IGF 2023 Launch / Award Event #187 Digital sovereignty in Brazil: for what and for whom?

The debates regarding digital sovereignty are currently a “hot topic” in international and intergovernmental Internet Governance debate forums. In addition to the increasing control of the Internet by a few multinational technology companies and the effect that this phenomenon has on the private and public sectors, new regulatory moves or announcements from the European Union, China, India, Russia (the BRICS, more broadly) are demanding an adequate understanding of the subject. Traditional entities of the Internet Governance ecosystem are prioritizing this discussion, as well as globally relevant institutions - such as European Union bodies, to subsidize legislation that advocates for an European digital sovereignty. In the same sense, sovereignty in cyberspace and Internet fragmentation have also become reiterated themes in all the most recent global IGFs, being directly connected with the theme of the IGF 2019 (“One World. One Net. One Vision”) and becoming an umbrella theme of the workshops in 2022 (“Avoiding Internet Fragmentation”), and also even emerging as a plenary session at ICANN 75 (“Internet Fragmentation, the DNS, and ICANN”). Most of the 2022 national, regional, and youth forums also addressed the issue in their agendas. The MAG also created a Policy Network in Internet Fragmentation in 2022 and renewed this effort in 2023. In this sense, the purpose of this proposal is to present preliminary results of the ongoing research project entitled “Digital sovereignty: for what and for whom? Conceptual and political analysis of the concept from the Brazilian context”. Considering that, currently, much of what is discussed about digital sovereignty is focused on the realities of the global North, the project seeks to qualify the academic and public policy debate on digital sovereignty by presenting a different point of view, starting with an analysis from the Brazilian context, exploring its socio-technical dimensions and technological and legal challenges. The importance of understanding the Brazilian perspectives and role in the context of discussions on digital sovereignty is due to its constant presence and action in matters of the Internet and digital environment governance. For instance, it is possible to mention the development of its Civil Rights Framework for the Internet in Brazil (“Marco Civil da Internet”), its General Data Protection Law (“Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais”), as well as the development of Bills that aim to regulate the fight against disinformation and misinformation and deal with the regulation of social media platforms - as is the case of PL 2630/2020, much discussed in the last few months. Therefore, the ongoing project seeks to conceptually and empirically identify how sovereignty imaginaries are constructed based on Brazilian stakeholders’ narratives from different sectors in public documents, taking into account legal, social, economic, and political implications connecting the local, regional, and global levels.

The session will feature interaction at the table and with the audience. The panel will feature a panelist who will discuss the implications of the preliminary research findings for the international debate, and the audience will be able to participate via an online questionnaire. The online questionnaire will allow both groups - onsite and online - an equal opportunity to make their points. If there are more questions than time, moderators will select a few or group similar ones together. After the event, the questions will be shared with the research team and a response can be sent to those who have left a contact.