🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <Co7Du3.Dx0@gpu.utcc.utoronto.ca>, nishri@gpu.utcc.utoronto.ca (Alex Nishri) writes:
> Americans are forbidden from phoning Cuba directly themselves.  I think we
> can all agree that this limits free speech between those in the USA and
> those in Cuba.  Of course, most Canadians respect the right of the USA to
> enact its own laws.  But say, hypothetically, that a Canadian company
> offered the following service: Americans could phone a number in Canada,
> get a second dial tone, and then dial direct to Cuba.  (Without going into
> details, this is not fiction.)

Too bad you got your facts wrong.  Its an economic embargo.  Lots of people
telephone Cuba from the U.S. everyday (especially from south Florida).
However, AT&T (and soon Sprint, yes Sprint got approval to provide telephone
service to Cuba) is forbidden from sending money to Cuba.  So the money
is deposited in an escrow account.

Of course, the Cuban government doesn't like not getting the money.  So
Cuba encourages people to route the calls through other countries (such
as Canada) which will pay Cuba.  The U.S. Government had no problem with
a Canadian company offering a service where people in the U.S. could dial
a number in Canada and then direct dial to Cuba.  They had a problem with
the transfer of money to Cuba.  The Canadian company was blocked from
collecting money from people in the U.S. and sending part of it to Cuba,
not from making telephone calls to Cuba.  
-- 
Sean Donelan, Data Research Associates, Inc, St. Louis, MO
Domain: sean@dra.com, Voice: (Work) +1 314-432-1100