Brazil approves bill to protect internet freedom and net neutrality

Yesterday evening the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies approved the Marco Civil bill, which contains significant protections for net neutrality, user privacy and security, and freedom of expression. The bill is the product of years of work, including a public consultation period in 2009 and 2010. The day of the vote many Brazilians took part in a “compartilhaço” or “sharing storm” on social media, tagging messages of support for the bill #EuQueroMarcoCivil, which became a worldwide trending topic March 25, the day of the vote.

We first wrote about Brazil’s ‘Marco Civil‘ back in October 2011, when we described it as a kind of “anti-ACTA”. That’s because it was designed to protect online rights, not diminish them, and was the product of a democratic and transparent process, not of secret corporate lobbying. As Global Voices explains: “the bill was developed through a uniquely open public process. Over the course of several months in 2009 and 2010, citizens were invited to contribute suggestions and criticism to an early draft of the bill using an open online platform. Nearly 2,000 people participated in the process — the bill was substantially revised and re-shaped to reflect public concern. As one popular meme (below) put it, the Marco Civil “does not belong to a [political] party. It belongs to Brazilians.”