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.
