CyberBRICS

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Publications

Data Sovereignty and Data Transfers as Fundamental Elements of Digital Transformation: Lessons from the BRICS Countries

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Abstract When talking about digital transformation, data sovereignty considerations and data transfers cannot be excluded from the discussion, given the considerable likelihood that digital technologies deployed along the process collect, process and transfer (personal) data in multiple jurisdictions. An increasing number of nations, especially those within the BRICS grouping (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South … Read more

Information Integrity in G20

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Article by Yasmin Curzi and Luca Belli Constructing a concept of a program agenda The combat of disinformation, hate speech, synthetic content produced by generative artificial intelligence (Gen-AI) and harmful algorithmic practices by private actors are topics that have emerged as fundamental themes for the protection of democracy and human rights. In this context the … Read more

Regulating Facial Recognition in Brazil

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By Luca Belli , Walter Britto Gaspar and Nicolo Zingales. This article is a chapter of The Cambridge Handbook of Facial Recognition in the Modern State. Summary Almost forty Brazilian cities have begun to deploy facial recognition technology (FRT) in a bid to automate the public safety, transportation, and border control sectors. Such initiatives are … Read more

Securing South Africa’s elections through Popia and the Cybercrimes Act

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By Sizwe Snail ka Mtuze, Lucien Pierce, Melody Musoni and Carl Heinz Uys As South Africa and other African countries prepare for elections in 2024, cybersecurity and the protection of personal data must be prioritised. The stakes are high. Cybersecurity breaches and incidents within government and its related agencies have been coming thick and fast. Cybersecurity … Read more

AI Governance in the G20 – Webinar Report

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🔗Watch the full webinar here: https://www.youtube.com/live/ocMRJQo3J_Y?si=0hXUshoXZZJZ2szW English Luca Belli, CTS-FGV coordinator, opened the webinar emphasizing the importance of the Brazilian presidency of the G20 in conveying the voice of the Global South, following India and just before the South African presidency. These are three countries that are also key members of the BRICS group. He … Read more

Professor Luca Belli appointed member of the new Brazilian Cybersecurity Committee

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On 9 February 2024 the Brazilian Presidency’s Institutional Security Cabinet (GSI) appointed the members of the new National Cybersecurity Committee (CNciber), established by Presidential Decree 11.856/2023. CyberBRICS Director and CTS-FGV Coordinator, Professor Luca Belli, has been appointed as one of the members of the CNciber for a three-year mandate. Yasmin Curzi, a professor at FGV … Read more

BRICS in the Digital economy: competition policy in practice

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Nicolo Zingles contributed to the prepration of the second report pf the BRICS Digital Policy Working Group Professor at FGV Law School and researcher at CTS-FGV, Nicolo Zingales, contributed to the preparation of the second report of the BRICS Digital Economy Working Group. #cyberBRICS The group was established in 2017 during the BRICS International Competition … Read more

Building Good Digital Sovereignty through Digital Public Infrastructures and Digital Commons in India and Brazil

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The past decade has witnessed the emergence of multiple debates on digital sovereignty, a hotly debated topic, that does not have a universal definition yet. Traditional conceptions of sovereignty are intimately intertwined with the key features of the state, and the lack of a shared understanding of digital sovereignty has inspired multiple interpretations frequently stressing authoritarian or protectionist … Read more

Twenty-first Edition Of The CyberBRICS Observatory Bulletin

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Publications – New Data Architectures In Brazil, China, And India: From Copycats To Innovators, Towards A Post-Western Model Of Data Governance Paper by CyberBRICS Director Luca Belli, published at the Indian Journal of Law and Technology. Artigo de autoria de Luca Belli (Diretor do CyberBRICS), publicado no Indian Journal of Law and Technology. – Searching … Read more

Dynamic Spectrum Sharing: Unlocking Connectivity and Innovation in South Africa’s Telecommunications Landscape

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Article by CyberBRICS Fellow Dr Senka Hadzic South Africa’s telecommunications sector has transitioned from a state-owned monopoly to a more competitive environment over the past 25 years, with mobile communications and broadband access playing a crucial role in the country’s socioeconomic development. While broadband infrastructure has improved over the years, there are still challenges in … Read more

AI Regulation in Brazil: Advancements, Flows, and Need to Learn from the Data Protection Experience

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Paper by Luca Belli, Yasmin Curzi and Walter Britto Gaspar published at Computer, Law and Security Review Abstract Brazil has recently moved forward on two important developments in its regulatory framework for artificial intelligence: the creation of a national AI strategy and parliamentary discussions on an overarching AI law. These efforts follow considerable advances in … Read more

Private and Controversial: When Public Health and Privacy Meet in India

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By Smriti Parsheera (CyberBRICS Fellow)1 The book Private and Controversial: When Public Health and Privacy Meet in India brings to light the complex interactions between the fields of public health and privacy, placing them in the context of current developments in India. This includes the developments around the management of the Covid-19 pandemic, the ongoing … Read more

India’s Policy Responses to Big Tech: And an Eye on the Rise of ‘Alt Big Tech’

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Smriti Parsheera The term ‘big tech’ offers a helpful and widely used label for describing the world’s most powerful technology companies. The challenges posed by big tech across the domains of competition, innovation, human rights, and social and political impact are real and immediate. So is the need for building more effective checks against them. … Read more

Cinderella’s shoe won’t fit Soundarya: An audit of facial processing tools on Indian faces

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Gaurav Jain & Smriti Parsheera The increasing adoption of facial processing systems in India is fraught with concerns of privacy, transparency, accountability, and missing procedural safeguards. At the same time, we also know very little about how these technologies perform on the diverse features, characteristics, and skin tones of India’s 1.34 billion-plus population. In this paper, … Read more

Application of LGPD to small-sized processing agents: Non-official translation of the ANPD regulation

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This is a non-official translation of the Brazilian Data Protection Authority’s regulation regarding small-sized processing agents by the CTS-FGV team – translated by Eduardo Mattos, Walter B. Gaspar, Yasmin Curzi and Luca Belli. The original text in Portuguese, alongside more information, can be found at the Brazilian Data Protection Authority’s website.

