I will never support any leader who shuts down the media or the Internet...

[cynatnite]

I don't care who it is or the reasons behind it.

It will never be a right thing to do in my book.

[Avalux]

1. Agree. Freedom of speech. n/t

[tekisui]

2. I'm with ya on that one.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. You got that right!

Recommended.

Off to the Greatest Page with you!

[sufrommich]

4. I agree. Access to information is a human right. nt

[Duer 157099]

5. Agree. It's the "Tilt" of the political world

Game over.

[Earth_First]

6. Better get on the horn...

the Internet Kill Switch is back in the news in the U.S.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/01/kill-switch-legislation/

[ananda]

7. And net neutrality is out the window.

Really, the USA is no model for freedom of speech and information
these days.

[gateley]

12. +1 nt

[southernyankeebelle]

8. You kidding we already have a media that is in lock step with the president

of either party. If the media did their job before we went into Iraq do you think we would have gone? The only one at the time was Donhue and Keith O. of MSNBC. They were scared to death of Donhue. the media is in bed a long time ago. We do not have freedom of the press. Why do you think the internet is so great?

[cynatnite]

9. If the internet sucked as badly as you think, would you be able to get on DU to bitch about it?

Media does have it's issues, but it's a hell of a lot better than in places like...well, let's see...

China
North Korea
Egypt

I'll take my internet and my media over the rest of the world any day of the week.

[Billy Burnett]

10. President Obama supports the embargo on Cuba (that includes access to the internet).

The US extra territorial sanctions on Cuba forbid Cisco from connecting Cuba to the only Caribbean fiberoptic WWW cable. Mr Obama continues to support this, yet decries the lack of access to the internet that is imposed on Cubans by the US embargo.
:crazy:

[cynatnite]

11. You have to have a permit from the Communist party to access the internet in Cuba...

It's heavily controlled and monitored by them. In fact, the authorities in Cuba called the internet "the great disease of the 21st century".

[Mika]

13. Completely untrue.

Where on earth did you pick up that BS?

I've lived in Cuba, have family there, and have visited for extensive stays. You are mistaken.

Internet access is too expensive for the average Cuban - mainly because Cuba doesn't have fiberoptic access to Cisco's Caribbean trunk, instead Cuba relies on satellite access, which is slow and expensive.
Any Cuban who can afford it can and does get internet service.

Have you never heard of Yoani Sanchez & Generation Y in Cuba? How do you think she runs her anti Castro blog in and from Cuba? How can you post something so authoritative w/o knowing this?

The primary restriction to internet acces to Cubans is the cost - and that is made prohibitive by the US sanctions on Cuba, so the entity for restricting Cuban's access to the WWW in the USA.

---

[cynatnite]

14. Reporters without Borders...

http://en.rsf.org/cuba-going-online-in-cuba-internet-19-10-2006,19335.html

http://www.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/rapport_gb_md_1.pdf

I should also add, that I do for one second believe that Cuba is any bastion of free press by any stretch of the imagination.

[Mika]

15. I'd rather believe my lying eyes than Cubanet republished "reports" that RSF publishes.

Do your homework. RSF (or AI) has none of their own people there. They are simply republishing paid for "reports" from IRI, NED, Mellon Scaife funded, and RW exile run Cubanet.

I'm basing my post on many actual experiences in Cuba, including living there. You?

Anyway, I'm going back to reading the emails I just got from family and friends in Cuba, then reply to all of them - as I do every day or so. :thumbsup:


Have a nice evening. :hi:

---

[cynatnite]

16. Do you have a source that Cubanet published this...

Or why it wouldn't be true?

Educate me, please. How else am I supposed to get the correct information?

Of course, I know it's always eaiser to believe anything that backs up your opinion and if you have anything to counter my belief that Cuba censors and monitors everything...please show me.

I've always believed that Cuba had no free press or media whatsoever.

[Mika]

17. I don't have the time at the moment, but I'll follow up on it.

You can go to Rsf website and AI and HRW and check their funding sources for their Cuba work.

Cuba has news stands with all of the foreign papers and magazines for sale, and they're available for free at local libraries, just like here. Plus every Cuban can register for a free internet account at every library i-net kiosk. Cuba also has a wide array of local papers and magazines - ranging from local/national news, op-ed (including anti commie), to TV soap and movie star gossip rags.
Believe me, I was shocked to see this the first time because I, like you, had been led to believe something quite different.
Notice that Americans are travel banned from going to see Cuba for themselves by the US government - not the Cuban government - so its kinda hard to see Cuba easily for Americans.


Have a good one. PM me so I can get back to you in a few days with some info. In the mean time, why don't you check out DU's LAtin America forum, where there's lots of well informed discussion there about this.

DU's LAtin America forum - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=405

BTW, I'm a Dr, and I've attended many professional exchange and lectures there before W stepped up the travel ban on Americans of non Cuban decent.

:hi:

---

[cynatnite]

18. I will do that. Thank you. n/t

[donheld]

19. Indeed

[garybeck]

20. Who is responsible for Al Jazeera blackout here in the US?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/30/al-jazeera-english-us_n_816030.html

WASHINGTON - Canadian television viewers looking for the most thorough and in-depth coverage of the uprising in Egypt have the option of tuning into Al Jazeera English, whose on-the-ground coverage of the turmoil is unmatched by any other outlet. American viewers, meanwhile, have little choice but to wait until one of the U.S. cable-company-approved networks broadcasts footage from AJE, which the company makes publicly available. What they can't do is watch the network directly.

Other than in a handful of pockets across the U.S. - including Ohio, Vermont and Washington, D.C. - cable carriers do not give viewers the choice of watching Al Jazeera. That corporate censorship comes as American diplomats harshly criticize the Egyptian government for blocking Internet communication inside the country and as Egypt attempts to block Al Jazeera from broadcasting.

The result of the Al Jazeera English blackout in the United States has been a surge in traffic to the media outlet's website, where footage can be seen streaming live. The last 24 hours have seen a two-and-a-half thousand percent increase in web traffic, Tony Burman, head of North American strategies for Al Jazeera English, told HuffPost. Sixty percent of that traffic, he said, has come from the United States.