Yesterday I browsed a bunch of YouTube vids of the Stones concert in Havana. Plenty of smartphones in evidence. j On Wed, Mar 30, 2016 at 9:44 AM, William Drake <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > FWIW I had lunch with Vint Cerf at Google in DC the other day and he’d > just returned from a week in Cuba, where Google’s been invited to play a > notable role in broadening out access > http://www.wsj.com/articles/google-and-obama-administration-connect-over-cuba-1458763836. > He said the Cubans actually have some pretty decent technology in place > already, much of it Chinese but also some home grown stuff. So they’re > playing off companies from different countries against each other for > contracts, kind of the new nonaligned movement. > > I suspect many US companies expecting to cut deals quickly will > disappointed, as there’s growing reports of the government imposing delays > and backtracking on agreements as part of an effort to push US businesses > into the ‘end the embargo’ camp in US congressional politics. Not a > surprising strategy, hope it works. US businesses, especially the tech > sector, have become an important force in stopping discriminatory state > policies, maybe they’ll emerge as the key here as well. > > Bill > > > On Mar 30, 2016, at 01:03, Arsène Tungali <[log in to unmask]> > wrote: > > > > I am learning a lot here. I was not following much of the Cuban > information society lately. Thanks for bringing this up! > > > > ----------------- > > Arsène Tungali, > > Executive Director, Rudi International > > www.rudiinternational.org > > > > Founder & Director, Mabingwa Forum > > www.mabingwa-forum.com > > Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo > > Phone: +243993810967 > > > > 2015 Mandela Washington Fellow | ICANN Fellow | ISOC IGF Ambassador | > Activist & Youth Leader > > > > Sent from my iPhone (excuse typos) > > > >> On Mar 29, 2016, at 9:55 PM, Dorothy K. Gordon < > [log in to unmask]> wrote: > >> > >> Dear Olevie, > >> For many years Ghana sent students to Cuba to study Computer > Science. They came back with excellent skills. We have two of them at > AITI-KACE. The embargo had many different kinds of impact. For instance > massive piracy of products that were embargoed and therefore no 'legal' > copy could be obtained; and the creation of a robust Island-wide 'intranet' > which had locally cached and locally created content for use in health, > education etc. Cuba also has a systematic programme of identifying talented > young people for its flagship University of Information Sciences > (Universidad de las Ciencias Informáticas, or UCI). I enjoyed > participating in Informatica a few times. I believe part of the objective > of the meeting was to help the community stay informed of tech developments > globally despite the embargo. I met RMS at Informatica. So Cuban > leadership has anticipated the digital revolution at least in terms of core > skills. I do hope researchers gear up to see how the opening up to the > internet will impact on this groundwork. Will we see a slew of cuban apps > on various app stores? or will innovation be smothered by the availability > of solutions from more mature markets especially those which are proclaimed > as free but are not open. > >> > >> best > >> > >> Dorothy K. Gordon > >> Director-General > >> Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT > >> Mobile: 233 265005712 > >> Direct Line: 233 302 683579 > >> Website: www.aiti-kace.com.gh > >> Encrypt Everything - https://gpgtools.org https://silentcircle.com > >> > >> ----- Original Message ----- > >> From: "Olévié Kouami" <[log in to unmask]> > >> To: [log in to unmask] > >> Sent: Tuesday, 29 March, 2016 7:13:41 PM GMT +00:00 Casablanca / > Monrovia > >> Subject: Re: US dialogue w/ Europe and views on internet access in Cuba > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> Hi everyone. > >> > >> Excuse me to interfere in this discussion but from my humble point of > view, a good integration of any country to the global dynamics of the > information society , depends greatly on the political will of decision > makers placed at the highest level of ladder in each society. > >> > >> With the example of Cuba , I realize that Africa is not so late we > might think in this area. In my country, for example , lives people with > technical skills that the country itself has not ... > >> > >> My 2 cents > >> -Olévié- > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> 2016-03-29 17:00 GMT+00:00 Sam Lanfranco < [log in to unmask] > : > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> Renata, > >> > >> Just a short comment here. "Political Will" is a term that can easily > be misunderstood. There are structural issues in Cuba, but this is not the > place for that discussion. While in Havana I cited the successful > Transition Estonia digital/Internet strategy. Estonia stressed that > political will includes clarity on the principles to be advanced/protected, > as well as abandoning what the Estonians called "legacy thinking" and not > just "legacy technology". Myanmar's recent transition from near zero access > to over 50% (cell) access was also cited as a strategy for blending the > interests of the old telecom system with the new realities of cellular > networks. The bottom lines is that Political will has to embrace more than > the why and what. Political will also has to embrace open space to explore > how to execute the how. It is important to note that the Estonian > transition was developed from within and not imported from outside, while > benefiting from lessons learned elsewhere. > >> > >> Sam L. > >> > >> > >> Some On 29/03/2016 12:23 PM, Renata Aquino Ribeiro wrote: > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> Hi Sam > >> > >> I took a pic of the 2 Cuban representatives here > >> https://twitter.com/renataaquino/status/714848891141808128 > >> > >> They were really vocal to the US Ambassador about agreements which > would increase internet connectivity in the region so one can see the > political will is there (i am assuming they are from government or CS > advocates). Dialogue lines were open, the official line by the US govt > included lines such as "internet is the democratization of power". > >> > >> When someone from Spain asked about dialogue w/ China and Russia as > well for privacy laws (lots of people from banks here and worried about EU > on privacy), the ambassador talked about anticipating something on OECD. > >> > >> So political will is all you see here. But, this in ambassador. If that > will translate further... > >> > >> > >> > >> All the best > >> > >> > >> Renata > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> -- > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> Olévié Ayaovi Agbenyo KOUAMI > >> > >> > >> Directeur-Adjoint de O and K IT SOLUTIONS sarl > >> Editeur de logiciels de gestion (PGI/ERP) S.I.G.E. (http:// > www.oandkit.com ) > >> > >> Président/CEO de l'INTIC4DEV (Institut des TIC pour le développement) > http://www.intic4dev.org > >> > >> Secrétaire Général de l'ESTETIC - Association Togolaise des > professionnels des TIC ( http://www.estetic.tg ) > >> > >> ICANN-GNSO-NCSG-NPOC Communications Committee Chair ( > http://www.npoc.org/ ) > >> ICANN - Fellow & Alumni ( http://www.icann.org ) - Membre de Internet > Society (http:// www.isoc.org ) > >> Membre fondateur du RIK-Togo (Réseau Interprofessionnel du Karité au > Togo) > >> > >> ( http://www.globalshea.com ) - Skype : olevie1 FaceBook : > @olivier.kouami.3 Twitter : #oleviek Lomé – Togo > -- --------------------------------------------------------------- Joly MacFie 218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast -------------------------------------------------------------- -