International Environmental regulation - issues and prospects

creation:
"For 2 hundred years we haven conquering nature,
Now we're beating it to loss of life."
-TOM McMILLAN, Greenhouse lure '90.

This record emphasizes that the significant hassle dealing with the global communities in devising and implementing appropriate environmental laws is because of twp diametrically opposing philosophies that are inherently jointly unique- Capitalism and environmental safety. It also suggests how vital pillar of capitalism; non-public assets has juxtaposed itself into international norms as the pretty current idea of sovereignty and that this concept is the worldwide legal norm this is hindering with the macroscopic arena of formulating appropriate worldwide environmental safety.
on the enforcement stage, international locations are unwilling to put into effect legal guidelines exactly because of maintaining the edge in opposition. Capitalism and environmental protection are joined in a clumsy felony unification which leads to useless environmental protection and poor recognition of equity and medium of global course- the law is inherently bias closer to monetary pursuits and for that reason need to be re-formulated with a view to supply effective safety for our planet.
"it's far frightening that we should combat our personal government to store the environment."
-Ansel Adams.

principal international ENVIRONMENTAL problems:

a. Biodiversity- The number of species of plant life, animals and micro-organism, the big diversity of genes in these species, the different ecosystems on the planet, such as rain-forests and coral reefs are all a part of biologically various EARTH.

a. BIODIVERSITY IS important:
It boosts atmosphere productiveness where each species how small, have an critical position to play.

b. loss of BIODIVERSITY AND EXTINCTION:
Sustainable improvement and consumption might assist avoid ecological problems.

c. NATURE AND ANIMAL CONSERVATION:
The pressures to spoil habitat for logging, illegal looking and different undertaking are making conservation a conflict.

d. weather change influences BIODIVERSITY:
fast international warming can have an effect on an surroundings's chances to adopt certainly.

e. CORAL REEFS:
global's marine diversity faces threats from human sports. it's also feared that many would die quickly.
[BIOSAFETY PROTOCOL 2000-MONTREAL, CANADA]

b. weather converting and worldwide Warming:
a. worldwide dimming- clouds replicate more solar rays to space.
b. UNFCCC
c. climate justice and equity.

c. international Warming and populace:
a. COP 15-Copenhagen weather Summit 2009
b. COP 14- Poznam weather convention 2008
c. COP thirteen- Bali climate conference 2008
d. COP eleven- Montreal climate convention 2005
e. COP 10- Buenos Aires weather conference 2004
f. COP 8- Delhi weather conference 2002
g. COP 7- Marakesh climate convention 2001
h. COP 6- Hague climate conference 2000
i. COP 4- Buenos Aires climate conference 2000
j. Kyoto protocol-2002

d. El Nino And climate alternate:
1997 Nino prompted big problems all around the world, from droughts to floods and negative yield of crops.
e. energy safety:
The past power for fossil fuels has caused wars, overthrow of democratically elected leaders, puppet governments and dictatorships.
f. Human populace:
It creates a stress on surroundings, society and assets.
g. natural Disaters:
storm Katrina.
Asian earthquake and Tsunami.
third international debt and catastrophe recovery
h. Genetically engineered meals-
Genetically changed crops and organisms are proving to be dangerous each for surroundings and humans.
i. Sustainable development:
The concept of sustainable improvement moved from numerous environmental movements. Summits which includes Earth Summit in Rio, were essential global meetings to carry sustainable improvement to the mainstream.

consumption AND CONSUMERISM.
(United nations development Programme)
• Generalized figures hide intense poverty and inequality of consumption on the whole.
• If rising international locations additionally observe the equal course as state-of-the-art wealthy nations, their consumption patterns may also be detrimental to the surroundings.
• 20% of the very best income businesses consume 86%.
• 20% of the poorest organizations consume 1.three%
• issues related to intake also impact environmental degradation, poverty, hunger and even upward push in weight problems.

TIMELINE
tasks taken by way of the sector to improve environment

Nineteen Sixties:
1968- Biosphere, worldwide conference for rational use of Biosphere.

