Harmony is needed in internet regulation

With work teleconferences, new class formats, digital happy hours, live shows, the internet has shown itself – to those who have access – to be a great resilience tool. In order to preserve it with this potential, however, initiatives that seek to regulate it or use it to solve problems in this “new normal” must respect its operating tonic: harmony.

More important than ever

Internet access has come to mean, for many of us, being able to work, have contact with humanity, shop, use various services. Right now, when being physically together with your social circle is a risk, the forms of virtual interaction that go beyond likes, sharing memes or comments gain more space.

It is also through the internet that have taken place some of the demonstrations of our potential as humans to, despite the adversities, build together. Although not in the same physical space, several artists, orchestras, specialists, have used this means of communication for interviews, concerts, joint presentations.

As it is currently a safer medium for social interactions, to inform ourselves and connect with the world, in addition to being an important source of motivation and a sense of belonging during a situation of isolation, the internet is at the center of the post-pandemic routine.

Internet access is a fundamental right and the digital exclusion normally deprives individuals of access to several other guarantees, but in the pandemic there is even greater helplessness. However, for those who are not in a situation of vulnerability due to lack of access, the sudden use of the internet in many daily tasks, and without an alternative, also leads to greater susceptibility to the risks it brings.

On the spotlight of the regulators

The essentiality of the internet for activities and situations in which it was just an alternative also reveals that connected people are not exactly protected when using these technological solutions.

We can list many potential violations of rights that are aggravated by the sudden intense use of the internet. Featured video conference services having their vulnerabilities exploited, giving access to cameras and microphones and threatening users’ privacy; fraudulent registrations posing as government entities, collecting personal data from vulnerable populations; promises of cures, vaccines and unproven methods of immunization being sponsored for commercial purposes, promoting misinformation. There are also proposals for partnerships between services that collect data and government institutions that deal with the pandemic crisis, and pressures to postpone the implementation of data protection measures, claiming its high cost in the face of economic adversities triggered by the isolation scenario.

With all this, regulators and government institutions have been looking at the internet. On the one hand, proposals emerged during the pandemic that seek to combine government strategies with digital services, in line with a technological solution that may disregard the structural barriers to this path (such as, for example, the digital government strategy, published in Decree 10.322, in April 29, 2020); on the other, proposals that recognize problems brought about by widespread use, such as misinformation, and try to contain risks in a creative way, locally reformulating the legal standards on certain internet actors (such as the Brazilian PLC 1.429 / 2020 and PLS 1.358 / 2020 bills , about misinformation).

Giving up an effective data protection system, in addition to exposing us all to the dangers of surveillance capitalism, can exclude Brazil from the route of services and transactions with European agents and other economic centers that value this right. Assigning excessive responsibilities to internet intermediaries can lead them to adopt proactive measures that mimic censorship to avoid economic losses from being held legally responsible for content that travels through their media, negotiating users’ rights.

Each of the initiatives can lead us to greater or lesser coherence with the harmonization between local standards and the global tonic required by the internet, and therefore to a greater or lesser possibility of continuing to enjoy this connectivity to its full potential.

Harmony

Events like “One World: together at home”, where we see members of the Rolling Stones, or artists in an orchestra, playing online, each in their homes, an instrument, show something important. In order for the objective to be achieved and the music to be heard by the public, there is coordination, in which all the artists who will play it agree on what the music will be and act together.

From these episodes that inspire and renew our spirits, we can also learn the importance of, when working on building something in common, having harmony. The internet is perhaps one of the communication structures that most challenges our coordination capacity, as it cannot be thought of in a segmented way by cities, by states, or even by countries. Its existence as a tool for interconnection and communication depends on continuous dialogue efforts between regulatory actors and its coordination with international parameters. More than ever, it is essential that we are together, albeit distant, even in regulatory initiatives.

To understand more about this regulatory scenario and how internet governance works, see the post about the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors.
Illustration by Freepik Stories