Buying a Brazilian’s private data costs less than two cups of coffee

For the small fee of around USD 6, anyone can access the personal data of any Brazilian, including their individual tax ID numbers, home address, and even the names of their neighbors. This shady service is provided by the website Tudo Sobre Todos (Everything About Everyone), which has managed to avoid the not-so-long arm of the law since 2015. Now, the suspicion is that the illegal service is being used by far-right activists to provide fuel for the online hate machine manned by supporters of President Jair Bolsonaro.

The sale of personal data without consent has been illegal in Brazil since at least 2014, with the ratification of the country’s civil rights framework for the internet. Said prohibitions were underlined even further by the General Data Protection Law, which came into force last year.

The most recent complaint about Tudo Sobre Todos was filed in October, to the prosecution service of the state of São Paulo. The plaintiff states their suspicion that the platform supplied private data on their friends to the owners of right-wing social media profiles. Among the alleged targets were feminist activist Lola Aronovich and members of Sleeping Giants, the social media activism organization which aims to pressure companies into...