The draft bill for the framework of internet law has finally been to Congress: isthis a good or a bad thing?

According to the Ministry of Justice website, the Legal Regulatory Framework of the Internet in Brazil was sent to Congress on August 25, 2011. The bill was given number 2,126/11 and is currently under consideration in the House of Representatives. The bill will then be sent to the Senate. It is not yet known how long this process may take, but one must be mindful that it is at this time when content creators and owners must be vigilant since the National Congress can change the current text of the bill before sending it for presidential approval.

The draft bill for the framework of internet law began to be drawn up in 2009, when the Ministry of Justice released its first draft and set a deadline for interested parties to make comments and suggestions for changes or improvements.

However, although the bill appears to be an improvement to existing legislation, it actually brings nothing new with respect to current practice.

There are three basic reasons that lead to this statement:

– Firstly, the bill, in the beginning (Articles 2, 3 and 4), lists the fundamentals, principles and objectives for Internet use in Brazil.  None of these, absolutely none – is related to the protection of and respect for Intellectual Property rights. Among the fundamentals, principles and objectives, the Framework Law mentions access to the Internet and information, as well as personal data privacy protection, for example, but makes no reference to the importance of preserving and protecting Intellectual Property rights.  The absence of such a rule is even stranger considering that one of the goals of Framework Law is "to promote innovation and encourage the wide dissemination of new technologies and models for use and access". How does the legislature intend to promote innovation without protecting Intellectual Property rights?

– Secondly, the only measure available in the Framework Law to remove any infringing content from the Internet is the filing of a lawsuit.  Not only is the bringing of a lawsuit more expensive and slower than any extra-judicial proceedings, but the current Brazilian legislation already covers this. Why do we need a new law allowing content creators and owners do what is already permitted? Not to mention that possibility of filing lawsuits abounds in case law, so the Framework Law seeks to regulate what is already constitutes part of our practice.

– Finally, the Framework Law obliges Internet service providers to keep records for one year at most, of what is called “connection records”.  These records consist of information regarding the time that each user was connected to the Internet, something that is relatively useless in determining any possible violation. On the other hand, the bill simply prohibits the keeping of "access logs" by Internet service providers, which would be the data or content effectively accessed by users. That is, even with a court order in hand, content creators and owners will not be able to apply it, since the information is not available.

The hope is that Congress recognises that the Framework Internet Law has moved away from current needs and drastically improves the text that has recently been submitted for approval.