Find the best hotels according to your preference and pocket size. Have access to the cheapest airline tickets on the market. Take a taxi and don't worry about payment, which is automatically charged to your credit card. Being able to plan with an increasingly accurate weather forecast. Shopping on your cell phone, wherever you are. Have your health assessed in real time. To be able to communicate absolutely without borders, with anyone in the world, by voice, text or image.
Nothing new so far, is it? As much as these services are relatively new, they are already so incorporated into our day-to-day life that we can barely imagine our life without them. And this is not the statement of a young man of the millennium generation, but of someone who was born at a time when the habits and behaviors of the generations were separated and labeled by the last letters of the alphabet.
The fact - and now, I will have to go into a slightly heavier topic - is that all these facilities are only delivered at the cost of an enormous amount of our data. To take a taxi or get away from traffic, the application needs information such as our location, social network account and credit card number (for the taxi example). If we want to have our steps, pressure and heart rate monitored, we need to create an account, generate a password and allow the application, stuck to our body, to collect and do all the necessary analyzes to recommend us goals, training and even compare us to other people with characteristics similar to ours.
Another information in the public domain is that, when we travel through the network, many times, without our consent, our data end up being commercialized, published or used in an abusive way. On the other hand, as I already showed above, without them, basic services may be inoperative, without being able to meet the growing demands of an increasingly connected society.
Finding a balance between privacy and access to information is one of the biggest challenges for companies and governments worldwide. Currently, more than 100 countries have consolidated regulations on the subject. And Brazil is not one of them. This is not to say that our government is not engaged in the discussion. Quite the opposite. And that is where the danger lies, since the attention that the government has been giving to this issue is disproportionate to the interest that civil society has shown in following up the issue.
And this is not an exclusive topic of the technology industry. Any and all citizens, businessmen or representatives of public bodies may be affected by an eventual law that restricts the use of data. To prevent this from happening, it is important that the debate gains a new dimension and engagement.
To contribute to the alteration of this framework, I would like to invite you to access and follow the website Brasil, País Digital (www.brasilpaisdigital.com.br). Developed by ABES (Brazilian Association of Software Companies) and a series of institutional partners, its proposal is that the page be a meeting point for civil society to engage in the discussion and have access to qualified information on the topic, in a light, modern and dynamic format.
Through it, it is intended to clarify the real need to use data in the digital economy. And from there, encourage effective participation in legislative discussions on the topic, which are advancing rapidly.
I totally agree that Brazil has a data protection law. Especially because we are well behind in the regulation of this topic. In Latin America, for example, Argentina, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Chile have already passed specific laws to guarantee users' privacy.
The only care we need to take is that the legislation to be passed does not affect innovation and the evolution of new business models, such as cognitive, cloud computing and the internet of things.
In this context, the role of regulators should be to extend the benefits of the internet to even more companies, governments and individuals, establishing trust in technologies, ensuring privacy, data security and further encouraging popular participation in a vital debate for the future of our country.
The Brazil that I would like my children to grow up in is transparent, accessible, stable, safe and free. Just like the rights that I would like governments to guarantee for me and my children in this hyperconnected world full of opportunities, which is the internet.
Let's get engaged?
Fábio Rua is coordinator of the ABES Regulatory Committee and Director of Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs at IBM Latin America. Graduated in International Relations (FAAP), he has a postgraduate degree in Economic Diplomacy (UNICAMP) and a master's degree in International Business Management (FGV / RJ). He is co-author of the books Manual of Corporate Diplomacy (Editora Atlas - 2007), Brazil and the Great Themes of International Trade (Editora Aduaneiras - 2005) and FTAA: Risks and Opportunities (Editora Manole - 2003).
EN 
PT 
