US contractor has spent five years in a Cuba prison for distributing Internet equipment

The Obama White House has once again called for Cuba to release 65-year-old Alan Gross, a US citizen who is being described in widely-distributed press reports as an "American government contractor." But on the fifth anniversary of Gross's imprisonment on a 15-year sentence, it's worth remembering the nature of the crimes against Cuba's "independence or territorial integrity” with which Gross has been charged.

Gross, working with the US Agency for International Development, distributed equipment intended to get Jewish Cubans online, including laptops, Wi-Fi routers and satellite phones. Those devices look to Cuban authorities to be the tools of subversion.