Dilma says Brazil opposes interference in communications of any country

Criado em 09/07/13 09h59 e atualizado em 10/07/13 07h35
Por Luana Lourenço and Sabrina Craide Edição:s Fonte:Agência Brasil

Brasília – President Dilma Rousseff says that the Brazilian government is opposed to any international interference in the domestic communications of any country. She further stated that reports that the United States was monitoring information exchanged by Brazilian citizens were being investigated.

“Brazil’s position on this matter is clear and firm: we do not agree with this sort of interference - in Brazil or in any other country," the president said in a quick interview after launching the “More Doctors” program at the Palácio do Planalto.

According to an article published on Sunday (July 7) by O Globo newspaper, communications in Brazil were among the main targets of the National Security Agency. The newspaper report was based on documents leaked by former NSA contractor, Edward Snowden. The data were being collected using a highly classified electronic surveillance program called Prism.

Dilma explained that Brazil had asked the US government for an explanation and will also ask the International Telecommunication Union, in Geneva, Switzerland, for measures to improve the rules governing the safety of telecommunications.

“We’re going to make a proposal to the United Nations Human Rights Commission, since one of its principles is ensuring freedom of expression and individual rights, including the right to privacy. Besides, these are rights also guaranteed by our constitution”, the president declared.

The president went on to mention the need for changes in Brazilian laws governing the internet. Since the reports on the monitoring by the US became public, the Brazilian government has called on Congress to urgently pass a draft bill known as the Civil Landmark Internet Bill (“Marco Civil da Internet”) - a broad regulatory framework for internet use in Brazil.

“We will revise the ‘Marco Civil da Internet’ because we think one of the issues we have to make a priority is the storing of data. Data is often stored outside Brazil, especially the data on Google. We want to make it mandatory for data belonging to Brazilians to be stored in Brazil," Dilma Rousseff concluded.

Editors: Nádia Franco / Nira Foster
Translators: Fabrício Ferreira / Allen Bennett