Seventies:
1971-Polluter's will pay precept, stated by using OECD.
1972- conference on Human surroundings- Stockholm, 1972
(declaration that environment became endangered.)
1977-convention on Desertification

Eighties:
1981- world fitness assembly adopts a global approach for fitness.
1982- UN convention at the legal guidelines of the ocean.
(Provisions handling pollutants of marine surroundings.)
1984-worldwide convention on environment and monetary
• Brundtland record
1985- Vienna convention on Depletion of Ozone Layer
21 nations + european network.
1987-Montrael Protocol on Substance that depletes the Ozone Layer-36 countries ratified it.
1989- The Basel convention-a hundred nations signed it.
to govern the Trans boundary movement of dangerous waste and disposal.

1990s:
1990-UN Summit for youngsters- environment for destiny.
1992- Earth Summit- UNCED-Rio De Janiero.
international economic system and consequences on international surroundings.
1992-UNFCCC- To combat worldwide warming.
To stabilize GHG concentrations inside the environment.
1993- UN commission on Sustainable improvement.
• To beautify worldwide co-operation
• To rationalize inter-governmental decision making capacity.
1995- world Summit for Sustainable development- Copenhagen
clean dedication to eliminate poverty.
1995- First convention of events (COP-1) to the CCC
a hundred and seventy countries ratified the conference.
imperative problem - adequacy of commitments.
A body became created to expand pointers to assist the COP in the review and assessment of the implementation of the FCCC and in the instruction and implementation of its choices.
1996- ISO 1400- adopted as an international popular for company environment management systems.
1997- Kyoto Protocol- 159 nations attending COP-3 to the UNFCCC agreed to reduce global emissions of GHG.
• It also installed emissions trading, joint implementations and clean improvement mechanisms to encourage co-operative emission reduction tasks among developed and developing nations.

top-5 emitters for the yr 2005
u . s . or location % of global general
annual emissions Tonnes of GHG
in step with capita
China
17 % five.eight
u.s.a.
sixteen % 24.1
ecu Union
11 % 10.6
Indonesia
6 % 12.9
India
5 % 2.1

The projected temperature boom for a range of greenhouse fuel stabilization situations (the coloured bands). The black line in middle of the shaded region suggests 'exceptional estimates'; the red and the blue traces the probable limits.

obstacles for powerful environmental regulation

Sovereignity:
global law Is inherently weak and can not deliver sufficient protection for surroundings for one most important cause- sovereignty. The insistence on states on maintaining sovereignty ends in felony method issues and a scarcity of enforcement or sanctions for non-compliance.
The concept given in lots of treaties. The Tuna Dolphin Case in 1991 substantiates this claim where a GATT panel held that a country can handiest manipulate the consumption of a herbal resource. "most effective to the volume that the manufacturing or intake is under jurisdiction,"
1n 1962, the UN standard meeting held "sovereignty over assets have to be exercised inside the hobby....of the properly being of the nation concerned."
precept-21 of the Stockholm statement states that "do not reason damage to surroundings of the opposite states." The common complaint is that global agreements do now not relaxed actual environmental safety due to the fact their design and operation in the long run affect countrywide pastimes over environmental stewardship. in addition, international regulation is based on the state bargaining and regularly they do not attain a consensus on some thing but a lowest common-denominator foundation which is unsatisfactory. by the time safety expected treaties reached national levels, it's miles vastly watered down and corrupted with capitalist profit motive-there's little safety afforded to surroundings.
The commencement of these principles and treaties is also starting. Kyoto took  and a 1/2 years of negotiations to undertake. Even worse is the implementation time between adoption and enforcement. Susskind concludes "Environmental safety strategies that made experience when they had been first proposed represent 'too little, too past due' by the time they were carried out. Barret eloquently summarizes the argument, "the Kyoto targets virtually replicate what changed into politically viable on the time and not what's appropriate from an ecological standpoint. what is distressing is that what became politically possible at the time meant that U.S. refused to signal it.
The essence of sustainable improvement is the much referred to "improvement that meets the needs of the present without compromising the capacity of the future generations to fulfill their very own needs." the priority of worldwide law is by the time tender regulation from sustainable improvement reaches a countrywide degree; it's far corrupted into simply extending market values to incorporate the environment into the wider economy leading to insufficient environmental safety and inadequate assist to developing countries.
Brundtland said, "people who are bad and hungry will often destroy their instantaneous environment so that you can live on. people mismanage land and nations to industrialise at an ecologically inconsistent fee leading to issues for present and future generations, to take away poverty. Kyoto also has a 'smooth development Mechanism', wherein advanced international locations finance growing nations projects to get hold of emissions discount credit to switch finance and generation.
much rules has been surpassed beneath its Environmental movement Programmes. Its treaties point out Environmental safety standards.

