Brazil Enacts A Civil Framework For The Internet

On April 23, 2014, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff enacted Law No. 12.965, which establishes the legal regime for the use of the Internet in Brazil (the Brazilian Internet Civil Framework, hereinafter referred to as the "BICF").

The enactment of the BICF was prompted in part by Brazilian press coverage stating that communications over the Internet by members of the Brazilian Executive, including Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff herself, were accessed by foreign governments (the United States amongst them) or companies within their jurisdictions. The text of the law, perhaps due to its political motivation, is unnecessarily long and in somewhat redundant style repeats general principles of the Brazilian Constitution and other existing laws such as the Brazilian Civil Code and the Brazilian Consumer Protection Code. This article reports on the BICF's main and substantive provisions, many of which are still to be subject to further regulation.

Contractual Issues and Data Protection

The BICF provides that agreements for Internet access must contain clear and full information on protection of registers of connection (information related to the date and hour of start and end of an Internet connection session, its duration and the IP address used by a terminal connected to the Internet for the sending and receiving of data packages), information on access to Internet applications (sites accessed by the terminal) as well as information on Internet management practice affecting quality.

The new law contains two main rules regarding data protection:

i) the need for the express consent of the Internet data owner for the collection, storage, handling, transfer to third parties and use of data by Internet connection and Internet application providers; and

ii) the right of the Internet data owner to require exclusion of personal data supplied to an Internet application or connection provider upon end of the legal relationship among the parties.

The consent of the Internet data owner for the collection, use, storage, handling, transfer and treatment of personal data is to be highlighted and separated from other contractual clauses.

Internet Neutrality

The BICF establishes that the person responsible for the transmission, exchange or routing of Internet communications has the duty to treat equally any data packages, without differentiation by content, origin, destination, service, terminal or application. The law determines that it is illegal for...