Brazil arrests Facebook VP in latest tussle between privacy and security
Facebook's Latin America vice president was arrested in Sao Paulo Tuesday, after police say the company's subsidiary, WhatsApp, refused to comply with court orders. While part of a wider Brazilian context, it is also the latest in a global struggle.
President Barack Obama shakes hands with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, June 30, 2015. Obama and Rousseff aim to show they've moved beyond tensions sparked by the revelation nearly two years ago that the U.S. was spying on Rousseff.
Carolyn Kaster/AP/File
Police in Brazil arrested Facebook鈥檚 Latin America vice-president Tuesday, after what they characterized as repeated refusals on the part of WhatsApp to comply with court orders seeking assistance in a drug-trafficking investigation.
WhatsApp, now a subsidiary of Facebook, says it is unable to provide what the authorities are seeking 鈥� WhatsApp messages exchanged between suspected drug traffickers 鈥� insisting it has cooperated as much as possible.
While this represents yet another chapter in the increasingly global tussle between privacy and security, it should also be viewed in the context of the problems and changes roiling Brazilian society.
鈥淭his arrest is symbolic of an increased prominence of the judiciary and police as a result of the Petrobras scandal,鈥� says Jason Marczak, Director of the Latin America Economic Growth Initiative at The Atlantic Council鈥檚 Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, in a telephone interview with 海角大神.
鈥淥ver the last year, you鈥檝e seen some of Brazil鈥檚 top business leaders put in jail, including in preventive detention,鈥� continues Mr. Marczak. 鈥淧olice in Brazil feel increasingly empowered.鈥�
This latest arrest, of Facebook鈥檚 Diego Dzodan, is also an example of 鈥減reventive detention,鈥� whereby the police are seeking to prevent people fleeing the country in advance of formal proceedings 鈥� people who often have significant means at their disposal.
In a statement emailed to the Monitor, Facebook calls the arrest an 鈥渆xtreme and disproportionate measure鈥�, and laments that its own executive has been arrested in connection with a case involving WhatsApp, 鈥渨hich operates separately from Facebook.鈥�
For its part, in a statement also emailed to the Monitor, WhatsApp insists 鈥淸we] cannot provide information we do not have.鈥�
鈥淲e cooperated to the full extent of our ability in this case and while we respect the important job of law enforcement, we strongly disagree with its decision.鈥�
This case is the latest in a growing number worldwide where a balance is being sought between the protection of privacy and the need for authorities to access information in the name of security.
In the highest-profile of current battles, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation James Comey was in front of a congressional panel Tuesday to talk further about his organization鈥檚 demand for Apple鈥檚 assistance in unlocking an iPhone belonging to one of the assailants in the San Bernardino terrorist attack.
Across the pond, in the United Kingdom, the technology industry is fighting the , which would 鈥済ive police access to Internet communications and the right to hack into computers and phones鈥�.
Even in Brazil, this is not the first time authorities have come into conflict with tech giants.
In December last year, a court imposed a 48-hour ban on WhatsApp, after it failed to comply with judicial rulings requiring it to share information in another case. And in 2012, a judge ordered the arrest of Google鈥檚 operations chief in the country after the company refused to take down a YouTube video.
鈥淏razilian local courts have had a long history of issuing such broad and disruptive injunctions in their attempts to force Internet intermediaries to comply with state investigations or orders,鈥� says Electronic Frontier Foundation International Rights Director Katitza Rodriguez, in an email to the Monitor.
鈥淭his is one more in a trend, especially against a company, WhatsApp, that does not have boots on the ground, and against an executive of Facebook, which owns WhatsApp and is a separate legal entity.鈥�
Yet it is also important to remember the wider picture in Brazil, whereby relations with the United States with the revelations of spying leaked by Edward Snowden, with Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff delivering a blistering speech to the United Nations in 2013 that condemned the US government's global surveillance activities.聽
鈥淒ilma鈥檚 reaction to the Snowden affair was probably the worst of any political leader in the world,鈥� Marczak of the Atlantic Council tells the Monitor.
鈥淪ince then, Brazil has started looking at what it could do in terms of independence of the Internet from the United States. Brazil has a history of questioning how technology is being used in its country.鈥澛