Holding the line for Internet freedoms in Brazilian Cyberspace

InternetBrasThe Brazilian cyberspace was shaken this week by the announcement of a ‘Digital Crimes Bill’ under consideration at the Senate's Constitution and Justice Commission. Disclosing just one item in the bill was enough to ignite the fire. It stated that every user must fully identify herself before using the Net, or face a criminal process that could result in 4 years in jail. The author of this late amendment to the ‘Digital Crimes Bill’ was Senator Eduardo Azeredo from PSDB, who was responsible for the report that modified the original text that had been developed in the Brazilian Congress across the last 7 years. The Senator thus managed to obtain what seemed to be impossible in the extremely diverse national blogosphere — a unanimous position — rejection.

O Senador Eduardo Azeredo, não contente em entrar para a história como a origem do mensalão, decidiu achar um caminho mais rápido para a imortalidade. O destino reservava-lhe papel mais grandioso, o de ser o senador que tentou aprovar um projeto que exige a identificação dos usuários antes de iniciarem qualquer operação que envolva interatividade, como envio de e-mails, conversas em salas de bate-papo, criação de blogs, captura de dados (como baixar músicas, filmes, imagens), entre outros. O projeto já foi saudado como demente, absurdo, inconstitucional, orwelliano, ditatorial, e produto de uma massa encéfalica que não tem a menor idéia de como funciona a internet.
A Internet do Sr. Eduardo AzeredoO Biscoito Fino e a Massa

Senator Eduardo Azeredo, not happy enough with his notoriety for having originated the ‘mensalao’ [scandal], has chosen a faster path to immortality. Destiny has reserved for him the magnificent role of being the senator who tried to promote a bill that demands identification from users before [they can take] any web action involving interactivity, such as sending e-mails, participating in chats, creating blogs, downloading files (as music, films and images), with others. The project was received as demented, absurd, unconstitutional, Orwellian, dictatorial, and also as being the product of a brain with no idea about how the Internet works.
Mr. Eduardo Azeredo's InternetO Biscoito Fino e a Massa

Trocando em miúdos para quem não é técnico da área: Se você é usuário, seu provedor de acesso terá de guardar dados como seu nome completo, CPF, telefone, etc, e os de qualquer brasileiro que interaja com o seu (dele) servidor, para eventual uso judicial. Todo e qualquer acesso de usuário (você) a qualquer serviço brasileiro na Internet deverá ser registrado dessa maneira. Se voce é dono de um blog, terá de fazer o mesmo com os comentaristas e colaboradores do seu blog, caso contrário você estará infringindo a nova lei.
O Brasil realmente não entendeu a InternetSINE NAVTA NAVIS

Explaining the facts for the non-technical crowd: If you are a user, your access provider will have to keep your complete name, CPF [Fiscal ID Number], phone number, etc., and also the data of any Brazilian who interacts with your server, to be used in a potential legal case. All user access to any Brazilian web service will have to be registered in this way. If you own a blog, you'll have to do this with all collaborators and ones making comments, otherwise you will be violating the new law.
Brazil has not understood the InternetSINE NAVTA NAVIS

O projeto do senador Eduardo Azeredo, do PSDB-MG, que prevê o cadastramento obrigatório para se acessar a internet, de modo a inibir os cibercrimes, está sendo bombardeado por tudo quanto é lado, não só pelos pelos internautas e especialistas em comunicação, mas também por políticos de vários partidos e de setores do governo.
Quase todos contra a internet burocratizadaPaulopes

Senator Eduardo Azeredo's [PSDB-MG] project, which requires compulsory registration for Internet access aiming to prevent cybercrime, is being barraged by all sides and not only by the internauts or media specialists, but also by politicians from all parties and government sectors.
Almost everybody against the burocratized InternetPaulopes