LGPD regulation for small agents: highlights, advances and future paths

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By Luca Belli, Nicolo Zingales, Erica Bakonyi, Yasmin Curzi and Walter B. Gaspar In August 2021, the National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) started a public consultation for a proposal to regulate the application of the General Data Protection Law (LGPD) to small and medium-sized companies and start-ups. In addition to being an important initiative for … Read more

Cybersecurity Policymaking in the BRICS Countries: From Addressing National Priorities to Seeking International Cooperation

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Abstract In the concluding statement of the 2021 BRICS Summit, the bloc’s five members—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—pledged to pursue enhanced cooperation on cybersecurity issues, including by “establishing legal frameworks of cooperation among BRICS” and a BRICS intergovernmental agreement on cybersecurity. This piece briefly outlines the mounting relevance of cybersecurity for the BRICS … Read more

Brazil joins the Convention on Cybercrime: How will it impact other BRICS Countries?

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The accession to the Convention brings many advantages, but it could complicate the Brazilian stance at the BRICS and UN levels. Largely unnoticed by the public, a major event took place in the past week. The Federal Senate of Brazil approved the draft legislative decree triggering Brazil’s adhesion to the Convention on Cybercrime, signed in Budapest, Hungary, … Read more

O Brasil aderiu à Convenção sobre o Cibercrime: o que isso significa?

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Implementar a Convenção de Budapeste irá requerer uma ótima sinergia entre o Legislativo e o Itamaraty Nas últimas semanas, um importante acontecimento passou despercebido para o grande público. O Senado aprovou o Projeto de Decreto Legislativo que abre caminho para a adesão do Brasil à Convenção sobre o Cibercrime, assinada em 2001 na cidade de Budapeste, na … Read more

Smart communities make smart cities

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By Senka Hadzic The promotion of smart cities is generally shaped by a technological lens that focuses on digital innovation and data. Yet, technological solutions to complex socio-economic problems do not necessarily foster inclusivity, especially in urban spaces in the Global South. In fact, a report by the OECD released last year argues that poorly planned smart … Read more

Legal Status of Privacy Rights in India – A Comprehensive Analysis of Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019

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By Bhavna Sarma, Research Scholar at RML National Law University, Lucknow, India and CyberBRICS Associated Scholar INTRODUCTION Internationally, the right to privacy is well recognised as a fundamental right. Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the right to privacy and it states that “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference … Read more

China’s new platform guidelines

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Translation By Ian Brown (CyberBRICS Visiting Professor) and Douwe Korff Just-published draft guidelines for consultation from China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), translated by Microsoft. Guide to classification and grading of Internet platforms (Draft for comments) First, the purpose of the guide In order to better promote the healthy development of China’s platform economic norms, protect … Read more

Non-official Translation of the Brazilian Artificial Intelligence Bill, n. 21/2020

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This is a non-official translation of the bill establishing foundations, principles and guidelines for AI in Brazil prepared by the CyberBRICS team. The original text in Portuguese, alongside more information on the bill and its processing in the Brazilian Congress, can be found at the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies’ website. The bill was approved in Congress and currently awaits a vote in the Senate.

The Role of Think Tanks in the Digital Era: The CyberBRICS Example

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Below the transcripts of Prof Luca Belli’s intervention at the International High-level Think Tank Forum of the World Internet Conference, Wuzhen Summit. Good morning to all participants and organisers and many thanksfor having invited me to be a speaker at this important session of the World Internet Conference 2021. It is a great honour for … Read more

Cybersecurity Convergence in the BRICS Countries

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By Luca Belli The thirteenth BRICS Summit took place on 9 September 2021 and cybersecurity featured prominently amongst the priorities identified by BRICS leaders.  The BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – are explicitly advocating for enhanced cooperation on cybersecurity issues, both at the international and intra-BRICS level. The facility with which cooperation … Read more

The Way the Cookie Crumbles: The Future of Cookie Regulation in India

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By Sohini Banerjee and KS Roshan Menon Despite their innocuous associations, internet cookies symbolise the power imbalance inherent on the internet. Moreover, they throw up significant privacy concerns that lie at the heart of our digital economy. Recently, European privacy group None of Your Business (‘NOYB’) developed a system to identify websites with unsatisfactory use … Read more

At the intersection of AI and data protection law: automated decision-making rules, a global perspective (CPDP latAm Panel)

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By Katerina Demetzou On Thursday, 15th of July 2021, the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) organised during the CPDP LatAm Conference a panel titled ‘At the Intersection of AI and Data Protection law: Automated Decision Making Rules, a Global Perspective’. The aim of the Panel was to explore how existing data protection laws around the world apply to profiling … Read more

Pegasus: O cavalo de Tróia da segurança cibernética

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Programas como este também são conhecidos como malware – instalam-se no dispositivo do alvo e conseguem monitorar atividades ou promover alterações no funcionamento, muitas vezes sem deixar vestígio. By Yasmin Curzi de Mendonça, Julia Iunes Monteiro, Walter Britto Gaspar e Kaline Santos Desenvolvido pela empresa israelense de cibersegurança NSO Group, o spyware “Pegasus” tem sido … Read more

