From midnight Italian time and until Saturday, a hundred million Brazilians can no longer communicate with WhatsApp . Shutting down is not the fault of a cyber attack, but the decision by a Brazilian judge, taken in the context of a conflict between the justice of the country, the telephone companies and the giant California. A striking fact that in these hours has pushed Mark Zuckerbeg to post another statement, the tone almost political. The representation of the forces making the world is evolving, driven by the pressures of governments to the encrypted services.
Why a judge closes Whatsapp for 48 hours throughout the country ? To understand this we must take a step back. Since last July, in fact, Facebook – which owns Whatsapp – and the Brazilian government does not want the inquiry to combat criminals who use this service, end-to-end (which is however far from impenetrable encryption) to communicate with each other. Request that Facebook has rejected to date, coming even fined. It follows the retaliation of the judiciary under the law of the Marco Civil – the declaration of rights on the Internet that inspired the Bill of Rights Italian – that can block companies that demonstrate that they do not cooperate with the police, such as not responding to a order.
The real context, however, is something else : in Brazil, thanks to the impeachment against President Dilma Rousseff , you are reinforcing the very opposition and former collaborator of the president, Eduardo Cunha , a man linked to the national telco that would replace it. Not surprisingly, as explained on the Globe , the first to congratulate the temporary closure of Whatsapp are telecommunications companies enclosed in Findi , the national union that has always accused the instant messaging illegal activity.
Although it may surprise you, the point of view of Brazilian telco is that WhatsApp, Messenger and other applications have resulted in the decrease in revenues from telecommunications companies, who were counting on the proceeds of the first SMS, then these services are “wrong”. A hostility that involves them directly, because the block is applied through the operators of mobile and fixed telephony. In this way, the application will be locked in and WhatsApp.net WhatsApp.com, to all connections and associated IP addresses.
As always, the combination of government requests for data on citizens and corporatism lobbies that defend their markets shocked by the new technology creates the conditions for incredible forms of censorship, usually hidden behind the reassuring safety justification public, the fight against terrorism and crime.
The response Zuck
From this premise comes the post of Mark Zuckerberg , which returns to talk about issues of global politics after his stance on Donald Trump and in defense of the Muslims. The founder of Facebook is not lost on many words and calls himself “stunned” by the decision of a single judge capable of removing a service to 93 million people. A few lines at the bottom with the hashtag #ConnectBrazil and #ConnectTheWorld. The version of the slogan of a social movement of opinion?
We are working hard to reverse this block. Until then, Facebook Messenger is still active and you can use it to communicate, this is a sad day for Brazil. To date, Brazil has been an ally in the creation of an open Internet. The Brazilians have always been among the most passionate to share their voice. I am astounded that our efforts to protect the data of persons not result in a decision so far by a single judge, who punishes every person in Brazil using WhatsApp.
We hope that the Brazilian courts reversed quickly this course . If you are Brazilian, make your voice heard and help the government to reflect on the will of its people.
The figure of a charismatic leader
Beyond the cause Brazilian office, where you will probably find a solution, what impresses is that within a short time they appeared on the world stage new charismatic figures that do not correspond to any traditional political category. A boy of thirty years, enormously rich and influential, followed by millions of people, writes of Republican politicians, judges Brazilians, terrorism. No one has voted, but many follow him and his words can mobilize people, energies, decisions. It’s good or bad is difficult to determine. It certainly is a reflection to do.
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