How Brazil’s legislation sees the treatment of personal data

Treatment of personal data remains a gray area in Brazil.

Facebook has found itself at the center of a scandal over revelations that the personal data of 50 million users was accessed and used for electoral purposes in 2016. Over this weekend, The New York Times and the UK’s The Guardian and Observer revealed how the controversial big data firm Cambridge Analytica surrepticiously gathered information for tens of millions of people.

Which begs the question: how does Brazil’s legislation treat the ways in which companies are allowed to treat and use personal data?

Three things are pivotal to fully understand the socioeconomic repercussions of a future law to protect personal data in Brazil: knowing what is encompassed by the law^[1]; the very concept of personal data^[2]; and the concept of the treatment of data^[3]. Such cases will only fall within the Brazilian justice system’s jurisdiction if a person or company treats personal data in Brazil, or if that data is collected within our borders.

In other articles, I talked about the concepts of personal data and of sensitive...

Frederico Meinberg Ceroy

State Prosecutor from Brasília, Ceroy is the founder and president of the Brazilian Institute of Cyber Law.