KYOTO PROTOCOL PARTICIPATION MAP-2009

KYOTO PROTOCOL

it's miles a protocol to the international Framework conference on climate alternate with objectives of decreasing Greenhouse Gases that motive climate alternate.
As of 2007, 174 parties have ratified the protocol.
↓
36 evolved countries must lessen GHG emissions.
↓
137 developing nations have ratifies together with Brazil, China and India.

US and Kazakhstan-signatory countries however not ratified.
↓
Treaty expires on 2012.
↓
Kyoto underwritten by using governments, ruled underneath law by UN.
↓
Annex-1: united states of america if fails to satisfy responsibilities; penalized by using 1.three emissions allowance
↓
by means of 2012, Annex-1 has to lessen by five%.
↓
Kyoto has flexible agreements in which Annex-1 should purchase GHG emission discount from someplace else to satisfy their requirements.
↓
Kyoto aimed to cut down worldwide emissions of GHG.
↓
stabilize concentration of GHG in surroundings.
↓
it's far an agreement negotiated as an amendment to UNFCCC.
↓
developed international locations should finance weather related studies and tasks.
↓
it's far a 'cap-and-exchange' machine which imposes a cap on emissions through the Annex-1 countries.

consistent with u . s . inexperienced residence emissions

UNITED international locations FRAMEWORK conference ON climate change
Acknowledging that adjustments in earth's climate and its adverse effects are a common concern for human kind.
↓
largest percentage of GHG emissions comes from developed countries, in step with capita emissions in growing nations are lower.
↓
focus of the position and significance in terrestrial and marine ecosystems of sinks.
↓
Recalling the pertinent provisions of the announcement of the United international locations convention at the human environment followed at Stockholm, 1972.
↓
Reaffirming the precept of sovereignty of states in international Cooperation to deal with weather alternate.
↓
States need to enact powerful environmental legislation.
↓
trendy meeting-forty four/228 on UNCED; on safety of global weather for present and destiny generations.
↓
VIENNA conference-for the protection of Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol on substances that use up ozone Layer.
↓
MINISTERIAL statement of second international climate trade.
↓
want for evolved nations to take instant action in a bendy way; toward complete response techniques accounting all GHG
↓
spotting low-mendacity areas and islands that are susceptible to floods and affects of climate trade.
↓
All, mainly growing countries, want to get right of entry to to sources required to obtain sustainable social and financial improvement.

goal:
The last objective of this convention and any associated legal instruments that the conference of the events might also adopt is to reap, according with the applicable provisions of the convention, stabilization of GHG concentrations the environment at a level that would prevent risky anthropogenic interference with the climate device.
art-1: Definitions
artwork-2: objective
art-three: ideas
art-4: Commitments
art-5: research and systematic observations
artwork-6: training, training and public consciousness
artwork-7: conference of the parties
artwork-eight: Secretariat
art-nine: Subsidiary body of medical and technological advice
artwork-10: Subsidiary frame for implementation
artwork-11: financial mechanism
art-12: communique of data relating to implementation.
artwork-13: decision of questions concerning implementation.
artwork-14: settlement of disputes
artwork-15: Amendments to the constitution.
artwork-16: Adoption and amendment of Annexure to the charter.
art-17: Protocols.
art-18: right to Vote.
art-19: Depository.
art-20: Signature
art-21: period in-between Agreements
artwork-22: Ratification, recognition, approval or Accession.
artwork-23: entry into force.
art-24: Reservations.
artwork-25: Withdrawals.
artwork-26: genuine texts.

