Yoani Sánchez' digital newspaper, 14ymedio, is online
The daily Web newspaper 14ymedio looks like a fully traditional digital "newspaper" with news, sports, culture, opinion, fashion tips, weather, etc.
The 14ymedio "declaration of intentions" says the team is committed to promoting truth, freedom and human rights, without ideological or partisan ties -- they hope to provide a space for respectful debate and to contribute to the peaceful transition to democracy. A group of 28 writers and intellectuals, including Mario Vargas Llosa and Lech Walesa, signed a request that the Cuban government respect 14ymedio and allow it to exist with free expression.
Evidently some pro-government people were not happy with the launch of 14ymedio -- the Cuban domain name server was hacked, and Cubans looking for 14ymedio.com were automatically redirected to a pro-government Web site. Doug Madory of Renesys reported that the hack was local to Cuba and the site was visible in foreign nations. Madory speculated that the hack had been done by someone inside ETECSA.
Today, relatively few people on the island can afford to access 14ymedio online, but stripped down PDF and text versions are available. For the first issue, they were quite minimal -- hopefully they will improve -- becoming something like the daily New York Times Digest. It could also be included on flash drives that are regularly distributed on the island. Regardless, I hope the hack was a rogue action and the paper turns out to be the impartial forum envisioned by the founders.
- "yoani Sánchez To Begin Foreign Tour In March"
From the Miami Herald: By JUAN CARLOS CHÁ[email protected] Yoani Sánchez, the dissident Cuban blogger who has developed an international following, will begin a series of foreign trips and presentations March 9. Sánchez,...
- The Chringadecuba Blog Has Been Suspended.
In July, 2012, blogger Carlos Alberto Pérez moved his blog from Wordpress to his own domain chiringadecuba.com because he worried about the possibility of Wordpress censorship. Ironically, his Wordpress blog is still online, but Chiringadecuba.com has...
- The Internet Press Hypes Cuban Wifi Access
Poster with WiFi announcement at the Technology Center (14ymedio) While I was on vacation it was widely reported that ETECSA would be providing megabyte (megabit?) per second WiFi Internet access in Santiago de Cuba for $4.50 per hour. ETECSA subsequently...
- Granma Says It Is Now A Priority -- Is This True Change?
An article in Granma says the "informatización" of society is a priority for Cuba. They say the 154 public "navigation" rooms were a trial balloon -- it is not clear whether they were referring to the technology or public acceptance -- but evidently...
- Has The Alba-1 Undersea Cable Changed Anything?
In January, I posted a note about a blog post by Renesys analyst Doug Madory showing that Cuba had begun testing the ALBA-1 undersea cable. Madory's data shows the round trip "ping" times for packets traveling between Cuba and four other cities. ...