Se o relator mantivesse o texto original, focando apenas na criação dos novos tipos penais como inserção de vírus, acesso não autorizado a sistemas e outros além da obrigatoriedade de armazenamento pelos provedores de registros eletrônicos que auxiliam no processo investigatório, por determinado período, certamente teríamos um desfecho mais célere para que a lei entrasse em vigor.
Controle da internet não coibirá crime, mas privacidadeO Direito e as Novas Tecnologias

If the bill reporter [Sen. Azeredo] had maintained the original text, focusing only in the creation of new penal classifications — such as virus insertion, non-authorized access and others, besides the ISP's mandatory need to maintain digital records for a certain time in order to help in investigation processes — we would certainly have a faster closure to this process and the bill would quickly be enacted.
Internet control will not stop crime, but privacyO Direito e as Novas Tecnologias


The Senator's attempt
to mess with anonymity in the cyberspace was received as an insult by the blogosphere. Although anonymity is formally forbidden by the Brazilian Constitution — in the same paragraph where free expression of thought is assured — it has shown itself to be powerful tool enhancing public exchange and display in the digital environment, and Brazilians seem pretty resolute in maintaining it as a web default. This idea of jail penalties for unregistered users was received as a creepy lunacy from deranged legislators.

OK, vamos por partes. Anonimato é proibido pela Constituição. Certo. Está lá. Só que querer acabar com o anonimato em um meio onde ele é pervasivo como a Internet, demonstra total desconhecimento do funcionamento da Rede. Muitos internautas estão indignados e assustados. Eu também estou, mas não pela Lei em si, mas pela demonstração de como nossos políticos e seus conselheiros técnicos entendem tão pouco de como a Internet e o mundo digital funcionam.
Usar Internet sem se identificar vai dar CADEIAMeio Bit

Ok, lets analyze the details. Anonymity is forbidden by the Constitution. Right. It's there. But trying to end anonymity in a medium such as the Internet, where it is pervasive, is evidence of absolute illiteracy about the network functioning. Many internauts are alarmed and intimidated by the news. I am also, not by the bill in itself, but by the plain demonstration of how our politicians and their technical advisers have so little understanding about how the Internet and the digital world operate.
Using the Internet without registering will put you in jailMeio Bit

Diz o senador Eduardo Azeredo (PSDB-MG), relator do projeto: “Hoje, qualquer pessoa pode enviar uma mensagem, por exemplo, com uso de identidade falsa. Isso não interessa a nenhuma pessoa de bem.” O tipo de mentalidade que pensa assim é o que acha que anonimato é sempre ruim, que só quer ser anônimo quem tem algo a esconder; é o mesmo tipo de pessoa que colocou aquele adendo na Constituição, no item sobre liberdade de expressão, vetando anonimato. E está redondamente errado: existem muitas situações em que “pessoas de bem” têm todo o interesse em se manterem anônimas. Só para dar um exemplo, existe um motivo pelo qual os Alcoólicos Anônimos não têm cadastro de participantes. E grupos de apoio de todos os tipos, muitos dos quais se beneficiam enormemente da anonimidade dos participantes, existem em grande número na rede. Sem falar na questão de opiniões políticas anônimas; em países repressores, é freqüentemente muito importante que pessoas divulgando informações desagradáveis ao governo se mantenham anônimas (para se manterem vivas); ainda não é esse o caso no Brasil, mas são projetos assim que levam a coisa nessa direção.
O Senador e a InternetPalavras ao Vento

Senator Eduardo Azeredo [PSDB-MG], the project reporter, says: ‘Today, any person can send a message, for example, using a false identity. This cannot be an approach of a good person.’ The kind of mentality that thinks like that is the same that considers anonymity as a bad thing in itself, and that the only ones who want to be anonymous are the ones who have something to hide. It is the same kind of people who put that addition in the Constitution within the item about freedom of expression, prohibiting anonymity. And they are plainly wrong: there are many situations where remaining anonymous has appeal for ‘good people’. To give an example, there is a good reason why Alcoholic Anonymous does not maintain any registration of its participants. There are many support groups of many kinds on the web, many of whom benefit greatly by the participants’ anonymity. And there is the issue of anonymous political opinion: in repressive countries it is frequently important that the ones publishing information that displeases the government maintain anonymity in order to stay alive. This is not the case in Brazil, but bills like this one can take us in that direction.
The Senator and the InternetPalavras ao Vento

