“This service will grow with the increased
infrastructure” of the Youth Computer Club,
Pablo Julio Plá Feria, general director of the
Communications Ministry, told local media
last week. His comments were a response to
protests by SNET users.
SNET expanded rapidly over the past decade
without the internet, relying instead on
wireless connections and cables strung
between houses and buildings. The system’s
antennas are visible on Havana rooftops.
Observers say it has more than 40,000 users in
the capital, many of whom use it to play games
like World of Warcraft or Battlefield or discuss
sports. It emerged as a way to play multi-
player video games in an offline mode. Talking
politics, exchanging pornography or insulting
is prohibited.
The network operated in a gray area in that it
was not illegal but was not allowed either. But
the new regulations allow only lower power
networks covering small areas, leaving SNET
now outside the law.
“SNET is a family,” 24-year-old user Ernesto de
Armas told The Associated Press in a Twitter
interview. “Someone who is not a ‘gamer’ in
Cuba won’t understand what it feels like
to lose not only these fantastic universes,
but the community.”
When the law went into effect July 29,
opposition grew and users requested the law be
amended to allow SNET to continue operating.
In addition to the protests, a Twitter campaign
was launched under the label #YoSoySnet and
#FuerzaSnet. Some young people like de Armas
say they have been visited by police.