ANNUAL CARBON EMISSIONS:

CARBON credit

A value has been assigned to a discount and offset of greenhouse gasoline emissions. Carbon credits and markets are key components of international and country wide attempts to mitigate the increase in concentrations of GHG. One carbon credit score equals one tonne of carbon dioxide.
Carbon buying and selling is an application of an emission buying and selling method. GHG emissions are capped and markets are used to allocate the emissions a number of the group of regulated sources. The goal is to permit market mechanisms to power commercial and industrial strategies within the course of low emissions or less carbon in depth approaches than the ones used while there may be no fee to emitting CO2 and GHGs into the surroundings.
given that GHG mitigation initiatives generate credits, this technique can be used to finance carbon reduction schemes among trading partners around the world.
There are also many corporations that sell carbon credits to industrial and person customers who are interested in lowering the carbon footprints on a voluntary foundation.

CARBON FOOTPRINT:
general set of GHG emissions resulting from an employer, event, and product.
The idea of carbon credit came into life because of increasing cognizance of the want for controlling emissions. The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on climate change) has located that:
"regulations that offer a real or implicit charge of carbon could create incentives for merchandise and clients to noticeably put money into low GHG merchandise, technology and approaches. Such regulations may want to encompass financial investments, government investment and regulation."

HOW CARBON buying and selling EMMERGED?

ANNUAL CARBON EMISSIONS (region-smart)

end
monetary enlargement and income motives are incompatible with environmental protection due to the fact they inhibit environmental regulation at each single level. on the macroscopic level, the formula is hindered because of sovereignty. The state nation system is incompatible with environmental protection problems transcend countrywide obstacles. Such agreements, even after being made take too lengthy. because essentially states are in opposition with one another. eventually whilst international negotiations achieved are left handiest with a compromise, closely biased to capitalism leading to a huge unspecific 'regulation' that isn't always ecologically enough.
when this bad compromise reaches national stage, it is again subtle in implementation thru inclusion of financial devices to realize a few standards. Enforcement is a larger trouble due to the fact capitalism requires firms and international locations to compete. Even for individuals who attempt to enforce environmental regulation, they're inherently economically bias.

In final analysis, at each single level from devising to enforcement to switch technology or wealth the principle trouble to global environmental law is ordinarily capitalism. laws require consensus, unluckily without a major catalyst global environmental law is at ends with an already entrenched device of capitalist norms- each the world over and nationally

Excessive technology and Human development

some primary premises - today's original by way of leaders and supported by way of the led - workout the collective sense of right and wrong present day the led in up to now as they stimulate a willed development. The improvement is typically superior however no longer always civilized. The premises in query are cutting-edge this shape: "Our degree brand new technological advancement is 2nd to none. Upon reaching this stage, we also should prepare our society for peace, and to assure the peace, generation must be revised to foster the policy brand new conflict." Technological development this is driven on this path units a dangerous precedent for different societies that worry a risk to their respective sovereignties. they're pushed to additionally foster a warfare generation.

within the domain modern-day civilization, this mode latest improvement isn't praiseworthy, nor is it morally justifiable. since it isn't morally justifiable, it is socially irresponsible. An inspection cutting-edge the premises will monitor that it's far the closing one which poses a trouble. The ultimate premise is the conclusion brand new two preceding premises however isn't in any manner logically deduced. What it shows is a passionately deduced conclusion, and being so, it fails to be reckoned as a end from a rationally prepared thoughts, at least at the time at which it became deduced.

A society that advances in line with the above presuppositions - and in particular in step with the illogical conclusion - has transmitted the psyche cutting-edge non-negotiable superiority to its people. All alongside, the strength latest passion dictates the tempo ultra-modern human behavior. whether in positive engagements or willed partnerships, the principle contemporary equality fails to paintings precisely due tomodern the prevalence syndrome that grips the leader and the led. And a exclusive society that refuses to share within the collective sensibilities or passion today's such society has, via the expected common sense, emerge as a ability or real enemy and faces war of words on all viable fronts.

maximum state-of-the-art what we study the prevailing world, ultra-modern course, via the media, is ruled through 49a2d564f1275e1c4e633abc331547db technology. Societies which have the maximum contemporary such era also are, over and over, claimed to be the maximum superior. It isn't best their development that lifts them to the pinnacle modern day strength, superiority, and repute. They can also use generation to simplify and circulate forward an knowledge trendy existence and nature in a one of a kind path, a direction that tends to brand new, as a whole lot as viable, a prior connection among existence and nature that was, in many respects, mystical and dangerous. This closing point does no longer always suggest that technological development is a mark cutting-edge a advanced civilization.