Outro ponto polêmico apontado por críticos ao projeto é o chamado “acesso indevido”, que prevê punição de dois a quatro anos de prisão tanto para quem praticar tal crime quanto para quem fornecer os meios para que ele seja praticado – ou seja, o provedor de acesso.
Entenda a polêmica lei de crimes digitais que será votada pelo SenadoEstudando o Direito

Another controversial item pointed out by critics of the project is the so-called ‘improper access’, which can result in 2 to 4 years in jail not only to the ones that perpetrate the ‘crime’ but also to those who contribute with the means for the ‘atrocity’ – i.e. the access provider.
Understanding the polemic digital crimes bill that will be voted in the SenateEstudando o Direito


Azeredo gained unanimous rejection
, but the original text of the law seems to have its defenders. Specialists claim there are some transgressions in the digital world that should have specific legal description in order to facilitate law enforcement over cyber-crime. The decision to postpone the consideration of the bill by the Senate's Constitution and Justice Commission this Wednesday [November 8th] was made by its President, Sen. Antonio Carlos Magalhães, who appears to be sensitive to the clamor the debate is causing in the media and in the blogosphere.

Há cerca de sete anos, estamos aguardando a tramitação do Projeto de Lei que cria novos tipos penais para regulamentar os crimes que surgiram a partir da adoção dos sistemas informatizados… O texto como está, prevendo a regulamentação do acesso a internet, é cartorial e sufoca a privacidade e o direito do cidadão à informação. Fica claro que há um interesse de criar um grande cartório para identificar o cidadão brasileiro para acessar a internet, com o uso da certificação digital, quem sabe, uma espécie de Internetbras, o que é péssimo para o cidadão.
Trocas da lei, by Alexandre Atheniense – Release Jurídico

We've been waiting for seven years for the appreciation of the Law Project that would create new legal types to rule the crimes that appeared after the adoption of digitalized information systems… The text as it is, proposing regulation of access to the Internet, generates useless bureaucracy and suffocates privacy and the citizen's right to information. It becomes clear that there is an interest in creating a notarizing monopoly to identify Brazilian Internet users through digital certification — who knows, a kind of InternetBras. This is terrible for the citizen.
Law's changes, by Alexandre Atheniense – Release Jurídico

A maioria dos advogados e consultores jurídicos considera que de 90% a 95% dos delitos cometidos eletronicamente conhecidos já estão tipificados no Código Penal brasileiro. “Isso porque são crimes comuns praticados por meio da internet”, explica Tavares. Estudos indicam que o país contabiliza 5 mil decisões judiciais envolvendo a internet. Os outros 5% para os quais faltaria enquadramento jurídico abrangem transgressões que só existem no mundo virtual, como a distribuição de vírus eletrônico, cavalos-de-tróia, worms e afins. As interpretações para resolver essa lacuna variam bastante. Alguns consideram que o substitutivo aplica a lei penal para condutas que deveriam ser tratadas no âmbito do Direito Civil. “Nem todas as ações indevidas podem ser elegidas a crime”, argumenta Luiz Guilherme Moreira Porto, sócio do escritório Reale Advogados Associados, citando como exemplo o artigo da lei de Azeredo que pune com um a dois anos de prisão o provedor que permitir o acesso à rede a usuário que não esteja devidamente identificado e autenticado. “Não discuto a importância do procedimento, discordo da decisão de transformar isso em crime.”
Especial: Crimes DigitaisSaferNet

