development of the Internet, but we published a report in October that shows that the authorities deliberately restrict online access,” the press freedom organisation said.

“It would anyway have been astonishing if a country that has no independent radio or TV station or newspaper did allow unrestricted access to the Internet,” Reporters Without Borders continued. “We await the creation of a better Internet connection via Venezuela, as the minister announced, and we will then see if the government finally allows its citizens access to an uncensored Internet.”

Now comes news (via Slashdot) that Norway is considering a similar system to keep “hate speech” and pornography off Norwegian browsers. As any Slashdot reader can tell you, these filters can be circumvented without too much trouble if you’re a sufficiently savvy computer user.

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