What we want to recognize is that civilization and era are not conjugal phrases. Civilized people may additionally have a complicated technology or they may no longer have it. Civilization is not just a depend brand new technology and generation or technical infrastructure, or, again, the surprise modern homes; it also has to do with the moral and mental reflexes modern-day people as well as their stage present day social connectedness inside their own society and beyond. it's miles from the overall behaviour makeup modern day people that each one today's physical structures could be created, so too the question modern day technology and era. as a consequence, the today's bridges, roads, buildings, heavy equipment, among others, that we will see in a society could inform, in a trendy way, the behavioural pattern state-of-the-art the human beings. Behavioural sample may also tell a lot approximately the extent to which the herbal surroundings has been applied for infrastructural sports, technology and technology. mainly, behavioural pattern may want to inform lots approximately the perceptions and expertise ultra-modern the human beings about other people.

I do consider - and, I think, modern day do believe - that upon accelerating the rate contemporary infrastructural activities and technology, the surroundings has to recede in its naturalness. as soon as advancing era (and its attendant systems or thoughts) competes with the inexperienced surroundings for area, this surroundings that homes bushes, grass, plant life, all modern day animals and fish has to cut back in length. yet the boom present day population, the relentless human craving for best life, the want to control life with out depending at the unpredictable condition present day the natural surroundings spark off the usage of generation. generation want now not pose unwarranted threat to the natural surroundings. it's miles the misuse trendy generation this is in query. even as a society might also justly utilize era to enhance best present day life, its people additionally should ask: "how tons era will we want to guard the herbal surroundings?" suppose society Y blends the mild use contemporary generation with the natural environment which will brand newfset the reckless destruction ultra-modern the latter, then this ultra-modern positioning prompts the point that society Y is a lover modern the precept state-of-the-art balance. From this precept, you can still boldly conclude that society Y favours stability extra than chaos, and has, therefore, the feel modern-day ethical and social duty. Any 49a2d564f1275e1c4e633abc331547db generation factors to the sophistication today's the human mind, and it shows that the natural surroundings has been cavalierly tamed.

If humans do now not need to live at the mercy modern-day the herbal surroundings - which, present day direction, is an unsure way modern-day life - but consistent with their personal anticipated pace, then using technology is an issue state-of-the-art route. it'd appear that the principle trendy balance that society Y has selected should only be for a brief whilst or that this is more trendy a make-trust function than a actual one. For when the electricity state-of-the-art the human mind gratifies itself following a momentous fulfillment in technology, retreat, or, at high-quality, a sluggish-down is pretty uncommon. it is as though the human thoughts is telling itself: "technological development has to boost up with none obstruction. A retreat or a gradual manner is an insult to the inquiring mind." This latest thought method best points out the enigma latest the thoughts, its darkish side, no longer its best place. And in modern day to interrogate the present mode contemporary a certain era in line with the commands present day the mind, the role contemporary ethics is fundamental.

Is it morally right to apply this latest technology for this cutting-edge product? And is it morally proper to use this brand new product? each questions hint that the product or merchandise in query are both harmful or not, environmentally friendly or now not, or that they do not only reason damage directly to human beings however at once to the surroundings too. And if, as i've said, the motive latest generation is to enhance the quality latest existence, then to apply technology to supply merchandise that damage each human beings and the natural environment contradicts the reason latest technology, and it also falsifies an assertion that human beings are rational. furthermore, it indicates that the sophisticated level that the human thoughts has reached is not able to grasp the essence or intent contemporary satisfactory lifestyles. in this regard, a non violent coexistence with the natural environment might were abandoned for the sake today's an unrestrained, inquiring human thoughts. The human thoughts would, as it have been, end up corrupted with ideals or thoughts which might be untenable in any quantity modern day methods.

The advocacy this is finished by using environmentalists relate to the question ultra-modern environmental degradation and its poor results on human beings. They insist that there's no justification for producing excessive-tech merchandise that harm each people and the herbal environment. This competition sounds persuasive. high technology may additionally show the peak modern-day human accomplishment, but it can no longer point to moral and social obligation. And so far, the question can be asked: "In what ways can humans close the chasm between unrestrained excessive technology and environmental degradation?"