The majority of lawyers and legal consultants say that 90% to 95% of the electronic offenses are already listed in the Brazilian Penal Code. ‘These are ordinary crimes commited through the Internet’, explains Tavares [Antonio Tavares, ISP's Association President]. Studies show that the country has five thousand legal decisions involving the Internet. The other 5% of misconducts lacking a legal framework are crimes which only exist in the virtual world, such as electronic virus distribution, trojan-horses, worms and the like. Proposals to remedy the lacking regulation differ a lot. Some consider that the proposed bill applies criminal law to acts that should be ruled by civil law. ‘Not all misconducts can be treated as crimes’, argues Luiz Guilherme Moreira Porto, partner of Reale Lawyers Associated, quoting as example an article of Azeredo's law that punishes with 1 to 2 years in jail the ISP owner who allows a user to access the network without being identified and authenticated. ‘I don't argue about the importance of the procedure, I just don't agree in transforming it into a crime’.
Special: Digital CrimesSaferNet


The debate has called forth the needed attention
from cyberspace to leverage the active participation of the connected civil society in the legislative decision-making process. Bloggers seem deeply aware of the interests at stake, and their reportage and commentary go much deeper than the ones performed by traditional media.

Segundo o que tenho lido por aí dizem que há interesse na aprovação da lei por parte dos bancos, que hoje arcam com os custos das fraudes pela internet e passariam essa responsabilidade para os provedores. Do outro lado os usuários são contrários porque isso fere a sua privacidade e o seu direito de não serem considerados criminosos em potencial, porém há um dado obscuro que não vem à tona, que é justamente o fato de que o provável mentor do projeto é José Henrique Portugal, ex dirigente da Serpro, que está envolvido com empresas de certificação digital que fazem um forte lobby pela aprovação do projeto, uma vez que são as que mais ganhariam com tudo isso. Fiquemos de olho…
Notícia: Internet VigiadaÉ Massa!

According to what I've read it's said that banks are especially interested in the improvement of the law. As it is today, they have to cover all costs related to Internet frauds, and with the new law the responsibility would be on the ISPs. On the other hand, users are against the law because it hurts their privacy and their right of not being presumed as potential criminals. But there is an obscure thing that won't surface, which is precisely the fact that the probable creator of the project is José Henrique Portugal, ex-director of Serpro. He is connected with digital certification corporations which operate a powerful lobby for the project's approval, as they are the ones who would win big with all that. Let's keep the eyes open…
News: Watched InternetÉ Massa!

Quem é o Senador Eduardo Azeredo? … Em sua página oficial você saberá que ele trabalhou 11 anos na multinacional IBM, dirigiu a PRODEMGE(Empresa de Processamento de Dados de Minas Gerais). Foi superintendente da DATAMEC, diretor da PRODABEL, diretor e presidente do SERPRO(empresa de processamento de dados do governo federal) além de trabalhar ‘em várias empresas do ramo da informática’… Percebeu ou não?
Olha o Perigo! – O mundo no ar

Who is Senator Eduardo Azeredo? … In his official page you'll know that he has worked 11 years for IBM multinational, directed PRODEMGE [Data Processing Company of Minas Gerais]. He was DATAMEC's superintendent, PRODABEL's director, SERPRO's [Federal Government's Data Processing Company] director and president, besides working in many information sector companies'… Have you got it?
Watchout the danger!O mundo no ar

Quando a Receita Federal decidiu ampliar seus serviços na internet, adivinhe qual empresa chamou garantir os certificados digitais. Isso mesmo: o Serpro de Eduardo Azeredo (PSDB/ MG). Desde 2001, com a criação da Infra-estrutura de Chaves Públicas (ICP-Brasil), a empresa passou a emitir certificados para órgãos da Administração Pública Federal. O negócio foi tão lucrativo que a empresa apostou no novo negócio e começou a oferecer a certificação como um produto para seus clientes. Uma das dificuldades enfrentadas é que ainda não existiam muitas aplicações que utilizassem a certificação. “A certificação digital não cresce sozinha, ela precisa das aplicações para se desenvolver e atender a demanda de seus clientes”, explicou Wagner Araújo – do Serpro. “A compra de certificados digitais não estaria limitada aos governos e grandes empresas”, explanou. “Os certificados e-CPF, e-CNPJ e o e-servidor estão à disposição de todos os cidadãos. Com essa identificação e assinatura digital, o usuário terá segurança no envio de documentos e mensagens eletrônicas”, prossegue o texto.
Eduardo Azeredo se complica ainda maisa nova corja

