After two years of negotiation at the National Congress, Brazil’s
Personal Data Protection Bill was finally sanctioned by president Michel
Temer on August 14. The original text was approved in both houses of
Congress by a unanimous vote.
The bill, as defined by members of Congress, is a “legal framework
for the protection, use and treatment of personal information”. The law intends
to give individuals greater power to control their data, by requiring
corporate entities to obtain a person's consent before collecting their
information. This is an important move in Brazil where pharmacies, public transportation and other services often capture people’s data without their explicit consent or prior notice.
After the misuse of data captured on Facebook became a worldwide concern with the Cambridge Analytica scandal in early 2018, the Congress expedited its process on the bill.
But there is a catch. The text signed by Temer is not exactly the
same one approved by at the Parliament. Temer vetoed some elements of
the original.
Global Voices talked to Bia Barbosa, an activist part of the collective Intervozes and a member of Coalizão Direitos na Rede (Net Rights Coalition), to learn the groups’ concerns about the bill.
