The site which is famous throughout the world for providing a simple and fast way to find out information in more than 8168 millions of web sites is consulted more than 200 millions of times a day. In addition, it offers to users other opportunities like searching free codes font, see maps and aerial pictures, locate online publicity or find what its lost in our computers. These options however are not available for Cuban people.

Google is considered an example of a new technology company. It was founded on September 27, 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two doctoral students in Computer Sciences at the University of Stanford. In a friends garage and with the contribution of relatives and friends they created the first site thanks to an algorithm of search made by themselves.

First, only eight people formed Google staff and its facilities did not exceed the first garage and a small office later. Today, they make up a mega company with hundreds of employees whose head office is in California, United States and some subsidiary companies in Dublin, Ireland and in Buenos Aires, Argentine.

Its profits are considered among the highest ones in the informatics sector, it is the most valuable company in the stock market and it has been expanded lately with several purchases or fusions like the acquisition of the You tube video site at an amount of 1650 millions dollars or the Double Click company specialized in publicity through Internet at a cost of 3 100 millions dollars.

On the other hand, Google works in relevant projects like the one aimed at developing online tools for text, information and images processing and at the same time it has became the world referent of news with its Google News service.

Also, we have to add an even more global view of the virtual world with the launching of important tools like the online translators (Google Translate), the searching for school books and information, the technique that best allow to locate a site in a good position with the Page Rank or the creation of local sites in every country including Cuba.

Although its apparently liberal philosophy, Google is placed in United States, therefore, not only follows the law but increases the denunciations of collaborations with its policies that include espionage to supposed terrorist people.

A simple request to access specific Google services from a Cuban server results in a polite but sharply denial in some of them. Among the prohibited services are:

Google Earth: This program, according to its site, has a free download. It shows high-quality air pictures from all over the world took by a satellite, including Cuba and even to those places relevant for the national security. Those pictures include a list of interest places like roads and hotels and even we can get objects closer or farther and insert marks or print pictures and send them by e-mail. Since August 2007, Google Earth offers also the possibility to access Sky, a virtual telescope that allows users to watch virtually the sky in the same way it is seen from the earth.

Google Desktop: This tool offers the possibility of finding texts in e- mail messages, team files, chats and web sites visited by users what avoid organizing manually files and messages.

Google Ad Sense: This service for webmasters and web publicity companies is a space that shows text with the aspect of a Google search, where the announcement links appear. The webmasters receive a payment for every click in the Ad Sense links of its web site, something prohibited by the American blockade.

Google Adwords: Quick and simple way to advertise on Google offering both cost-per-click (CPC) and cost-per-impression (CPM) pricing regardless of budget. Since there are no normal commercial relations, Cuban products or companies can not have access to this service.

Google Code Search: This searcher within the mega searcher was launched on October 5, 2006 and allows web users to look for Open Source code through Internet. This let programs developers to exchange knowledge and take advantage of others experiences.

Google Sketch Up: This free software of Google is aimed at designing structures in third dimension (3D). It is a small show of a program originally designed for modeling 3D buildings that can be geographically referenced and placed over the images of Google Earth to observe how it could be placed in its environment.

Extraterritorial limits

The aforementioned services are some of Google programs to which Cuba is not having access today. It is curious that some programs like Google Earth or Google Desktop were not banned at the beginning because Cubans could download them, which is not possible nowadays.

It is contradictory that services like Google Code Search, that promotes the facilities of the free software and the free exchange of knowledge, opposes, with its refusal, to a movement always favored by Google creators.

Question without answer

It is completely illogical do not recognize the great usefulness of Google as an essential tool for acquiring and exchanging knowledge through Internet.


Thats exactly the intention of Cuban people when accessing to this service every day or even the same government of the country that facilitate that Google has a personalized site under the domain of nacional.cu.

It could be asked why does the mega searcher is not answering in the same way and provide to national people access to all of its services? Does Google is also blocking us?

(Cubahealines.com)