Too modern day, most modern people tend to suppose that a sophisticated modern-day is leading to a easy one. the previous is supported through the load trendy excessive technology, the latter is on the whole no longer. the former eases the weight present day relying modern-day on the dictates ultra-modern the herbal surroundings, the latter does not. The latter tends to are trying to find a symbiotic courting with the natural environment, the previous does now not. whether or not human comfort should come largely from a sophisticated era or the herbal environment is not a matter that could be without problems answered. If the herbal environment is shrinking due tomodern populace growth and other unavoidable reasons, then superior generation is required to alleviate the pressures to human comfort that arise. it's far the irresponsible proliferation state-of-the-art, say, war technology, excessive-tech products, among others, which can be in need trendy grievance and have to stop.

The case for making 3G mobile Internet access free in Cuba

The economic and social benefits of free 3G Internet connectivity would easily outweigh the cost.

Last week ETECSA began offering 3G mobile access to Cuba's national intranet and the global Internet and President Diaz-Canal tweeted the news:

His tweet has received 216 comments so far and reading through them, many are effusively positive, like:

"This is without a doubt a breakthrough that will benefit millions of Cuban families!! Congratulations!!" and "Excellent news comrade!"

Others were critical, noting that the prices are high relative to Cuban incomes (one said "absurd") and the technology is obsolete -- "Congratulations, but they're 20 years late."

I cannot agree with the de rigueur/obligatory congratulations -- third generation mobile is over 15 years old, only 66% of the population is covered, the price is very high relative to Cuban salaries (access to the national intranet is cheaper than global Internet access) and performance is unknown -- but this is a faltering first step and, like WiFi hotspots, street nets, El Paquete Semanal, navigation rooms and home DSL, it should be seen as an interim, stopgap measure. Hopefully, the Cuban Internet will eventually leapfrog over current technology to next-generation technology -- in the meantime stopgaps are better than nothing.

The next stopgap goal should be to make ubiquitous 3G mobile Internet access free -- like free streets, sidewalks, education, etc. Doing so would create a nation of trained, demanding users leading to the development of innovative, practical applications.

ETECSA, Cuba's government monopoly ISP and phone company, may complain that they do not have the infrastructure to support the traffic that free 3G would generate and can not afford to build the capacity. I have no information on the specifications of the 3G base stations they are installing, but it is probably safe to assume that there is spare capacity since 3G data rates are far below those of today's LTE technology. (A friend just told me that he was seeing 1 Mbps in Havana).

The traffic from free 3G would also require backhaul capacity from the base stations and that can be provided by satellite as well as terrestrial fiber and wireless infrastructure. Cuba currently uses SES's O3b (other three billion) medium-Earth orbit (MEO) satellites for international connectivity and they could also use the O3b network for mobile backhaul. (Note that O3b capacity will increase dramatically in 2021).

O3b is operating MEO satellites today, and they will be joined in the early 2020s by low-Earth orbit satellite constellations from SpaceX, OneWeb and Telesat, which are also potential mobile backhaul providers.

Both ETECSA and the Cuban society can justify the investment needed to provide free 3G Internet access. Bob Metcalfe, the inventor of Ethernet, coined "Metcalfe's Law" saying that the effect of a network is proportional to the square of the number of users. While not a precise mathematical statement, there can be no doubt that the effect of a network on society and its value to whoever owns it increases rapidly as it grows.

As noted, 3G technology is obsolete and one day Cuba will be rolling out modern technology. When they do, people who have been using 3G will understand its value and the value of the applications they have been using and many will be willing to migrate to and pay for faster service.

In addition to trained users, free 3G would generate application developers and Internet entrepreneurs. They would develop 3G applications and content for Cuba and other Spanish speakers around the world and would transition to modern infrastructure when it becomes available.

I've been talking about free 3G from the standpoint of ETECSA and application developers and Internet entrepreneurs, but consider the social benefit of reducing the digital divide and improving government, education, health care, entertainment, tourism, finance, and other businesses, etc.