SA’s ICT sector urgently needs a backbone

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By Charley Lewis Payoffs from huge investment required may be slow in coming, but the benefits are undoubtedly worth it The ICT sector is not an overall employment creator on its own, barring a few niche areas. Rather, it acts to displace jobs, shifting the profile of employment away from low-skilled, information-sparse jobs that are … Read more

“Políticas Digitais no Brasil: Acesso à Internet, Proteção de Dados e Regulação” EBook

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Organizado por Luca Belli e Bruno Ramos Este volume é o resultado de uma parceria entre a Escola de Direito da Fundação Getulio Vargas do Rio de Janeiro (FGV DIREITO RIO) e a União Internacional das Telecomunicações (UIT). As reflexões incluídas neste livro foram desenvolvidas por servidores públicos, que participaram do Curso de Políticas Digitais, … Read more

Accountability and Transparency in practice: necessary improvements to the 2630/2020 Bill

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By Yasmin Curzi de Mendonça, Clara Leitão e Almeida, Henrique Torres, Leandro Rabelo e Raphael Santana Following international trends in digital platform regulation ­– especially in online content moderation – legislative proposals have emerged in Brazil seeking to increase platforms’ accountability and guarantee more rights for the users. The Bill No. 2,630/2020, Platform Accountability and … Read more

The current state of the Draft Bill to counter Fake News in Brazil

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By Julia Iunes and Natália Macedo The current state of the Draft Bill to implement the “Law on Liberty, Responsibility and Transparency for the Internet” in Brazil: It is essential to improve the procedural duties of digital platforms, while respecting the liability regime adopted by the Brazilian Civil Rights Framework for the Internet (Marco Civil … Read more

Legal Intersections between the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA) and the Cyber Crimes Act 19 of 2020

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By Sizwe Snail The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) describes new ways in which we introduce and use technology into our societies (e.g. the use of cyber systems, artificial intelligence (AI) and nanotechnology). The increased internet activity on social networks, e-governance and commercial services, and the Internet of Things (IOT) has amplified the vulnerability of both … Read more

Cyber resilience in Indian Financial Services is the Need of the Hour

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By Sohini Banerjee and K.S. Roshan Menon Abstract The World Economic Forum’s 2021 report on global risks featured cyber threats as among the most significant risks to society and the economy. At the outset, it is worth noting two key factors at play. First, the financial services sector has been a prime target for threat … Read more

Innovation entanglement at three South African tech hubs

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By Lucienne Abrahams Abstract This study explores innovation modalities at three South African tech hubs: Bandwidth Barn Khayelitsha and Workshop 17 in Cape Town, and the Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct in Johannesburg. The study finds that tech start-ups’ ability to scale is generally enhanced by their participation in the hubs. Furthermore, it is found that … Read more

Artificial Intelligence in Brazil still needs a strategy

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By Walter B. Gaspar and Yasmin Curzi de Mendonça, Researchers at CTS/FGV Law School This is an abridged version. Download a full version of this analysis report here. Anyone who takes the time to read the recently published Brazilian Artificial Intelligence Strategy (EBIA) will not be able to get a very concrete idea of what … Read more

The right to be forgotten is not compatible with the Brazilian Constitution. Or is it?

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By Luca Belli The Brazilian Supreme Federal Court, or “STF” in its Brazilian acronym, recently took a landmark decision concerning the right to be forgotten (RTBF), finding that it is incompatible with the Brazilian Constitution. This attracted international attention to Brazil for a topic quite distant than the sadly frequent environmental, health, and political crises. … Read more

Russia: New Law requires express consent for making personal data available to the public and for any subsequent dissemination

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By Gabriela Zanfir-Fortuna and Regina Iminova Amendments to the Russian general data protection law (Federal Law No. 152-FZ on Personal Data) adopted at the end of 2020 enter into force today (Monday, March 1st), with some of them having the effective date postponed until July 1st. The changes are part of a legislative package that is … Read more

Notes From a Foreign Field: The European Court of Human Rights on Russia’s Website Blocking

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By Gurshabad Grover and Anna Liz Thomas From PUBG to TikTok, online services are regularly blocked in India under an opaque censorship regime flowing from section 69A of the Information Technology (IT) Act. Russia happens to have a very similar online content blocking regime, parts and processes of which were recently challenged in the European … Read more

WhatsApp’s New Rules: Time to Recognize the Real Cost of “Free” Apps

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By Luca Belli and Nicolo Zingales Recently, WhatsApp pushed an in-app notification requesting users to accept its new privacy policy by February 8, 2021. Before publicly changing its position and postponing the deadline to May 15 in reaction to public backlash, the company announced that anyone who did not accept the new rules would have … Read more

The largest personal data leakage in Brazilian history

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Unsplash/Rozan Naufal. Some rights reserved.

