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

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.

Re:Connection is obscure

[martyros]

Actually, according to that article, the reason WhatsApp was shut down was because they didn't even bother to respond, not because they refused:

Because WhatsApp did not respond to a court order of July 23, 2015, on August 7, 2015, the company was again notified, with there being a fixed penalty in case of non-compliance. As yet the company did not attend the court order, the prosecution requested the blocking of services for a period of 48 hours, based on the law [], which was granted by Judge Sandra Regina Nostre Marques

It sounds like what my old DI's used to say: "Yes sir? No sir? F*** you sir? Say something!"

Re:If not a judge, then who?

[vbraga]

So, if he can not force a company to comply, who can?

WhatsApp doesn't have an official presence in Brazil. The warrant is served to the local Facebook subsidiary. WhatsApp ignores the Brazilian court order. The Brazilian court retaliates, first with a fine, once again ignored by WhatsApp and now with a 48 hours ban. So, the judge is trying to force WhatsApp to comply.

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?