The Brazilian Chamber of Deputies is about to vote on seven bills that were introduced as part of a report by the Brazilian Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry on Cybercrimes (CPICIBER). Collectively, these bills would be disastrous for privacy and freedom of expression in Brazil.

The CPICIBER was created in July 2015 by House President Eduardo Cunha as a request from Sibá Machado (PT). The CPICIBER was charged with investigating online crimes and their effects on the Brazilian economy and society. The CPICIBER worked from August 2015 to April 2016 and published a report with an analysis of how Brazil is dealing with a high number of crimes against the financial system and the increase in racist messages online. The report provides recommendations for how the country should respond to the threat of online crime. Although many stakeholders participated in the CPICIBER hearings, the report ultimately gave in to excessive panic about the Internet. The final proposals represent a range of repressive measures that trample on free expression and privacy Rights.

The bills proposed by the CPICIBER contain alarming proposals such as:

• Allowing police warrantless access to IP addresses;
• Requiring sites and apps to monitor content to prevent new sharing of materials already deemed offensive by court decision;
• Criminalizing improper computer system access that presents a “risk of misuse or disclosure” of data, even if no actual misuse or disclosure occurs—broad and vague terms that also apply to actions with no criminal intent, jeopardizing legitimate security research that might never be done if obtaining prior permission were a legal requirement;
• Allowing judges, in direct violation of net neutrality rules, to block sites and applications that are used for criminal purposes or that don’t comply with demands for user information.

As the CPICIBER will be discussing this proposed legislation, it is important for Brazilians to keep the pressure on! The fight against cybercrime must not threaten the Brazilian Marco Civil da Internet (the 2014 law that protects certain Internet freedoms), let alone the Brazilian Constitution!

The proposed bills roll back existing safeguards for freedom of expression and privacy online and could be disastrous for the future of the Internet in Brazil.