Why the rest of the world should be worried, and think hard about how to create a data protection culture. By Luca Belli In Brazil, like in most all low-income countries with relevant population, enormous personal databases are created with little or very poor attention paid to cybersecurity and data protection concerns. On 20 January, the largest … Read more

A conversation on AI activism

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By Smriti Parsheera and Sarayu Natarajan In the latest edition of the ACM Interactions Magazine, CyberBRICS Fellow Smriti Parsheera and Sarayu Natarajan, Founder of Aapti Institute, bring up some conceptual and practical concerns for AI activism, particularly from an Indian perspective. They reason that despite its ‘artificial’ nature, AI happens to be a deeply human subject with humans … Read more

Municipal Data Governance: An Analysis of Brazilian and European Practices

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By Luca Belli, Danilo Doneda Abstract* Over the last decade, the “Smart City” formula has become a true marketing mantra, gaining momentum not only in the business environment, but also in academic circles and among policymakers. The formula is utilised to describe cities that, on the one hand, are increasingly penetrated and ubiquitously monitored by information and … Read more

Concepts of the digital society: Cybersecurity

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By Michael Veale and Ian Brown Abstract Cybersecurity covers the broad range of technical and social issues that must be considered to protect networked information systems. The importance of the concept has increased as so many government, business, and day-to-day activities globally have moved online. It has been increasingly referred to in both academic and mainstream publications … Read more

Data Protection in the BRICS Countries: Enhanced Cooperation and Convergence towards Legal Interoperability

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By Luca Belli This paper stems from the research elaborated by CyberBRICS project, which is the first attempt to produce comparative analyses of digital policies in the BRICS countries – namely, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The project is hosted by Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) Law School, Rio de Janeiro, and developed in … Read more

[Call for Papers] Digital Sovereignty in the BRICS Countries: Data, Infrastructure, and Services

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Call for Papers Digital Sovereignty in the BRICS Countries: Data, Infrastructure, and Services Background on the CyberBRICS Project: The CyberBRICS project has a triple aim: to map existing regulations; to identify best practices; and develop policy suggestions in the areas of cybersecurity governance, Internet access and digitalisation of public services in the BRICS countries (Brazil, … Read more

“The Value of Internet Openness in Times of Crisis” eBook

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This volume explores “The Value of Internet Openness in Times of Crisis” and is the official outcome of the Coalitions on Net Neutrality and on Community Connectivity of the United Nations Internet Governance Forum. This work stems from the consideration that the COVID-19 pandemic has harshly highlighted the fundamental importance of Internet access, and the … Read more

A extensão do prazo de patentes e o combate à Covid-19

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A infeliz interseção entre uma crise aguda e uma estrutura desequilibrada Publicado originalmente no Jota Por Alan Rossi Silva, Walter Britto Gaspar e Pedro Villardi Depois de meses de pandemia, já não há qualquer dúvida de que a Covid-19 pode ser considerada a maior crise sanitária do último século. Mesmo com todos os problemas de … Read more

Report of the Presidential Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution

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Report of the Presidential Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Published by The Presidency, Republic of South Africa Foreword We are extremely proud of the tremendous strides South Africa has made over the past twenty-five years in the post-apartheid era. We have overcome many challenges through the enduring and innovative South African spirit. Now, we are facing a global phenomenon known as the Fourth Industrial … Read more

“CyberBRICS: Cybersecurity Regulations in the BRICS Countries” Full eBook

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CyberBRICS: Cybersecurity Regulations in the BRICS Countries

This book stems from the CyberBRICS project, which is the first initiative to develop a comparative analysis of the digital policies and regulations of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries. Given the complexity of digital policies in general and cybersecurity in particular – not to mention the specificities of BRICS countries … Read more

“COVID-19 Global Insights” e-book

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covid global insights ebook

Disponibilizamos o e-book “COVID-19 Global Insights” completo para download. O livro tem como coordenador Claudio Lucena (CyberBRICS Associated Scholar) e conta com 28 capítulos divididos em duas partes: a primeira fala sobre as políticas digitais e coronavírus em um espectro global; a segunda, foca nas questões de privacidade e proteção de dados no Brasil durante … Read more

South African use of technology during COVID-19

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By Varsha Sewlal Introduction The scale of the COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the need to act expediently to contain the spread of the virus. Most governments have resorted to utilising technology driven solutions such as location tools on android and smart phones, cell phone tower signals, global position systems, Wi-Fi signals and Bluetooth technology. Contact … Read more

The technical components of interoperability as a tool for competition regulation

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By Ian Brown Abstract The first paper in this series, Interoperability as a tool for competition regulation, focused on policy issues. This second paper looks at the technical details and requirements of interoperability in practice. The third paper will analyse the impact of interoperability on phenomena such as disinformation and privacy (preliminarily covered in the … Read more

Data sovereignty, of whom? Limits and suitability of sovereignty frameworks for data in India

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By Anja Kovacs and Nayantara Ranganathan Abstract: Sovereignty is seeing renewed relevance in the age of data in India as it has become the framework of choice in a number of data governance proposals by the Indian government. To understand the scope, import and consequences of these reassertions of sovereignty, however, it is important to unpack … Read more

Analysis of India’s Aarogya Setu app

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By Smriti Parsheera, Nikhil Narendran, Swati Muthukumar and Aparajita Lath[1] Aarogya Setu, which translates to mean ‘health bridge’, is a mobile application that was launched by the Indian government in April, 2020. The purpose of the app is to carry out self assessment of one’s health status, contact tracing and provide health related information. The … Read more

Brazilian Data Protection under Covid-19: Legal Certainty is the Main Casualty

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By Luca Belli and Nicolo Zingales On 14 August 2018, Brazil adopted its new General Data Protection Law, n° 13.709/2018, better known under its Portuguese acronym “LGPD” (Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais). Hailed as a legislative milestone for Brazil, the law was predestined to stir controversy since its approval. The very ample margin for … Read more

Interoperability as a tool for competition regulation

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IInteroperability as a tool for competition regulation

By Ian Brown Abstract This briefing paper on interoperability as a pro-competition policy tool is based on a synthesis of recent comprehensive policy reviews of digital competition in major economies, and related academic literature, focusing on areas of emerging consensus while noting important disagreements. It draws particularly on the Vestager, Furman and Stigler reviews and … Read more

A Brief Prehistory of China’s Social Credit System

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By Min Jiang University of North Carolina (UNC) at Charlotte & CyberBRICS Visiting Professor Abstract This article situates China’s social credit system (SCS) in a historical perspective by exploring its antecedents. The historical roots of the SCS can be found in personnel archives for officials during imperial times, the Dang’an (personnel dossier) system under Communist … Read more

Remove misinformation, but be transparent, please!

