Brazilian Judge Shuts Down WhatsApp In Brazil

New submitter rafaelj writes: Apparently, Tim Berners Lee was not aware of the real impact on internet freedom in Brazil when he supported the Marco Civil to pass in the Brazilian congress last year. Using the Brazilian Civil "Rights" Framework, a minor Brazilian court ordered WhatsApp service to be suspended in the whole country after WhatsApp refused to provide user's data. The order was happily accomplished by the Brazilian mobile phone companies as they have been lobbying to convince the government to regulate the service in Brazil since their profits are decreasing steadily after Brazilians started using WhastsApp instead of (tolled) SMS and phone calls. Brazil has the most expensive cell phone rates on the planet. Adds readers André Costa: The ban is a result of WhatsApp failing to comply with two previous court orders, on July 23 and August 7. Even though [the ban] affects millions of users, the service of course remains accessible through Wi-Fi. The plaintiff's identity is being kept secret. The news has already spread worldwide). The ban on WhatsApp resulted in more than 1.5 million users joining its competitor Telegram.

Comments

Re:This is fantastic

[mlw4428]

By shutting down companies who don't provide user data to the government whenever it's just requested?

Connection is obscure

[Geoffrey.landis]

The connection between blocking the internet and the Marco Civil da Internet (in English: "Civil Rights Framework for the Internet") stated in the summary is not clear in the actual articles linked.

The gizmodo article linked in the summary states: Under the Marco Civil da Internet — Civil Rights Framework for the Internet — approved in April 2014, which includes full-blown net neutrality, this kind of denial of service is illegal. Even before the regulation took effect, it was not considered kosher, which is why previous block orders were overturned before taking effect.

That seems to state the opposite of what it stated in the summary.

Where are the standards??

[Kludge]

This article shows the sad state of the internet. Why are most people not using standard internet protocols for communication? They talk about how people can't chat because WhatsApp is down. Why are people not using standard XMPP apps which could be switched among providers? Why are people not using standard VOIP services that can be switched among providers?
Why do people keep migrating to these crappy proprietary solutions?

Re:If not a judge, then who?

[mi]

So you really are outraged, that a company disobeying a legal order is being punished. Ok, can you answer the question in the very title of this thread? If a judge shall not be able to compel a company to comply with his legal orders, who can? "No one" would be a valid answer too, BTW — we can explore that venue...

Yes, the law notwithstanding, we shouldn't allow the authorities to shut down communications

Well, the judge's target was not communications, but a particular company. Communications between people remain perfectly possible — even if they are more expensive now.

Consider the example of AT&T instead of WhatsApp — or Comcast or what have you — should they be above the law, simply because they are providing communications?