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Limits to domestic espionage: what comes from within can also strike us

Document Citado por Related
Vincent
AutorFrancisco Brito Cruz and Dennys Antonialli
Páginas204-206

Page 204

See note 84

Brazil must pay attention to the consequences of relying on the discourse of national sovereignty in order to react to USA’s digital espionage.

The Brazilian reaction to the American digital espionage scandal set off by Edward Snowden’s revelations presented various layers. On the diplomatic side, Rousseff’s government articulated a negative public response through the president’s speech in the UN opening ceremony. In terms of strategic planning, Brazilian State noticed the necessity of investments in infrastructure with the aim to decentralize the web (as well as the bet on cabling and on other equipment which can make data trafic cheaper inside national territory or the adoption of auditable software in the equipment[1]). From the legislative point of view, the federal government is currently pressing the House of Representatives to vote the bill known as "Marco Civil da Internet", which now has an even more protective text concerning privacy.

In short, we can say that during the debate that followed the Snowden scandal, Brazilian government has been defending its sovereignty, as well as assuming the role of privacy guardian to its citizens in order to justify its new political agenda. One must remember, however, that the same speech used to protect the sovereignty and the security of national interests legitimized the creation of loopholes in the U.S. legal system in order to relativize the right to privacy. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Courts (FISA Courts), created in 1978, were rediscovered and strengthened after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, with subsequent amendments. This institutional arrangement removes the common judicial control on possible monitoring mechanisms that violate the privacy of citizens and is a key system for the NSA spying activities inside and outside the USA.

This does not happen by chance. Sovereignty and security concepts are broad and versatile. It is the institutional practice that has succeeded in giving muscles and shape to the discourse that uses them both. At this point, it is crucial that the Brazilian government intends not only to think of ways to subvert USA’s power of surveillance, but also in establishing limits for the eventual assembly of this type of arrangement in the domestic sphere.

Page 205

Recently, episodes that demonstrate the intrusive performance of the Brazilian government’s intelligence agencies have multiplied.[2] The protests that rocked the...

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