Brazil unanimously approves “Internet Bill of Rights”

Brazil’s Senate unanimously approved groundbreaking legislation on Tuesday that guarantees equal access to the Internet and protects the privacy of Brazilian users in the wake of U.S. spying revelations. President Dilma Rousseff, who was the target of U.S. espionage according to documents leaked by former NSA analyst Edward Snowden, plans to sign the bill into law. She will present it on Wednesday at a global conference on the future of the Internet, her office said in a blog.

Brazil’s Federal Senate has passed a proposed Internet law that aims to guarantee freedom of expression and privacy to the country’s Internet users, and also requires foreign Internet service providers to fall in line with the country’s rules. The bill was passed Tuesday, a day ahead of the start of a global Internet governance conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and requires the assent of Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff. The president has backed the legislation after reports of spying by the U.S. National Security Agency on Internet users as well as top political leaders including herself. The Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance, also called NETmundial, opens in the wake of disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden about the agency’s surveillance activities. Activists are demanding that the meeting address squarely the issue of Internet surveillance including by the NSA.