This has been a back-of-the-envelope case, but it seems clear that the economic and social benefits of free 3G Internet connectivity would easily outweigh the cost. Let's flesh the proposal out.

Cuba rolls out 3G mobile access

What if it were free?

After several months of trials, ETECSA announced the availablity of third-generation mobile access to their national intranet and the global Internet in a televised "round table."

As shown below, they have upgraded 789 mobile base stations to 3G reaching 66% of the population:

Pricing can be by the megabyte (1 CUC≈$1):

or in monthly packages:

The prices are quite steep for a typical Cuban and I suspect there would be relatively few subscribers among the 34% of the population that is not yet covered. Furthermore, many users will have to buy new phones to use the service. (There are still 1,084 second-generation mobile base stations in Cuba).

Network performance during the trials mentioned above was poor -- connections were unreliable and slow. Part of that may have been due to the fact that access was free, but it remains to be seen how fast and reliable the mobile access will be. That will be determined by demand and infrastructure -- the capacity of the base stations and backhaul.

Access to the national intranet costs less than access to the global Internet. While local access saves some congestion on Cuba's international links, it also encourages a Cuban "walled-garden." Cuba is developing local content and services, but they cannot compete with what is available globally. Cuba should open to the world and also aim to be a provider of Spanish-language content and services.

There is also a political dimension. Cuba's president, Miguel Díaz-Canel hinted at a walled-garden strategy when he addressed the Parliament saying "We need to be able to put the content of the revolution online," adding that Cubans could thus "counter the avalanche of pseudo-cultural, banal and vulgar content." I can't argue about banal and vulgar content (and worse), but the cure of a walled-garden in a nation with a government-monopoly Internet service provider is worse than the disease.

(Access to the national intranet portal has been blocked in the US -- I'd be curious to hear from others who can access it).

If performance is good enough, mobile access will be more convenient and comfortable than the current WiFi hotspots or navigation rooms so it will become the way most Cubans go online. That would be an improvement, but far from ideal. As I have said many times, 3G mobile, WiFi hotspots, home DSL, public navigation rooms, street nets, and El Paquete Semanal are stopgap measures and Cuba should be planning to leapfrog current technology in the future.

We should not forget that 3G mobile technology is around 15-years old. Another interim step could be to augment Cuba's current O3b satellite and terrestrial connectivity to significantly increase backhaul capacity and offer free 3G mobile access. Doing so would lead to a population of trained, demanding users and enable many innovative, practical applications. That may sound crazy at first, but we take free sidewalks, roads, firefighting, etc. for granted and a few cities offer free public transport -- why not ubiquitous, free 3G connectivity?

Coming back to Earth -- ETECSA promised to make 3G mobile access widely available by the end of the year and they did it. You can watch the video of the televised announcement here:

Rural home connectivity in Cuba

Last month Cuba's government monopoly ISP ETECSA announced special home connectivity rates for some of the poorest towns in rural Cuba. The monthly charge for 30 hours of 512/256 Kbps DSL access in those towns will be 5 CUC. In other areas where home connectivity is available, the minimum monthly charge is 15 CUC for 30 hours of 1,024/256 kbps service and faster, more expensive, plans are available.

(The setup fee of 10 CUC was also dropped for the rural areas, but users are still required to purchase a modem).

This is better than nothing, but it seems more like a business decision than a universal-service policy.

• The condition of the wires and the distances of homes from central offices may explain the rural speed limit of 512/256 kbps.
• The demand curve for connectivity in poor, rural areas is different than in urban areas.
• The slow speed means users will accomplish less during their 30 hours online. (Surfing modern Web sites at 512 kbps would be tedious at best).
• The lower speed will enable ETECSA to get by with less backhaul capacity.
• The number of users who are able to get the service will depend upon the number of central offices ETECSA upgrades. There was a sharp increase in the number of digital central offices in Cuba during 2017, but we don't know how many will be upgraded to provide DSL connectivity to homes where this low-cost service will be available:

In 1998 I noted that by the standards of the developing nations at that time, Cuban networks and telecommunication infrastructure were atypically dispersed. I attributed that to their revolutionary history and values, but this offer seems like a small drop in the bucket -- more PR than substance.