When the Federal Tax Agency decided to extend its services on the Inernet, guess which company was called to guarantee the digital certificates. That's it: Eduardo Azeredo's [PSDB-MG] Serpro. Since 2001, with the creation of the Public Keys Infrastructure [ICP-Brasil], the company started to deliver certificates to Federal Service Agencies. The business was so lucrative that the company bet on the new business model and started to offer the certification as a product to its clients. The obstacle to full success was that there were few applications using certification. ‘Digital certification does not grow alone, it needs the applications in order to develop and respond to the users needs’, explained Wagner Araújo, from Serpro. ‘The acquisition of digital certificates would not be limited to governments and big companies. The certificates e-CPF, e-CNPJ and e-servant are available to all citizens. With this identification and the digital signature, the user will be secure while sending documents and electronic messages’, so goes the text.
Eduardo Azeredo gets more involveda nova corja

As the debate gets more specific, regular users find that there are many important Internet issues to care about. In fact, anyone who has been able to have a taste of the possibilities offered by the connected environment, can't feel comfortable when confronted with the thought of less freedom, or more constrained access. But there are some who somehow feel they are losing something when they see so much freedom spreading through the online world, and also some who think that they are not profiting as much as they think they could, or have ‘the right’ to.

Acho engraçado como esse povo acha tempo pra isso mas não acha pra tempo pra falar da tal Assinatura Mensal de R$ 40,00 da Telefonica ou da necessidade (ou não) de um provedor de acesso… Além disso, o que vai ser dos blogs? Vergonhoso. Tanta coisa precisando ser feita e esses caras inventam projetos de Lei cheios de falhas e que só prejudicará o usuário diário. Os tais “cibercriminosos” têm ferramentas a granel pra passar por cima disso.
Projeto de Controle da InternetAll Star Velho

I think it is funny how these people find the time to that but can't find the time to talk about the Telefonica's R$ 40,00 [US$19.00] monthly fee for providing access… Besides, what will become of the blogs? Shameful. So many things are needing to be done, and these folks are inventing Law Projects full of failures and which in the end will only harm the daily user. The so called ‘cyber-criminals’ have lots of tools to pass over all of this.
Internet Control ProjectAll Star Velho

Para se ter uma idéia do absurdo da proposta apresentada por Eduardo Azeredo basta imaginar que se o mesmo princípio fosse aplicado ao telefone, todos os brasileiros teriam que apresentar CGC ou CPF antes de fazer uma ligação. Se por um lado é assustador constatar que políticos tratam a Internet como se fosse um objeto descartável ou um brinquedo perigoso, por outro, o episódio pode levar muita gente a constatar até que ponto conquistas como a Web assustam, e muito, os que preferem um retorno ao passado.
Projeto de controle do acesso à Internet é uma coleção de absurdosCódigo Aberto – Observatório da Imprensa

To get the real dimension of the absurdity of the proposal presented by Eduardo Azeredo, you just have to imagine that if the same principle would be applied to the telephone, all Brazilians would have to present CGC or CPF [ID numbers] before making any call. If on one hand it is scary to acknowledge that politicians treat the Internet as something disposable, or a dangerous toy, on the other hand this episode can lead many people to be aware of how much achievements such as the web cause a lot of fright to those who prefer a return to the past.
The Internet access control project is a collection of absurdsCódigo Aberto – Observatório da Imprensa