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By Torsha Sarkar Introduction We are living through, to put it mildly, strange times. The ongoing pandemic has pinballed into a humanitarian crisis, revealing and deepening the severe class inequalities that exist today. The crisis has been exacerbated by an ‘infodemic’, as the World Health Organization (WHO) notes: a massive abundance of information – occasionally … Read more

A Landmark Ruling in Brazil: Paving the Way for Considering Data Protection as an Autonomous Fundamental Right

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By Bruno Ricardo Bioni and Renato Leite Monteiro A historic ruling of the Brazilian Supreme Court from May 07, 2020 describes the right to data protection as an autonomous right stemming from the Brazilian Constitution. By a significant majority, 10 votes to 1, the Court halted the effectiveness of the Presidential Executive Order (MP[1] 954/2020) that mandated … Read more

[BigDataSur-COVID] A pandemia e a nova ordem sociodigital no Sul Global: o caso de São Paulo

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Also available in English O que acontece quando a cidade digital encontra desastres e pandemias em grande escala como o COVID-19? Este artigo analisa o caso de São Paulo, Brasil, para ilustrar como a pandemia contribui para enfatizar um amplo espectro de desigualdades. Na maior metrópole da América Latina, a população experimenta com uma forte disparidade de … Read more

[BigDataSur-COVID] The pandemic and the new socio-digital order in the Global South: the case of São Paulo

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What happens when the digital city encounters large-scale disasters and pandemics like COVID-19? This article analyzes the case of São Paulo, Brazil, to illustrate how the pandemic contributes to emphasize a broad spectrum of inequalities. In the largest metropolis in Latin America, the population lives with a strong disparity of socioeconomic and cultural conditions, at … Read more

Russia during COVID-19: information warfare, digital passes and digital protest

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By Anna Orlova and Andrey Shcherbovich Since March 2020, Russia has been suspected of information warfare, that is, proactive state propaganda and dissemination of the so-called “fake news”, in response to the coronavirus crisis. This information war aims to diminish and downplay the current state of coronavirus pandemic in Russia. Russia and China, in particular, were … Read more

Innovative spectrum approaches for Internet Openness in South Africa

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By Dr Senka Hadzic, Pablo Aguera e Dr Alison Gillwald South Africa’s failure to release high demand spectrum for over a decade has been cited by operators and analysts not only as a factor contributing to the high cost of mobile data in the country, as operators deploy 4G services in suboptimal bands, but also as a … Read more

Net neutrality in India: ensuring openness amidst the crisis

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By Smriti Parsheera In the previous post we traced India’s journey down the net neutrality road, starting from the framing of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)’s discriminatory tariff regulation in 2016 to the present debate on creation of an advisory multi-stakeholder body. Our focus here is to discuss the ways in India’s net neutrality rules … Read more

Net neutrality in India: from rules to enforcement

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By Smriti Parsheera Policymakers in India have acknowledged that non-discriminatory treatment of content, or, in other words, maintenance of network neutrality, constitutes an essential feature of having an open Internet. This post focuses on the development of India’s net neutrality framework, tracing the steps that have been taken so far and the questions that lie … Read more

COVID-19 Makes Internet Access and Openness an Absolute Priority

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By Luca Belli The COVID-19 pandemic has harshly highlighted the fundamental importance of Internet access, and the total exclusion that the unconnected face in times of crises. For some of us, our new routine comprises of e-learning, telemedicine, online meetings, and using e-commerce and delivery apps for our essentials. This is only possible if we … Read more

How the Kerala-Sprinklr controversy represents the gaps in India’s Data Protection Framework

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By Aman Nair Introduction As COVID-19 continues to be the primary problem facing the globe, there has been a scramble among policymakers to try and utilise the latest technology in any way possible so as to contain the pandemic. Contact tracing and data analysis have become the norm, with apps to that effectbeing implemented world … Read more

A Covid-19 torna o acesso à Internet um direito fundamental

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Por Luca Belli Exclusão social para os desconectados e conjuntura perfeita de fake news para os parcialmente conectados. Teletrabalho em home office, aulas online, entregas por meio de aplicativos, notícias e diversões em streaming. Por causa da pandemia de Covid-19, essa se tornou nossa nova rotina. Sob a condição de se ter acesso à Internet. … Read more

Data protection frameworks emerging in the BRICS countries

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By Luca Belli The members of the so-called BRICS grouping (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) have realized that digital transformation is an essential element for the future of their economies and societies. In this perspective, data protection becomes a key priority to foster thriving digital environments, where individuals enjoy protections and businesses benefit from legal … Read more

‘Digital sovereignty’: can Russia cut off its Internet from the rest of the world?

