Eh? Wasn't the KJV Bible published in 1611? There were still Roman Centurion's then? Or are ye refering to the Byzantine (East Roman Empire)?

Dear Anonymous Cuban,

We have your friend. He didn't want to give up your name at first, but after we broke a few of his fingers, he was able to provide us with a description and your whereabouts. We've decided not to pursue the matter, as trying to get first post on an imperialist dog's website isn't a problem for us. However, your friend would appreciate it if next time you didn't use his "no questions asked" courier service for such a trifling matter. When he gets out of jail in three years, you may wish to discuss this with him further.

Thank you Comrade,

The Cuban Government

Did he run Linux?

Well, mine said : "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope..." but then it glitched out.

Cuban here (though I'm no longer in Cuba).

Be aware that Yoani is not real. Yes, the person exists, but her "opinions" are all paid for (or at least seeking a reward). She does not represent the views or the reality of the Cubans. She is not interested in giving Cubans access to information, she - just like the Cuban government - is at most interested in giving them access to propaganda. It is very hard to get access to information, because everyone wants to pick and chose what to give you. If you read her blog, you will probably notice this... almost poetic posts full of half truths in which any "good" thing is left unsaid.

This is one of the examples. It is true that sneakernet is a major way of exchanging data. It is even encouraged. One time, a government official, in a sickening display of ignorance, stated something along the lines of "everyone can access the internet, they just have to go to a library, ask what they want to know, and the librarian will download the webpage to a floppy". I used to carry not only usb drives, sometimes even up to 3 hard disks, in my pockets. Bringing a hard disk to a university, looking for an IT person and getting him to open one of the computers to insert the hard disk and copy everything they had was a regular occurrence. I was one of those IT persons... my desktop computer was permanently open, until we got an external enclosure just for that purpose. I tried once to set up a couple of "sneakernet stations" so people could come in, explore the ftp servers and download everything they wanted. You don't need encryption, unless what you are transporting is really illegal (a foreign news article is not illegal, child porn is) and you are high profile enough that the police may want to go through the effort of checking your data (unlikely, most don't even know what "data" is).

That said, encryption is illegal[1]. So one could argue that using encryption is more risky than not using it: a news article critical of the government is not illegal, the same news article encrypted is. This is moot, however... it is very unlikely that your data will be checked either way. I carried some data encrypted, mostly password lists or ssh private keys - it would have been highly irresponsible to carry my employer's data in plaintext. Of course, if you are carrying around your accounting book detailing how the CIA is paying you... you probably want to encrypt that, or even better, don't carry it around.

Regarding the export controls: probably the only area in which they are completely ineffective is in software and data. No one in Cuba cares about that. Copyright is ignored to the point that movies and TV shows shown in national television were torrented + "sneakerneted" to the TV station[2]. Same happens with software (to the despair of f/oss advocates). This is the main content of the underground networks: software, music, music videos, movies and tv shows. My hard disks used to contain a mirror of Debian and Ubuntu... and a copy of 1984 and Animal Farm that I was reading at the time, downloaded from the university's ftp server.

(I'm not defending the illegality of encryption, or the export controls, or that the police and the prosecution have too much power and that they can use their ignorance against you... Nor am I saying that it is ok because some of it is also a problem in the US. I am also not defending censorship. I'm just pointing out how deceitful Yoani is, and using the post to explain that the reasons encryption is not wildly used have nothing to do with the US export ban.)

[1] In very silly ways. For instance, to renew the "networking license" for the university, I had to state that no encryption was used, even though using https and ssh instead of telnet was mandatory to get that license. I know, I once stated "Yes, we use encryption, e.g: ssh, https,..." and the license was denied until I submitted the same form without that sentence.

[2] Funny anecdote, when The Fellowship of the Ring first arrived at the university network about 2 weeks after the release, I added a tiny mark during the opening credits, just to check how far it would spread... When it was shown on TV, I looked for that mark... and there it was.

Every time someone posts about some awful dictatorship like Cuba, someone on Slashdot invariably equates them to the US. I like putting freedom in "scare quotes," that was a nice touch, but also really lazy. You basically did not have to substantiate or prove your point at all, yet you still got 3 points, phenomenal. I am sorry, but having to swap forbidden books using flash drives dwarfs whatever first-world problem crawled up your posterior and made you feel like you could ever possibly understand what it is like to live in a mind-controlling, life-or-death, blighted country like Cuba.

Sneakernet is still alive in the US. Check your kid's ipod. Where did he get the content? Most of it is likely from the Sneakernet. Many kids don't have the money to blow in iTunes.

It's like a cabriolet covetable convertible spider topless targa car.

Well, imagine a car driven by an angry man. That's cuba. Now imagine a semi truck. That's me. Now imagine you're standing in the middle of the road. You're the flash drive. Cuba tries to take the flash drive, but it's no match for my semi truck, so I run it over. Then I run you over, for asking for a car analogy. And everyone is satisfied, the end.

Say you had a VW Microbus, and the insides of the windows are permanently fogged with antifreeze from a leaky heater core. You lend your friend Eddie the Microbus for a few days, but before he picks it up you write "frist psot" on the front passenger window. After a day of driving it, Eddie loans it to his pal Joe to move a couch, but before he gives it up he writes "hot grits" on the back window. Joe adds "STFU noob" to the windshield, but before he has a chance to move the couch, his grandma needs to borrow the Microbus to get to a bingo tournament. This goes on and on for years. Eventually you get your car back, with every window covered in messages.

Now imagine there are hundreds of thousands of VW Microbuses in your pants. This is what's happening in Cuba.

What? Never heard of volunteer translators?

I do translations for free, for people like Joel Spolsky and TED, neither of which is precisely poor.

Whatever it is you're smoking, please share.

Network coverage? Unless things have changed drastically in the past 7 years or so there are probably only a handful of Cubans in the entire city of Havana that even own a computer of any kind. There are internet cafes. Although not many and they aren't cheap for a Cuban. Which is probably intentional.

Last time I was there actually owning a computer was against the law. Only foreigners were allowed to own one. I think Raul changed that policy though, but an income of $10 per month isn't going to buy you much of a computer. This sneakernet probably uses mostly internet cafes and work computers, of which there are probably not many.

If I were in charge of surpressing dissent, I'd add 3. Mandate all computers be sold with a government-approved antivirus program. As well as being a functioning (though hardly world-leading) antivirus, it also has a hash index of known subversive content. Upon detecting this, it immediately informs the government. Obviously this only works on internet-connected computers so it can download updates and report back violators, but those are also the ones you want to catch the most - people who can not only take part in the sneakernet, but also add new material or transfer incriminating files out of the country to a global audience.

Pat downs are basically useless for this.

The smallest available form factor for flash memory is the MicroSD card ; which comes in capacities up to 64GB in a device the size of your fingernail, and can be concealed in any number of places - a roll of body fat, beside the gum in the mouth, taped to virtually any location on the body, inside a body cavity, tucked between any of the layers of a pair of sneakers, tucked into the hem of your coat, etc, etc.

Even the full sized USB thumbs are incredibly easy to conceal in a cavity. And what do you do about smartphones, MP3 players, etc, that all come with their own vast complement of flash RAM? Ban iPods?

Policing this is basically impossible, because the number of police you'd need to police it effectively would become uneconomical very rapidly. Even to dissuade this kind of sneakernet, you're talking random arrests and full strip-searches including X-ray and cavity search of a significant number of the population - which is yet more incitement to revolution.