23 comments

  • […] A quick review of previous Global Voices’ posts about Brazil will convincingly shows why we say that the local blogosphere is one of the hottest firing lines in the push for digital liberties. Starting from the blocking of blogs by the Electoral Justice System during the last elections (Election and Censorship Dialectics in the Brazilian Blogosphere), and the voting of a bill in Congress that would require identification for any web action involving interactivity (Holding the line for Internet freedoms in Brazilian Cyberspace), to the latest scandal that blocked YouTube access in the country (Cicarelli Case: Censorship and Boycott Dialectics in the Brazilian Blogosphere), the world is getting accustomed to hearing about Internet battles in Brazil. It is becoming an endless clash of real world institutions against the YOU of the virtual environment. Yes, YOU, the Time magazine 2006 person of the year. […]

  • […] As soon as the information about the verdict spreaded through the net, Portuguese posts commenting the 4 year in prison sentence given to blogger Abdel Kareem Suleiman started to appear. Brazilian bloggers sensitiveness about any situation involving censorship is a direct consequence of the many recent attacks to their freedoms on the Internet, as showed by previous GV reports here, here, here, and also here. That’s why they are ever ready to take a stance and fight to maintain a status they believe they’ve already conquered for themselves. In addition, Kareem’s case brings in some awareness about how different might be the Arab culture in relation to the freedom notions Brazilians are now practicing through blogging. […]

  • […] There are not many issues in Brazil where you are able to find unanimity. But when you talk about messing with Internet freedoms, the defenders spring up from radically different locations in the political spectrum. That’s what we are seeing again this week as Sen. Eduardo Azeredo, the protagonist of a recent ‘evil’ plot aimed to control Brazilian Internet users, made a strident reappearance with much of the same. The consideration by the Senate Commission on Constitution and Justice of a legal project under his authorship and intended to become Cybercrime Bill was postponed. The noise generated by the blogosphere has much to do with this outcome. […]

  • […] spectrum. That’s what we are seeing again this week as Sen. Eduardo Azeredo, the protagonist of a recent ‘evil’ plot aimed to control Brazilian Internet users, made a strident reappearance with much of the […]

  • DHAVAL

    today globle tererisum unit work very fast and taking vey soon action any of people, country and any of part they have to plan to act. but before this many of point of view we have to think that. today policy of world work against him. local comunity or group fight against then. tererist have game plan and also with letest wepons.

    who provided this? people demamding piece but how come

    inteligent group work hard but they not find and laps of comunication gap.

    more recent incident in Pakistan forme PM Late Benejir Bhutto.

    make one unit for fight against this types of tererrisum

  • […] act against the ‘Azeredo bill‘ and the outlawing of the sales of the game Counter-Strike, at Campus Party (photo by […]

  • […] fact, in November 2006 a rather clumsy ‘Cybercrime Bill’ was solemnly announced. Authored by Senator Eduardo Azeredo, the original text had been proceeding through the Brazilian […]

  • Victor Kuradomi

    Infelizmente os crimes e fraudes na internet entre outras coisas estão obrigando autoridades do mundo inteiro a se preocupar e dar devida atençao à internet que pode ser uma solução mas pode ser um problema tanto no âmbito empresarial ou residencial…
    no site http://www.vktecnologia.com.br que é distribuidor dos softwares ÚnicoNET e TISoftware vocês podem encontrar mais informações…pois pelo que vi esta empresa é especializada em controle e monitoramento da internet.

  • […] is now also available. See also previous Global Voices Coverage on the issue in May 2007 and November 2007) Posted by Paula Góes Share […]

  • […] has already passed the Senate and is dangerously close to going on the books. The law, created by Senator Azeredo PSDB, restricts things like open wifi networks, forces ISP’s to keep user information for 3 years […]

Join the conversation

Authors, please log in »

Guidelines

  • All comments are reviewed by a moderator. Do not submit your comment more than once or it may be identified as spam.
  • Please treat others with respect. Comments containing hate speech, obscenity, and personal attacks will not be approved.