[Advocacy Advisors] Marco Civil da Internet (Brazil)

Fri Aug 23 06:13:40 UTC 2013

hey folks,

I'm curious to know if anyone on this list knows much/anything about
changes to the Marco Civil da Internet resulting from the NSA leaks?

I've just been reading this Washington Post story interviewing Ronaldo
Lemos, and it's pretty interesting -- I'm curious to know if anyone knows
more. Note I'm *not* asking the WMF legal team (or anyone else) to put time
into researching this -- I'd just like links or basic info if anyone has
that. I've read the enWP article -- it's pretty thin.

Thanks,
Sue

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/08/22/glenn-greenwald-lives-in-brazil-heres-how-brazilians-feel-about-his-reporting/

"This whole story is causing a backlash in terms of Internet regulation in
Brazil. There’s a frenzy, people trying to regulate the Internet as quick
as they can. The Marco Civil project [legislation guaranteeing civil rights
in the use of the Internet] became a top priority for the government.

The government is now introducing changes in the project that are quite
problematic. One of them mandates that companies that store any type of
Brazilian data have their servers physically located in Brazil. The idea of
the government is that having the servers here will make them available for
the Brazilian courts. But this is a bad idea because it will create huge
costs for companies.

Imagine if Brazil required every company that has Brazilian data in storage
to have a server located physically here. That breaks the Internet because
you remove from companies the ability to make these decisions based on
efficiency. When you’re deciding where to have your servers, you’re doing
it in a way that’s cost-effective. Imagine if other countries reciprocate,
if [every country says] you have a Brazilian Internet company, they have to
have servers in my country. The potential for balkanization is very high.

What other regulations have been proposed in the wake of the Snowden
revelations?

Other provisions that were introduced in the bill have to do with expanding
Brazilian jurisdiction to Internet companies that have subsidiaries in
Brazil. If Google opens an office, their parent company will be on the hook
for the Brazilian jurisdiction. Critics are saying this will actually be an
incentive for companies not to have an office in the country. Why open an
office and then you have this expanded idea of jurisdiction.

Regulatory agencies like the National Telecommunications Agency, Brazil’s
equivalent of the Federal Communications Commission, are stepping into the
picture and trying to fill the regulatory void with regulation without this
[legislation] being discussed in Congress. The agency is feeling empowered
and legitimated by the Snowden case and saying, “We have jurisdiction and
we’re going to regulate them ourselves.”

The way I see it, there are some dark clouds on the horizon in terms of
regulation. Huge backlash because of the Snowden case. We will see some
very not very well thought forms of regulation coming from Brazil and a
change in the way Brazil positions itself in terms of Internet freedom or
regulation."
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