Carolina Dieckman case hastens 'digital AI-5'

Minas 247 - The enormous repercussions of the leak of nude photos of actress Carolina Dieckman on the internet have already had an effect: the Science and Technology Commission approved Bill 84/99, known as the Azeredo Bill. It was authored by federal deputy Eduardo Azeredo (PSDB) and has earned an inglorious nickname given by activists defending internet freedom: the digital AI-5 (Institutional Act No. 5).

For more than 12 years, the bill that defines crimes on the internet was stalled in Congress. A political agreement made on Tuesday allowed it to finally be voted on by the Committee, which was done the very next day. But there are still steps to be completed in the Constitution and Justice Committee and the Public Security Committee before it goes directly to President Dilma Rousseff for approval or veto.

The decision to finally take the Azeredo bill out of the drawer came after the enormous repercussions of episodes like that of the TV Globo actress. The case resulted in lengthy interviews – by television standards – with Carolina on Fantástico and Jornal Nacional.

But the hastily made agreement removed several points from Azeredo's original proposal. Of the 23 articles, only four remained: it establishes the falsification of electronic data, including credit or debit cards, as a crime; the transfer of security information will also be a crime; it mandates that the police create structures to combat cybercrimes; and finally, it creates the possibility of taking down pages with racist messages.

Members of the Science and Technology Committee excluded points that could restrict internet freedoms. Azeredo, however, was not dissatisfied. "My goal is for Brazil to have a cybercrime law. I am satisfied," stated the PSDB congressman, who, at the time the original bill was created, was a senator for Minas Gerais, also for the PSDB party.

Even with the exclusion of controversial topics that were the target of criticism from pro-internet freedom activists, the bill is causing concern among people who work in digital security. They fear being unfairly punished. This is because not only would those who hacked into virtual systems be punished, but also the author of the programs used to carry out the hacks.

Even with the points removed from the original proposal, there are also fears of what some experts, such as the sociologist and PhD in Political Science from USP, Sérgio Amadeu, call "vigilantism" on the internet. The concern is that, with the law in their favor, powerful entities, governments, and economic power will create apprehension among internet users about freely distributing their content and opinions.

Naive actions like downloading a song or copying a CD could be subject to criminalization, depending on how the law is interpreted. The group Mega Não!, created by internet users, released a manifesto against the Azeredo Bill, in which it makes the following points: the bill serves the interests of the United States' cultural industry; it contradicts international policy and the Brazilian Constitution; most countries do not adopt international cybercrime standards; data retention does not help combat cybercrime.