Brazil’s cyberspace politics: Combining emerging threats with old intentions

Abstract

The rise of the Information Age, mainly in the post-Cold War period brought a new dimension or elements to the safety and security for nationals and global agendas. Nowadays, relevant Information Technology and Internet Companies such as Google, Facebook, and Microsoft apace with International Organizations like World Telecommunication Union are implementing policies for the diffusion of this technology. They justify their practices with the argument of enabling social development and emancipation through providing access to information. The States and other International Organizations such as The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and some private companies have been concerned with security issues on this theme. In this context, Brazil has drawn attention by implementing some measures to improve the governance of cyberspace, by legislating a law known as Marco Civil da Internet (Brazilian Civil Rights Framework for Internet). It was regulated in 2014 and included some participation in international forums defending an international commitment on this theme. In order to further understand how Brazil is developing its role on these issues, the main argument of this paper is that Brazilian policy has at least two sides. From one side it covers a raising security necessity and in the other, the security of cyberspace and internet provides an important field in international agenda where Brazil traditionally tries to improve its participation and relevance.