Google -- kill Google Plus but save G+ Communities.

Last March, Google discovered a bug that exposed around 500,000 Google Plus profiles. Only static, optional profile fields like name, email address, occupation, gender, and age were exposed -- no other information like post content, Community memberships, viewing history, etc.

They discovered and immediately patched the bug last March and spent six months investigating it before going public yesterday. They say their investigation found "no evidence that any developer was aware of the bug or abusing it" and "no evidence that any profile data was misused." In spite of their assurance that no harm was done, Google stock dropped 2.6% last Thursday morning, when the news may have leaked out, and it is down about 4% for the last five days.

In the same post as they announced the bug, they announced they would "sunsetting" the consumer (free) version of Google Plus (but not the paid, enterprise version). Google or any other company has the right to discontinue an unprofitable product or service and, as they point out in their post, the "social network" portion of Google Plus was a failure, but there is more to Google Plus than social networking.

I quit reading my Google Plus feed long ago -- it was filled with spam and fake news based on my (faked) political interests, but I have found Google Plus Communities to be valuable and useful. While Google could not compete with Facebook's social networking feed, the features and interface of their Communities are superior to Facebook Groups. (Even if you like Facebook Groups, there is no way to transfer the members and history of a Google Plus Community to a Facebook Group).

Google should save Google Plus communities. There is a precedent for such a move. When it was launched, Google Plus included a service called Hangouts on Air (HoA). HoA enables video "chats" among up to ten people. That is not unique, but the chats can optionally be broadcast online and archived on YouTube. HoA was and remains a unique, valuable service that I and many others use. In 2016, Google removed HoA from Google Plus and integrated it into YouTube so it will not be affected by the elimination of Google Plus.

The decision to zap Google Plus provides a good example of the danger of dependency. There is an Internet saying -- "do what you do best and link to the rest." That makes sense and it has facilitated the rapid proliferation of Internet-based services, but it also leaves one vulnerable. The cost of using a service you depend upon may rise or one day or, like Google Plus, it may disappear.

I use HoA and Communities in my teaching and other professional work. Google saved me when they moved HoA out of Google Plus and I hope they do the same with Communities.

Google signs memoranda of understanding with four Cuban organizations

What might those memoranda call for?

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel addressed the first annual meeting of Cuba's IT professional society, the Unión de Informáticos de Cuba.

In his talk, Díaz-Canel announced that four Cuban organizations -- the Havana City Historian’s Office, the University of Computer Sciences (UCI), Infomed, Cuba's medical network, and the Ministry of Culture had signed memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with Google.

The Granma article on the talk (English, Spanish) did not say what the topics of those memoranda were, but Lorena Cantó of Agencia EFE told me she thinks the MOU with the Havana Historian's Office will have something to do with Havana's 500th anniversary and she reminded me of Google's previous multimedia tribute to José Martí.

Canto also suggested that Google might be giving UCI access to Google Code and other tools. That would be cool, but involving them in an undersea cable project would be even better. Last June Senator Jeff Flake said Google was close to reaching an agreement with the Cuban government on a submarine cable, presumably from Havana to Florida. That would be of significant benefit to Cuba since their current fiber backbone connects to a cable landing point at the east end of the island, far from Havana and other populated areas. A second cable would improve performance today and reduce the future need for backbone infrastructure.

What about the MOU with Infomed? Cuba has focused on medical research, training, and practice since the time of the revolution and Infomed, their medical network, predates Cuba's connection to the Internet. Could Google be offering hosting service or high-speed connectivity to Infomed? That would not only benefit Cubans but would facilitate access to Infomed's research, databases, and community from all Spanish-speaking and developing nations. An augmented Infomed could also be a valuable medical education resource.

Infomed, 2013 (source)

Finally, might the MOU with the Ministry of Culture call for Google to establish a YouTube production space in Havana? It would be close to the US and a natural place for Cuban artists, filmmakers and musicians to produce content for the Spanish speaking world. (They currently have YouTube Spaces in ten cities, none of which is in a Spanish-speaking country).

Here is a look inside Google's Los Angeles production studio:

This post has been 100% speculative -- we'll have to wait to see what these four MOUs call for.

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10/17/2018

For a Spanish translation of this post, click here.