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By Francesca Musiani, Benjamin Loveluck, Françoise Daucé, Ksenia Ermoshina Texte intégral en française The Internet infrastructure is based on the principle of the internationalisation of equipment and data and information flows. Elements of the Internet with a geographic location in national territories need physical and information resources hosted in other territories to be able to … Read more

Proteção de dados à deriva: o difícil equilíbrio entre controle e privacidade

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Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

By Walter Gaspar Levantamento recente identificou novas medidas de rastreamento digital em 20 países após o início da pandemia de covid-19. A implementação de soluções tecnológicas para o combate ao seu avanço tem colocado em evidência uma controvérsia aguda envolvendo controle estatal, privacidade e proteção de dados. Não que o assunto não fosse discutido antes. Mas, … Read more

Exploring Multistakeholder Internet Governance: Towards the Identification of a Model Advisory Body on Internet Policy

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By Luca Belli, Diego Canabarro, Judith Herzog, Richard Hill, Carlos A. Afonso, and Stefano Trumpy Introduction Over the past thirty years, the Internet has penetrated all aspects of our lives and, as connected individuals, we are now reliant on connectivity for an increasing number of aspects of our daily routine. The preservation of Internet’s essential … Read more

Why should we care about takedown timeframes?

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Why should we care about takedown timeframes?

By Torsha Sarkar (CyberBRICS Associated Scholar) Introduction Since the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) proposed the draft amendments to the intermediary liability guidelines in December of 2018, speculations regarding their potential effects have been numerous. These have included, mapping the  requirement of traceability of originators vis-a-vis chilling effect on free speech online, or … Read more

Migrating Servers, Elusive Users: Reconfigurations of the Russian Internet in the Post-Snowden

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By Ksenia Ermoshina and Francesca Musiani (CyberBRICS Associated Scholar) Abstract In response to the growing censorship of their national Internet, Russian users, content producers and service providers have developed several resistance tactics. This paper analyzes these tactics with particular attention paid to their materiality. It first addresses the different levels of Internet “governance by infrastructure” … Read more

Antitrust and Restrictions on Privacy in the Digital Economy

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ntitrust and Restrictions on Privacy in the Digital Economy

By Nicholas Economides and Ioannis Lianos (CyberBRICS Associated Scholar) Abstract We present a model of a market failure based on a requirement provision by digital platforms in the acquisition of personal information from users of other products/services. We establish the economic harm from the market failure and the requirement using traditional antitrust methodology. Eliminating the … Read more

Content takedown and users’ rights

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Content takedown and users’ rights

By Gurshabad Grover and Torsha Sarkar AST year, several Jio users from different states reported that sites like Indian Kanoon, Reddit and Telegram were inaccessible through their connections. While attempting to access the website, the users were presented with a notice that the websites were blocked on orders from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). When contacted by the … Read more

Democracy Under The Influence: Paradigms of State Responsibility for Cyber Influence Operations on Elections

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Democracy Under The Influence: Paradigms of State Responsibility for Cyber Influence Operations on Elections

By Barrie Sander Abstract Ever since allegations arose of Russian meddling in the 2016 United States presidential election, cyber influence operations have garnered worldwide attention. This article examines the different options available under international law for holding States responsible for cyber influence operations on elections. To this end, the article first elaborates a typology of … Read more

The beginnings of the Great Firewall of India?

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By Nikhil Pahwa The unintended consequence of the Supreme Court’s order on Internet Shutdowns in Kashmir — where it put down accountability norms for Internet shutdowns, and said that some essential websites should be accessible, is that it has given rise to the creation of the Great Indian Firewall: filters that control what users can and cannot … Read more

Regulatory governance under the PDP Bill: a powerful ship with an unchecked captain?

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Medianama CyberBRICS India PDP Bill

By Smriti Parsheera “I prefer to sail in a bad ship with a good captain rather than sail in a good ship with a bad captain.”— Mehmet Murat ildan If the ship here is a metaphor for the rights and obligations offered by the draft Personal Data Protection Bill (PDP Bill) and the Data Protection … Read more

Don’t believe the hype? Recent 3D printing developments for law and society

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Recent 3D printing developments for law and society Angela Daly Article

By Angela Daly Introduction: This chapter is intended as a follow-up to my monograph, Socio-Legal Aspects of the 3D Printing Revolution, published in mid-2016.1 Much of the research and writing for that work had been completed by late 2015 and so I was unable to take account of certain developments subsequent to that time, which, … Read more

4IR in South Africa is too important to remain the domain of the elite

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By Alison Gillwald The digital inequality paradox is arguably the biggest policy challenge for SA, and, as yet, it is not addressed through the discourse of 4IR Since Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) announcement in 2016 of the impending Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) in his book of the same title, SA has … Read more

[Entrevista] Leilão do 5G precisa de mais debate, diz Luca Belli

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Professor Luca Belli

Não precisa haver pressa para definir logo o edital do leilão do 5G, avalia o doutor em Direito Público Luca Belli, professor de Governança e Regulação da Internet da FGV Direito Rio. Na opinião dele, não é negativo o adiamento aprovado em reunião tensa do Conselho Diretor da Anatel na quinta-feira passada, 12. Isso porque, … Read more

Download the exclusive preview of “CyberBRICS: Mapping Cybersecurity frameworks in the BRICS”

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CyberBRICS: Mapping cybersecurity frameworks in the BRICS Book

CyberBRICS: Mapping Cybersecuity Frameworks in the BRICS This book stems from the CyberBRICS project, which is the first initiative to develop a comparative analysis of the digital policies developed by BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries. BRICS have been chosen as a focus not only because their digital policies are affecting more … Read more

