Brazil's Internet Bill: Latest Developments

At the end of March, the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies voted in favour of the Marco Civil da Internet (Internet Bill), bringing the ground-breaking legislation one step closer to enactment. The Internet Bill will now progress to the Senate for approval.

In the wake of Edward Snowden's revelations about global surveillance programs, the Internet Bill had included a provision that would have required organisations to store all data held on Brazilian citizens within the country's border. This controversial requirement has been dropped by the Brazilian government in the latest version of the Internet Bill. However, the text voted on by the Chamber of Deputies now provides that organisations will be subject to the laws and courts of Brazil in cases where the information of Brazilian citizens is involved.