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Grantee Feature: Consumer's Rights and Internet Access in Brazil
With the boom in Internet use, the Brazilian government is re-examining legal and policy frameworks surrounding telecom services, including the debate around network neutrality in the US. With SSRC support, the Instituto Brasileiro de Defesa do Consumidor (IDEC) has tested the broadband Internet access of the three main service providers in São Paulo.
The privatization of Brazil's telecommunications sector in 1998 brought rapid growth in digital networks, new services and foreign ownership. Researchers at the Instituto Brasileiro de Defesa do Consumidor (IDEC) partnered with Pedro Paranaguá of the Getulio Vargas Foundation to test whether Brazil’s biggest Internet access providers treat all users and data equally -- the core condition of 'network neutrality' -- and to explore the applicability of different models of ‘neutrality’ to Brazilian telecommunications services.
Estela Waksberg Guerrini, IDEC lawyer on advocacy for consumers’ rights, emp
hasizes the need for this research:
"Although our project is ongoing, we’ve already presented our work at many academic and advocacy events, and also in two public hearings. In one instance, we had to accelerate our studies when we learned that a public hearing was to be held earlier than expected."
"We have already made some important contributions to the policy-making process. We held a work shop in August 2008 and invited a number of members of public institutions, such as the Telecom Regulatory Agency. I’ve been told that the results were well received and understood. Now, there is a much stronger commitment at that level of policy-making for guaranteeing citizens’ and consumers’ rights as the new legislation is drafted.”