Entity supports the new wording of articles 20 and 30, which take care of the removal of content that violates rights and defends the exclusion of articles 11 and 12, proposing a deepening of the debate on data centers
ABES – Brazilian Association of Software Companies held several meetings in the last two weeks in Brasília (DF) with representatives of the Executive and Legislative on two central topics for the segment, which involve the Civil Rights Framework for the Internet: removal of content that violates third party rights and storage of data and information in data centers located in Brazil.
Regarding the first issue, the entity is celebrating the fulfillment of its claim, since the new wording of the Bill that the rapporteur released this Tuesday began to provide in the second paragraph of article 20 (which replaces article 15 of the previous version) and also in article 30, that the removal of content that violates the rights of third parties, including copyright and intellectual property, will continue to be governed by current legislation, already enshrined by the Brazilian Judiciary, in the sense that, it will continue to exist the civil liability of the provider of applications, services and contents on the Internet if, after receiving notification of the holder of the violated right, he does not adopt the measures to make the content identified as infringing unavailable. Without these changes that have just been accepted by the Project's rapporteur, the new law would end up granting content and application providers what the Entity calls "manumission", exempting them from responsibility for violating the rights of third parties, except when they fail to comply with a court order for removal.
The Entity took a position against the requirement to install data centers in Brazilian territory and also condemns the device that provides for the application of Brazilian legislation in cases where the collection, storage or processing of personal data, records and communications takes place in the national territory. The fear of the entity ended up being confirmed, since the last version of the text of the Civil Framework, distributed by Deputy Alessandro Molon, rapporteur of the matter, started to deal with these matters in articles 11 and 12.
In the visits made to many offices of parliamentarians, leaders of political parties and also in some ministries, and in the presentation made by the legal director of the entity, Dr. Manoel Antonio dos Santos, to federal deputies at the General Commission, which took place on Wednesday (6), in the plenary of the Chamber of Deputies, the Association has demonstrated that these two changes to the law under discussion must imply additional costs for internet users established in Brazil, in addition to what may prevent Brazilian users from having access to a multitude of contents, services and applications provided via the internet - especially those based in the form of "cloud software".
In a joint letter signed between ABES and BSA and in another signed by ABES and other forty-four international entities, the reasons why the Association, in favor of the market of Information Technology and Software and Brazilian citizens, supports the new wording regarding the removal of content, while at the same time proposing a much broader discussion regarding other topics, before deciding on the consequences of standardizing these matters.
In defense of intellectual property: veto Article 15
In the first, signed by ABES and BSA – Business Software Alliance, the two entities reaffirmed the need to discuss the issue of data centers in more depth and also requested the exclusion of article 15 of the Marco Civil (now article 20), providing that a provider would only need to remove content from the internet (pictures, videos, programs and other types of materials) after receiving a court order. “We consider that the removal must be made upon receipt of the notification sent by the owner of this content, as there is already jurisprudence in Brazil. Waiting for a court order can cause great damage to individuals and companies, as we know the speed of movement of materials on the large network. In a few hours, thousands of downloads of a pirated game, for example, can be performed”, explains the lawyer. “If the provider postpones the removal of this content, we consider that this service provider, from a legal point of view, should be considered jointly responsible for the presumed damages resulting from this infringement.”, he completes.
doctor Manoel observes that the alternative that ABES and BSA presented, if the article was kept in the Marco Civil, ended up prevailing in the wording of the project recently disclosed, which is the inclusion of a paragraph in order to provide the legitimacy of the notification when the situation involving a work protected by copyright and intellectual property laws – computer programs, music, movies and games – without the need for a court order in these cases. This legal provision was reinforced with the insertion of a new article 30, expressly providing that only a possible future legislative amendment may exclude the application of the current legislation on the matter.
data centers
In another important letter, ABES and another 45 Brazilian and international companies and entities defended the need to discuss the issue of data security and data centers more widely before taking any decision, bearing in mind that the matter was recently included in Marco Civil. “This matter is extremely relevant and any precipitated decision will have an impact on the costs of services and infrastructure, on the access of Brazilian users to modern technologies and on relations between countries”, pondered the legal director. According to the executive, continuous investments in protection mechanisms will ensure inviolability and data security.
ABES participated, on November 6th, in Brasilia, in the General Commission on the Civil Rights Framework for the Internet (a type of public hearing that took place in the plenary of the Chamber), following the invitation of the Leadership of the PTB - Brazilian Labor Party and also of the Leadership of the PSC – Christian Social Party, when it can present all the points and strengthen its participation in this debate and in the deliberations.
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