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>There was no ban on home computers Surprising, was there no opposition to russian occupation in Serbia? In Poland there was a strict ban on personal ownership of typewriters, fax machines, copiers, printers, radio transmitters, modems and computers (3 year prison term minimum). CIA was smuggling those to Poland with the help of Church https://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/18/world/reagan-and-pope-rep... >The report in Time adds many new details, particularly the role of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Roman Catholic Church in opening networks across which telephones, fax machines, printing presses, photocopiers, computers and intelligence information moved to Solidarity. Personal possession anecdote from book "High-tech behind the Iron Curtain. Electronics, computers and control systems in the Polish People's Republic" ("High-tech za żelazną kurtyną. Elektronika, komputery i systemy sterowania w PRL" 978-83-8098-094-5) >In 1984, "Informatyka" magazine, involved in the dissemination of these machines, reported on the adventures of Mr. Przemysław, who received in April [...] a package from his brother in Toronto, containing the VIC-20 microcomputer, power supply, cassette recorder, a set of cassettes for television games and English language manual and connecting cables. The Customs Office in Gdynia refused to issue an import license, stating that it could issue [...] only if the computer was necessary for the citizen's professional or scientific work It slowly got better in second half of the 80s. COCOM relaxed import sanctions in 1984 on low end 8bit gaming machines: "New Media Behind the Iron Curtain: Cultural History of Video, Microcomputers and Satellite Television in Communist Poland" https://research.utu.fi/converis/getfile?id=51338894&portal=... >The breakthrough in the domestication of computers in Poland took place
in the mid-1980s, most likely between 1984 and 1986. In the global context, this
might have been relatively late, but in the context of the Eastern bloc it seems that
Poland was within the norm. There are two main reasons behind this chronology: one international, one local. Firstly, on an international level, the embargo on 8-bit technology was relaxed in 1984. Computers had been at the heart of the
CoCom debate since the mid-1970s, but – as Mastanduno reports – it was not
until July 1984 that the embargo on the most popular 8-bit microcomputers was
removed, even though at the same time new restrictions were introduced regarding various telecommunications software and solutions. In 1985 you could finally legally buy 8bit Atari in Pewex - chain of special shops established to siphon western currency out of the black market. >Secondly, on a local level, as Kluska reports, in the autumn of 1984, the “[Polish] customs office
ceased to make it difficult for citizens to import microcomputer equipment.” |
Not really, because it didn't last for any length of time.