Havana (AFP)

Without internet at home, Juan was able to play the famous video game Dota 2 by connecting to an illegal intranet that, for years, connected the people of Havana. But the new regulations related to the generalization of the web on the island threatens this service.

Called SNET, for "Street Network", this intranet was born ten years ago with cables pulled from house to house in this country which was, until very recently, a less connected to the world.

"I was connecting with a 100-meter (long) network cable to a friend's home, which in turn, with another 100-meter cable, was connecting to another friend, who was using an M2 Nanostation ( wireless) to connect to our local administrator "in his neighborhood, explains to AFP Juan, who prefers to remain anonymous.

"The local administrator was using other wireless devices to connect to a general administrator who connected us all, that's how SNET worked," he adds.

This network, which was not open to the world, was also not connected to other cities on the island. SNET, on which the Cuban authorities have long ignored, had a strict regulation to avoid problems: no pornography, no politics.

Over the years, forums, local social networks, real-time chats, voice servers, have sprung up on SNET, which gives access to movies and Wikipedia.

"SNET helped me to improve my level in e-sports, with (games like) Dota 2 or World of Warcraft (...), allowed me to make new friends, to have access to a gamers community in Cuba and learn the computer code, "says Juan.

Some 40,000 people would use this service through the Cuban capital through 9 main servers connected by wifi, according to the latest estimates. This experience had been replicated in other provinces and the project was to connect them soon.

But in December, Cuba made a first leap forward in technology, with the arrival of internet on mobile phones (3G).

- "Reordering" -

And since the end of July, Cubans can import routers and create private WiFi networks, linked to the signal from the hotspots of the state operator, Etecsa: no more obligation to go to a public place to connect to it, Everyone will be able to surf from home, after legally registering their equipment.

But the technical specificities required by the new legislation, particularly in terms of frequency and cabling, have quickly sounded the death knell of informal data exchange networks like SNET.

For Ernesto Rodriguez Hernandez, Deputy Minister of Communications, interviewed by AFP, this "reordering in the use of the radio spectrum" is a "sovereign right" of the Cuban State.

"We have one of the only Dota 2 offline platform, with all that that entails, developed by a Cuban, we have our own Steam server (video game distribution platform), World of Warcraft, etc. hundreds of multiplayer games, "laments Juan.

Discussions with the Ministry of Communications (Mincom), peaceful demonstrations: in the face of threats to SNET, the community mobilized, sometimes denouncing intimidation of the authorities not to go down the street. But without concrete results.

The island's authorities eventually designated a government entity, the Cuba Computer Joven Club (JCC), the main Intranet of the island, to absorb private networks and bring them into compliance with regulations.

Despite their reluctance, SNET users did not have much choice. The merger process is currently in progress.

"The good news is that through the JCC, SNET will connect to other similar networks in other cities in Cuba through state fiber optics," says a Street Network administrator at AFP.

But this "will subject users to control of the regime," tweeted the US Embassy in Cuba.

"Neither winners nor losers, the homeland won," said a blog Mincom.

© 2019 AFP