Havana , Cuba ( CNN ) -- For years , small groups of Cuban dissidents have taken their demands to the streets , calling for political freedom as they get pushed around and shouted down by swarms of government supporters . But a recently leaked video suggests the war between the Communist government and its opponents has shifted to a new battlefield : the internet . The video shows what appears to be an official intelligence briefing , in which a lecturer talks about the dangers and possibilities of the web . `` We are n't fighting the new technology , '' he tells his audience , who are dressed in the military uniforms worn by Cuba 's Interior Ministry officials . `` We simply have to get to know it and use it in our favor , but also know what the enemy is doing . '' The 54-minute video was posted on the video-sharing website Vimeo by someone identified only as `` Coral Negro '' and has since appeared on dozens of blogs , many of them critical of the Cuban government . CNN was n't able to verify the authenticity of the video . Although it was leaked this month , the video appears to have been recorded last summer , well before the social-media-fueled uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East . But for Cuba¹s dissident bloggers , there are plenty of parallels . Yoani Sanchez followed via Twitter the upheaval in Egypt that ultimately led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak and responded with her own tweets . `` What a great lesson the Egyptians are giving us ! '' she wrote . Sanchez has won a huge global audience with her blog `` Generation Y , '' which criticizes the Cuban government and comments on daily hardships . `` There are a lot of similarities with Egypt , '' she told CNN Wednesday . `` The dissatisfaction of the people , a single voice in power for so long . And that 's why I was so enthusiastic about what was happening there . '' But she said there are also very important differences -- namely Cuba 's low internet penetration . Recent figures show an estimated 1.6 million people there are internet users , out of a population of 11.2 million . According to the leaked video , the Cuban government 's fear is that U.S.-backed dissidents will use social networks like Twitter and Facebook to incite unrest . `` Technology in itself is n't a threat , '' the lecturer says . `` What can be a threat is the person behind the technology , in the same way it can be an opportunity for us to do something with it . '' Cuba has jailed American aid worker Alan Gross , who was a subcontractor for USAID . Cuban officials have accused him of distributing illegal satellite equipment to dissidents to help them connect to the internet . The State Department and Gross ' family say he was working with Jewish groups . Gross has been formally charged with `` acts against the independence and territorial integrity of Cuba '' and could face up to 20 years in prison when his case goes to trial . In the leaked video , he 's called a `` mercenary . '' `` It 's just like the Bay of Pigs invasion , '' the lecturer says . `` But this man is coming with different weapons . He did n't come on a boat with a gun in his hand , but it 's the same story . '' Nonetheless , Cuba is n't turning its back on the internet . Dozens of pro-government blogs have also appeared , many of them written by journalists who work for state-run media . `` They have their bloggers and we have our bloggers , '' the unidentified man in the video says at one point . `` We 'll see who comes out stronger . '' For years , the government blamed the U.S. embargo for restricted access to the internet , but this month , it completed an undersea fiber optic cable connecting the island to Venezuela . When that network goes online this summer , Cuba 's bandwidth will increase by 3000 . But the question remains whether Cubans will be allowed unlimited access to it without restrictions . Cuba currently accesses the internet via expensive satellite connections . As a result , the government has said it can not offer internet access to the broader population , lacking the money to create the necessary infrastructure to support it . It has given priority to education and health workers , who often can only access a limited intranet . The government also provides connections at very high costs to foreign diplomats , businesses and journalists .
A leaked video appears to show an intelligence briefing about the internet . The lecturer says the government must use the internet to its advantage . Only a small percentage of Cubans have unrestricted internet access .