It is almost impossible to imagine being a young person without Internet access these days, but until very recently, this was the case in Cuba, where home Internet connections are banned for all but a handful. Anyone who wants to go online is expected to pay what amounts to nearly a quarter of a month's salary for an hour of online use in government-run hotels and Internet centers. Most Cubans simply live offline, but a minority of islanders have secretly built a solution to their Internet problem.

Gathering their funds together, they have created a private network of more than 9,000 computers with inexpensive yet powerful hidden Wi-Fi antennas and Ethernet cables strung over streets and rooftops that connect to the entire city of Havana, The Associated Press reports. The network, which started in 2001, is named SNet -- short for “streetnet”

"We really need Internet because there's so much information online, but at least this satisfies you a little bit because you feel like, 'I'm connected with a bunch of people, talking to them, sharing files," said Rafael Antonio Broche Moreno, a 22-year-old electrical engineer who helped build SNet.

No one is trying to take down the government with their file-sharing. Everyone involved mostly wants to play online games, such as "World of Warcraft" or "Call of Duty." They trade jokes, chat with their neighbors and spread health tips.

And they are wary of anyone who might break the Internet rules.

Users who do break the SNet rules, by, say, file-sharing outside of prescribed hours, can be blocked from the network for a day.

If users distribute pornography, they can get a lifetime ban.

More than 9,000 computers have connected to SNet over the past five years. They have about 2,000 users connected on an average day.

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