The Brazilian constitution ensures the right to privacy but there is no data protection law. After the Snowden leaks revealed US spying on Brazilians, President Dilma Rouseff urged the right to privacy at the UN and proposed solutions like an undersea cable connecting Brazil and Europe without US interference and requiring companies like Google and Microsoft to store Brazilian user data within Brazil. However, increasing control over the internet and requiring adequate monitoring raises questions about balancing privacy, intellectual property, and not hampering private companies.

1. October 4, 2013
Privacy in Brazil
Maria Elena Granera
Manolo Baca
Maria Ernestina Castillo

2. What does the law state?
✤Federal Brazilian Constitution ensures
the right to privacy and a private life,
honour and image.
✤Civil code guarantees protection of a
private life.
✤There is no data protection law or data
protection authority in Brazil.

3. Dilma Rouseff
✤With the Snowden leaks,
Brazil discovered that the
United States has over
the past years monitored
and spied Brazilian
internet usage.
✤In UN she urged the right
to privacy and proposed
solutions.

4. Solutions Proposed
✤Under water fiber optics cable that connects
Brazil and Europe thus bypassing the United
States altogether.
✤Force companies such as Google, Microsoft and
other American companies to store data for
Brazilian users on servers located within Brazil.

5. Questions to ponder
✤What happens if we assert more control
over the supposedly open and free
medium which is the internet?

6. Questions to ponder
✤Can it be done adequately?

7. Questions to ponder
✤Can countries agree on whether there
needs to be some regulation of internet
in order to protect privacy and
intellectual property?

8. Questions to ponder
✤If they can agree on these basic
principles, can countries move forward
to a discussion on how internet usage
can and should be monitored?

9. Questions to ponder
✤Because internet transmits data across
countries, can countries agree on how the
internet can be monitored in a way that does not
hamper private companies and entrepreneurial
ideas?

10. Questions to ponder
✤Because internet transmits data across
countries, can countries agree on how the
internet can be monitored in a way that does not
hamper private companies and entrepreneurial
ideas?