Report Reveals Details of How the Cuban Government Censors the Internet Nora Gamez Torres - Miami Herald
go to original September 21, 2017

According to AI, state control over the internet in Cuba threatens the freedom of speech and expression of nearly all island residents (Enter)

The Cuban government has blocked internet content deemed critical of the revolution from reaching users on the island for years, but apparently its censorship methods are not that sophisticated, according to a report by the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI), an organization linked to the open network and free software, Tor.

After analyzing access to more than 1,400 websites in three Cuban cities between late May and early June, three OONI members who traveled to the island found that at least 41 are blocked, mostly news sites and websites of Cuban opposition organizations or human rights NGOs.

“The main conclusion of this study is that Cuba's ISP [Internet Service Provider, in this case ETECSA] appears to mainly censor sites that express criticism (directly or indirectly) toward the Cuban government,” explained María Xynou, one of the authors of the study. “However, internet censorship in Cuba does not appear to be particularly sophisticated compared to other countries with more advanced censorship, such as China or Iran.”

The OONI team concluded that censorship is done using a method known as “deep packet inspection” (DPI), which allows filtering of data when passing through an inspection point.

Only versions of sites that use the HTPP — and not its secure version, the HTPPS — are blocked, potentially allowing users to bypass censorship by simply accessing secure versions of sites, the report indicates.

“Furthermore, while some sites that express political criticism were found to be blocked, many other international sites — which arguably express more criticism — were found to be accessible. This might indicate a lack in sophistication in both internet surveillance and censorship implemented in the country,” said Xynou.

However, this could be a calculated strategy on the part of the Cuban government.

Read the rest at Miami Herald

Related: Amnesty International Takes On Cuba’s Censorship on and Off the Internet (PanAm Post)

Related: Cuba’s Internet Paradox: How Controlled and Censored Internet Risks Cuba’s Achievements in Education (Amnesty International)

Related: Google’s Push for Internet in Cuba Is Helping the Regime, Not the People (PanAm Post)

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