Cuba Internet Freedom Conference
This September, Miami will host the first ever Cuba Internet Freedom Conference (CIF), an event that brings together digital innovators and independent journalists from Cuba with other individuals focused on improving digital rights and fostering uncensored access for the island.
The event is organized by the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB) and will be held on Monday, September 12, and Tuesday, September 13, 2016 at the Miami Ad School, in Miami’s Wynwood Art District, as part of Social Media Week Miami, which runs the entire week, until Friday, September 16th.
For the first time ever, a group of developers, policy makers, nonprofit professionals, entrepreneurs, concerned citizens and others, will share a space with Cuban Internet innovators on an exchange of ideas that aims at educating people about the actual situation of the internet in Cuba. “Who can connect and how?,” “Cuba’s underground network,” “Internet as a universal right,” and “Circumvention and Censorship,” will be some of the topics of the conference. The attendee’s list includes leaders from Cuba, such as Rosa María Payá (Let Cuba Decide), Eliecer Ávila (Cuba, Somos+), Yaima Pardo (Cuba, OFF_LINE documentary), Miriam Celaya (Cuba, sin EVAsión), who will be joined by other experts like Prof. Ted Henken (Baruch College, CUNY), Prof. Larry Press (California State University Dominguez Hills), and Ernesto Hernández Busto (Penúltimos Días, España).
During two days of sessions, panels and workshops, the Miami Ad School will be filled with Cuban digital pioneers and thought-leaders, to share Internet issues in and out of the island. CIF is free and open to the public, and anyone can follow the conversation using the hashtag #CubaIF.
Cuba is a place that has long been cataloged by the organization Freedom House, as the Western Hemisphere’s most restrictive environment for information and communication technologies and having one of the lowest internet penetration rates in the world. Just recently, the United Nations declared Internet access as a basic human right, and Cuba opposed the move.
About OCB
The Office of Cuba Broadcasting oversees Radio and Television Martí, its news website Martínoticias.com, and associated social media platforms. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, the Martís are a multimedia hub of unbiased and objective news, information, and analysis that provide the people of Cuba with interactive programs seven days a week through satellite television, shortwave and AM radio, and digital platforms.
About the USAGM
The U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), an independent international media organization overseen and funded by the US government, puts objective, professional news and information content to work on behalf of U.S. global interests and national security. USAGM networks include the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (Radio and TV Martí), Radio Free Asia, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa) and the Open Technology Fund. USAGM programming has a measured audience of 420 million in more than 100 countries and in 64 languages.