Da forma à substância no direito à proteção de dados pessoais, parte II

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Por Walter Britto Gaspar MyData e sistemas centrados no usuário: o fundamento jurídico O MyData é um movimento baseado no ideal de um sistema de intermediação de dados pessoais centrado no usuário. Ser centrado no usuário significa abordar as relações entre o titular dos dados e terceiros sob uma perspectiva de administração do consentimento centrada no ser … Read more

Da forma à substância no direito à proteção de dados pessoais, parte I

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Por Walter Britto Gaspar Um laço conecta muitas das aplicações de novas técnicas e tecnologias que vêm transformando profundamente todos os campos da atividade humana: a fundamentação necessária na maior quantidade possível de dados. De redes neurais treinadas para identificar melanomas a partir de centenas de milhares de fotografias a caminhos inovadores de compreensão automatizada de escrita, a … Read more

BRICS countries to build digital sovereignty

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By Luca Belli Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are home to 3.2 billion people, 42% of the world’s population. In effect, these countries hold 42% of one of the most valuable resources on the planet: personal data. BRICS countries are not only increasingly aware that they are the main data producers, they also increasingly … Read more

Reflecting on Chinese Artificial Intelligence and National Responsible Innovation

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By Wei Wang This is a short piece relating to the modern history and current situation of China’s AI policies. It arises from the report co-authored with the colleagues having talked in the CUHK Law Global Governance of AI and Ethics workshop, 20-21 June 2019. But it is also a supplementary piece adding some comments … Read more

Digital Era Competition BRICS Report

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Coordinated by Ioannis Lianos and Alexey Ivanov, with contributions by Nicolo Zingales We are happy to present the Draft BRICS academic report on Digital Era Competition Law: A BRICS Perspective. The report engages with one of the most crucial questions of our time, the public governance of the digital economy, in particular focusing on the … Read more

Personal Data in India: anonymise and forget

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By Sohini Chatterjee Recent developments have indicated the government’s plan to intensify existing efforts towards an open data ecosystem. Most recently, the Economic Survey 2018-19 has considered the establishment of a central welfare database of citizens to integrate fragmented data about all Indians. For example, such a database may consolidate a citizen’s land title records, … Read more

5G e IoT: BRICS precisam de cooperação em cibersegurança

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Por Luca Belli, Coordenador do Projeto CyberBRICS Texto publicado originalmente no dia 9 de setembro, 2019 no portal Convergência Digital. Os ministros da ciência, tecnologia e telecomunicações do BRICS acabam de destacar, numa Declaração conjunta, o interesse estratégico e o caráter prioritário de parcerias sobre as novas infraestruturas digitais, as tecnologias 5G, a Internet das Coisas … Read more

This privacy law needs public debate

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By Amba Kak,​ lawyer and policy advisor at Mozilla, and CyberBRICS Associated Scholar. Associated Scholar This article was originally ​published​ in the print edition of the Times of India on July 30, 2019. The inaugural Parliament session of the government’s second term began with IT Minister RS Prasad proclaiming passing a data protection law as a … Read more

Rethinking the intermediary liability regime in India

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By Torsha Sarkar, Policy Officer, Centre for Internet and Society, and CyberBRICS Associated Scholar The author would like to thank Elonnai Hickok and Arindrajit Basu for their feedback. Introduction In December 2018, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (“MeitY”) released the Intermediary Liability Guidelines (Amendment) Rules (“the Guidelines”), which would be significantly altering the … Read more

What is the problem with ‘Ethical AI’? An Indian Perspective

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By Arindrajit Basu & Pranav MB, lawyers and researchers at the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) and CyberBRICS Associated Scholars On 22 May 2019, the OECD member countries adopted the OECD Council Recommendation on Artificial Intelligence. The Principles, meant to provide an “ethical framework” for governing Artificial Intelligence (AI), were the first set of … Read more

4IR in SA is too important to remain the domain of the elite

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By Alison Gillwald (PhD), Executive Director, Research ICT Africa, CyberBRICS Board Member & Adjunct Professor at the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance This opinion piece was first published on on Business Day Live on the 4th of July 2019. Since Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum’s announcement in 2016 of the impending Fourth Industrial … Read more

In South Africa, Privacy and POPI are stress-tested by CCTV and elections

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In South Africa, Privacy and POPI are stress-tested by CCTV and elections

By Sagwadi Mabunda, Frej Thorgren & Jonatan Jakobsson As the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) celebrates its first anniversary, it is fitting to consider some issues concerning data protection and privacy. This post will consider privacy in the context of the South African Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPI) and the issues … Read more

U.S. Ban on Huawei: Superpowers’ Insecurities and Nightmares

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By Min Jiang (Ph.D.), Associate Professor of Communication, UNC Charlotte | CyberBRICS Fellow What is Huawei? Since 2018, Huawei, the Chinese tech giant, has been caught in the eye of the storm of U.S.-China trade war (Keane for CNet, 2019). Founded in 1987 by its current CEO Ren Zhengfei and headquartered in Shenzhen, China, Huawei, … Read more

Seminar CyberBRICS: Cybersecurity, data protection and the digital future of the BRICS

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Seminar CyberBRICS

The Rio de Janeiro Law School of Fundação Getulio Vargas (DIREITO RIO) will host the Seminar CyberBRICS: Cybersecurity, data protection and the digital future of the BRICS. The event aims to provide answers to the challenges related to personal data regulation and cybersecurity governance by providing valuable insights into BRICS digital policies that can be … Read more

Smart cities, personal data and citizens’ rights in Brazil

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By Danilo Doneda and Diego Machado (See portuguese version here) Among the various conceptual propositions of smart cities, it becomes increasingly clear that the city “smartness” is not limited to the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for data processing. Broadly speaking, the use of data technologies is the first aspect for the smartness … Read more

