Brazil to insist on local Internet data storage after US spying

SAO PAULO/BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil, seeking to shield its citizens from alleged US spying, is pushing ahead with its plan to force global Internet companies to store data obtained from Brazilian users inside the country, according to a draft of the law seen by Reuters.

Despite opposition from multinational software, hardware and tele-communications companies, Presi-dent Dilma Rousseff is pressing lawmakers to vote as early as this week on the law, sparked by disclosures of widespread US spying on Brazilian telecommunications data.

If passed, the new law could impact the way Google, Facebook, Twitter and other Internet giants operate in Latin America’s biggest country and one of the largest telecommunications markets in the world.

A draft of the law says “the government can oblige Internet service companies … to install and use centers for the storage, management and dissemination of data within the national territory.”

The government would evaluate the requirement for each company, the draft says, “taking into consideration their size, their revenues in Brazil and the breadth of services they offer the Brazilian public.”

Rousseff’s insistence follows disclosures of surveillance by the United States in Brazil that went as far as tracking the personal phone calls and emails of Rousseff herself.

It follows recent reports of similar US spying on the leaders and citizens of Germany, France and dozens of other countries.

The disclosures, like the reports of surveillance by US intelligence agencies on American citizens and businesses, come from documents leaked by Edward Snowden, the former contractor for the US National Security Agency.