[bestbits] On the attack of Temer gov against CGI.br - II

[Carlos Afonso]

Hi people,

We are receiving queries on how to help. One move which I think helps is
to send emails asking questions or protesting or whatever to the
coordinator and self-attributed UberChief with copy to the secretariat:

Maximiliano Martinhao: max at mctic.gov.br
CGI.br Secretariat: assessoria at cgi.br

On August 18th there will be a formal monthly meeting of the CGI.br
board, in which this disaster will be discussed. If messages arrive
before that date, it would be great.

fraternal regards

--c.a.

ps: below is a revised translation of the CDR note.

========

https://direitosnarede.org.br/p/temers-government-attacks-cgi-br/

Repudiation note

On the attacks of the Temer government on the Internet Steering
Committee in Brazil

The Coalition on Network Rights is publicly repudiating and denouncing
the most recent measure of the Temer administration challenging the
rights of Internet users in Brazil. On Tuesday, August 8th, the federal
government unilaterally published a public consultation in the Official
Gazette (DOU), aimed at changes in the composition, election process and
powers of the Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br).

Composed of representatives of the government, the private sector, civil
society, and technical and academic specialists, CGI.br has been
responsible for establishing standards and procedures for the use and
development of the Internet in Brazil since its creation in 1995. An
international reference for multistakeholder Internet governance, the
Committee had its role strengthened following the promulgation of the
Internet Civil Rights Framework (Law 12.965/2014, known as the "Marco
Civil") and its regulatory decree, which establishes that it is the
responsibility of the Committee to define the guidelines for all issues
related to the Internet's regulation. From then on, the CGI.br became
the subject of the private sector's dispute and greater interest.

By publishing a public consultation to significantly change the Steering
Committee model unilaterally, without any prior dialogue within the
CGI.br itself, the government overrides the law and breaks with the
pluralism that defines the debates on the Internet and its governance in
Brazil.

The consultation was not the subject of the last CGI.br meeting, held in
May. On Monday, August 7th, the day before publication in the DOU, the
committee's coordinator appointed by the government, Maximiliano
Martinhão, only sent an e-mail to the list of board members reporting
that the Federal Government intended to discuss the issue - without
informing that everything had already been agreed, and was in the
process of being officially published. It is worth mentioning that, on
August 18th, the first meeting of the new CGI.br management will take
place, and the government could have waited to define the issue in a
democratic way with the committee members. However, it preferred to act
in an autocratic way.

Since his inauguration as coordinator last year, Martinhão - who is also
the Information Technology Policy Secretary at the Ministry of Science,
Technology, Innovation and Communications - has made public statements
in support of changes to the Internet Steering Committee. As early as
June 2016, in the first meeting he chaired at CGI.br, after the change
in command of the federal government, he declared that he was "receiving
demands from small providers, content providers and investors" to change
the composition of the body.

The pressure to revise the strength of civil society in the committee
grew, especially on the part of telecommunications operators, supporters
of the government. In December, during the Internet Governance Forum in
Mexico, organized by the United Nations, a group of civil society
entities from more than 20 countries expressed concern and denounced
attempts to weaken CGI.br by the Temer administration. In the first half
of 2017, the government maneuvered to impose a standstill on the
Committee's activities, asserting that there was a questionable "economy
of resources".

Martinhão and other members of the Kassab/Temer administration have also
publicly defended the achievements of the Internet Civil Rights
Framework, proposing the easing of network neutrality regulations and
criticizing the need for users to consent to the processing of their
personal data. In this context, the multi-sectoral composition of CGI.br
has been fundamental to TO the defense of the pillars of the "Marco
Civil" and basic principles that guarantee a free, open, and plural
Internet.

For this reason, this Coalition - which brings together researchers,
academics, developers, activists and consumer protection and freedom of
speech entities - launched, during the last CGI electoral process, a
public platform that called for the "strengthening of the Internet
Steering Committee in Brazil, preserving its attributions and its
multistakeholder character, as a guarantee of the multi-participatory
and democratic governance of the Internet" in the country. After all,
changing the CGI.br is strategic for the sectors that want to change the
direction of Internet policies that have been implemented in the country.

In this sense, considering the "Marco Civil", the multistakeholder
character of the CGI.br and also the political moment that the country
is going through - for an interim government of questionable legitimacy
to undertake such changes - the Coalition on Network Rights demands the
immediate cancellation this consultation.

It is unacceptable that a process directly related to Internet
governance is effected and disguised by a dubious public consultation
without its guidelines having been discussed before, internally, by
CGI.br. It is another example of the modus operandi of the
administration that occupies the federal government with little
appreciation for democratic processes. We will continue to denounce such
attacks and seek support from different sectors, both inside and outside
OF Brazil, against the dismantling of the Internet Steering Committee.

August 8th, 2017

Coalition on Network Rights
Coalizão Direitos na Rede (CDR)
https://direitosnarede.org.br

-- 

Carlos A. Afonso
[emails são pessoais exceto quando explicitamente indicado em contrário]
[emails are personal unless explicitly indicated otherwise]

Instituto Nupef - https://nupef.org.br
ISOC-BR - https://isoc.org.br