The government in Cuba considers full internet access (beyond CubaNet, the national intranet) a scarce resource that needs to be regulated in order to maximise its social benefits as defined by the state. Such an argument runs counter to that used by civil society groups such as the Association for Progressive Communications who, in the World Summit of the Information Society in Tunis, 2005, argued that:

The internet is a global public space that should be open and accessible to all on a non-discriminatory basis. The internet, therefore, must be seen as a global public infrastructure. In this regard we recognize the internet to be a global public good and access to it is in the public interest, and must be provided as a public provision.

Cuba’s statement at the same meeting was:

Cuba shares the view of the vast majority of the countries represented here: Internet shall not continue being administered by the United States. It is necessary to organize a new multilateral and democratic institutionality, which would administer the network of networks, and, at the same time, regulate and promote international cooperation, transfer financial and technological resources, and exchange with equal possibilities for all nations regarding the new information and communication technologies.

Cuba’s policy on ICT is formed in the shadow of the US and the perceived dominance of the US in UN discussions of the information society. So, the three pillars of the US’s position (insistance on the use of the private sector in building competitive infrastructure, the protection of intellectual property rights, and internet security) expressed in Tunis are all contentious issues for Cuba. That the private sector threatens national sovereignty, intellectual property rights become embargos on innovation, and internet security can only be achieved when the US relinquishes its authority over ICANN are all arguments used by Cuba not to engage.

In the same statement Cuba’s then Minister of Informatics says

Cuba considers that the manipulation and interference by the rich countries that are trying to impose a single way of thinking and the patterns of the opulent north on the developing south, should be stopped … An end must be put to the unilateral and arbitrary measures that violate international law and the Charter of the United Nations against countries like Cuba, which withstands the most colossal and brutal blockade in history, condemned just a few days ago at the UN General Assembly by 182 countries, blockade that curtails without any reason at all, our access to new technologies … For Cuba, favoring the social and collective use of the new technologies means to increase their use in education, public health, science, culture, economy, government and the services rendered to the population, with rational and practical solutions.

This intractable situation at the level of states continues a policy which is over 50 years old. What shouts its ommission however, is the lack of engagement with civil society groups internationally – and especially those forging similar ideological solution (at least in theory) to those proposed in Cuba.

With the undersea cable connection between Cuba and Venezuela promised for 2010, Cubans have been urged to be patient. But there is more to the notion of scarce resource and universal access than is expressed in these manoevrings. Whilst universal access is the call, it also conceals the economic and political interests of those implementing content. Universal access, in short, is no panacea. Networked computer access is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for the development of an internet that is conducive to development and social empowerment.

The effect of access is contextual – the effects of new information and communications technologies depends on how they are integrated into the needs and social structures of the social groups for whom they are made available. One group in Costa Rica (Fundacion Acceso) have been developing their work (strongly influenced by the now defunct mistica project in the Dominican Republic) around this notion for the last ten years. They have expressed it in a simple but powerful three-step formula:

1. equitable access to ICTs (broad access irrespective of class, colour sex or language)

2. meaningful use (‘people make meaningful use of ICTs when they know how to combine internet resources with community radio, face-to-face meetings, printed materials, and video, among other things’)

3. social appropriation of new technologies (ie. its not the use of ICTs that count but the changes in the material world that they bring about)

This is a very different approach to universal access than that so often taken by international agencies or expressed in government policies. All such policies are ideological but unlike many others, Fundacion Acceso, is transparantly open about its own. This also emerges in one of its areas of work: evaluating the impact of internet in organisations

Our populations confront a great challenge: how to utilize the Internet in such a way that it generates positive effects on development and provides opportunities for reducing a country’s socio-economic problems. That is why we believe that for ICTs to truly contribute to development, they must overcome the barrier of access and offer an access that is not exclusive but is equitable and universal for all. When the access barrier has been eroded, a strategic use of technology can be found that contributes to innovation and transformations in our work, to innovations in the activities we do, and finally, that contributes to the achievement of more just, participatory and sustainable societies.

The guide they offer looks like this:

A creative lo-tech cube which perfectly matches the philosophy underpinning the organisation.

see a close-up of the sides of the cube.