Can Cuba get the OLPC? The OLPC's official position

Or Syria, Iran, Iraq, etc.?

You know what? The issue worried me, because a comment by Carlos got me thinking, and the problem of the embargo on Cuba is no small thing. But there are ways around it, through triangulation, and I’m preparing a special article about that.

One of the advantages of our era is that we can ask the sources directly (something journalists used to do, and bloggers ignore completely), so I wrote to Walter Bender.

Below is the email exchange with Walter, in English, but here is a summary of what the president of the OLPC told me:

As a US foundation, the OLPC has to respect the laws of that country. But if any of the countries with export problems expresses interest in the project and its principles, they will look for a solution, either through a partner (a third country, for example) or by going directly to the State Department to see what can be done.
2.- The OLPC is an institution that operates internationally, and if Chile, for example, were to implement OLPC, it could then serve as a platform for implementing OLPC in Cuba, if the interest is there.
Cuba and Venezuela have expressed interest in the project, but have not moved forward on it.
The Slashdot article is a gross distortion of the facts; if Cuba wants XOs for its children, some solution will be found.
The export restrictions apply to the core of the Fedora operating system; they do not affect the XO’s own developments.
The XO’s developments are open and free, and anyone can take the OLPC’s work and implement it anywhere in the world.

Here is the email I received from Walter Bender:

From: Walter Bender
Sent: Viernes, 29 de Junio de 2007 19:26
To: Eduardo Diaz
Subject: Re: OLPC software: our first release and beyond.

1.- What if some of the countries with export control  issues, like Cuba,  Irak, or Syria, wants to implements OLPC,  do the Foundation have any restriction a priori about this?

As a US-based foundation, we are obliged to follow US law.
That said, if and when there is any interest expressed in the one-laptop-per-child concept by Cuba, Iraq, Syria, etc., we  will figure out a way to work with them or find them a  partner who is not bound by the same restrictions. If  necessary, we'd approach the US Dept. of State to find a way forward. Further, one of the reasons we have insisted that we  work internationally is so that the international community  adopt the principles of the program so that it need not have  a direct dependency on OLPC. By this logic, perhaps Chile, if  they were to institute one laptop per child, could then bring  the program to Cuba. That would be in keeping with our mission.

2.- Do Cuba, or Venezuela has any interest on the project?

Yes. But they haven't yet gotten very serious about it.

3.- Are the statements of slashdot valid? Is imposible  for the children at     Cuba to have access to the XOs?

They are a gross distortion of the facts and misleading. As   per the scheme I outlined about (or many others) the children  in Cuba could have access to the XOs. The first step, as in  any country, is to establish the political will to provide  this opportunity for the children of Cuba.

4.- Do Fedora restrictions on exports affects the  software of the OLPC?

No. This is a restriction only on the  core OS, not the applications that are written by the international open  source community and hence are not under any US restrictions.
Further, since we have done everything open and free, anyone  in the international community is welcome to take our work, recast it, and offer it to children anywhere.

...

- walter

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