Balancing Surveillance and Internet Freedoms: Brazil and Snowden's legacy 3 years on

• In Event: Digital Surveillance and Citizenship

Abstract

In 2013, Edward Snowden revealed that Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was among the global leaders whose personal communications were being monitored by the National Security Agency (NSA). Rousseff reacted with contundent statements at a United Nations' assembly and by canceling an official visit to US president Barack Obama. In the following years, Brazil approved the Marco Civil, the world's first bill of rights for internet users. However, after protests shook up the country in 2013 and 2014, Brazil seems to be increasingly leaning towards surveillance, proposing strict antiterrorism laws and trying to explore loopholes in the Marco Civil to allow police to have access to users' online data without a warrant. This article examines the country's fragile balance between internet freedom and surveillance, by analyzing recent legislation on those areas and interviewing experts in the field. It makes a contribution to the broader discussion on digital surveillance by analyzing a unique case in the world.

Author

• Debora Moura Medeiros, Free University of Berlin