Cidades inteligentes, dados pessoais e direitos dos cidadãos no Brasil

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Por Danilo Doneda e Diego Machado (Versão em inglês aqui) Dentre as diversas proposições conceituais de cidades inteligentes (smart cities), percebe-se que a “inteligência” (smartness) não se resume ao uso e aplicações de tecnologias da informação e da comunicação para tratamento de dados. Há quem entenda, de forma mais ampla, que o uso das tecnologias … Read more

Sovereign Internet Law signed by the President of Russia

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By Dr. Andrey Shcherbovich, CyberBRICS fellow and Simon Granberg and Angelo de Carvalho Gomes, FGV students (See russian version here) On 1 May 2019, the Russian President signed the “digital sovereignty law”, which has the purpose to establish autonomous Internet control systems and thereby create the possibility to separate a Russian intranet from the global Internet. … Read more

Закон о «суверенном Интернете» подписан Президентом России

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Андрей Щербович, Щербович Андрей Андреевич , исследователь CyberBRICS, Саймон Гранберг и Анжело де Карвальо Гомес, студенты FGV 1 мая 2019 года президент России подписал Закон о «суверенном Интернете», целью которого является создание автономных систем управления Интернетом и тем самым возможное создание отдельной внутренней сети, изолированной от глобальной сети Интернет. Закон вызвал негативный общественный резонанс, так, … Read more

3D Printing and IP Futures: What did we learn from China, India and Russia?

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By Angela Daly – Chinese University of Hong Kong Additive manufacturing, better known as ‘3D printing’, is an innovative manufacturing technique which involves the creation of three-dimensional objects using a variety of methods, based on a digital design file containing a 2D blueprint for the final object. In recent years, inexpensive 3D printers using plastics … Read more

Exploring the New Russian Measures against “Fake News” and Online Insults

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By Dr. Andrey A. Shcherbovich (See russian version here) Two high-impact laws in the sphere of regulating relations on the Internet were signed by the President of Russia on March 18: the law on “Fake News” and the one on the Inadmissibility of Insulting Authorities Online. On March 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed amendments … Read more

Россия принимает новые меры против “фейковых новостей” и онлайн-оскорблений

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Щербович Андрей Андреевич, кандидат юридических наук Два резонансных закона в сфере регулирования отношений в Интернете подписаны Президентом России 18 марта: закон о “фейковых новостях” и о запрете оскорбления власти в Интернете. 18 марта Президент России Владимир Путин подписал изменения в ряд законов, под угрозой административного наказания запрещающие распространение в Интернете информации, подрывающей престиж власти, а … Read more

An Instant Analysis of Chinese Electronic Commerce Law

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By Prof. Dr. Hong Xue* In China’s New Normal Economy, the Internet and e-commerce are the newpowerhouse of economic development. A sound legal and regulatory environment is essential for sustainable development of e-commerce. On August 31, 2018, the National People’s Congress officially approved and enacted the Electronic Commerce Law of the People’s Republic of China … Read more

Unpacking policy moves for sovereign control of data in India

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By Arindrajit Basu, Elonnai Hickok and Aditya Singh Chawla In a new White Paper, researchers from CyberBRICS partner CIS-India explore the issue of Data Sovereignty, mapping the current Indian policy measures for data localization and reflecting on the goals, challenges and implications of such measures. The CIS White Paper on “The Localisation Gambit: Unpacking policy … Read more

Information rights in a data age: insights from the International Conference of Information Commissioners #ICIC2019

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By Anri van der Spuy & Alison Gillwald On the plane back from the recent International Conference of Information Commissioners (ICIC), an inflight magazine proudly presents an advertisement for the African Union’s common, electronic, biometric passport. While the passport is reportedly being developed to ‘facilitate free movement of persons across Africa’,[i] the advert neglects to … Read more

A emergente estrutura brasileira de proteção de dados

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Por Daniel Oppermann Segundo estatísticas do IBGE, cerca de 70% da população brasileira a partir de 10 anos de idade está usando a Internet. Estes 181 milhões de pessoas não estão somente comunicando, trabalhando, estudando, comprando e especialmente se divertindo no ambiente online. Eles também estão deixando dados pessoais, como número de telefone,  imagens e … Read more

The Emerging Brazilian Data Protection Framework

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By Daniel Oppermann According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics or IBGE (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística), about 70% of Brazilians (starting at the age of 10) are currently using the Internet at least once every three months. These 181 million individuals are not just communicating, working, studying trading and entertaining themselves … Read more

Проект закона об автономной работе российского сегмента Интернета принят Государственной Думой РФ в первом чтении

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State Duma plenary session

Щербович Андрей Андреевич, кандидат юридических наук Государственная Дума в первом чтении проняла закон «суверенности» Интернета в России. За документ проголосовали 334 депутата, против – 47. При этом данный законопроект вызывает критику у  представителей частного сектора, гражданского общества и даже у Счетной палаты (орган парламентского контроля Российской Федерации), ведь реализация нового законопроекта может потребовать от бюджета … Read more

The Russian bill on Internet Sovereignty adopted by the State Duma in first reading

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State Duma plenary session

By Dr. Andrey A. Shcherbovich (See russian version here) On 12 February 2019, the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian Federal Parliament, adopted in the first reading the draft bill on Internet “sovereignty” in Russia. 334 deputies voted in favor and 47 against the document. At the same time, representatives of the private … Read more