On Aug 31st, the Brazilian government launched its first official blog, "Blog do Planalto" (http://blog.planalto.gov.br/sobre-o-blog-do-planalto/). ["Planalto" is a geographical metonymy for the Federal Government - Brazil`s capital, Brasilia, is located on the "Planalto Central" plateau.]
The debut, although a breath of fresh air for the country`s digital communications, may disappoint those looking for a bold cross-media, open-to-participation blog. The blog does not yet receive comments from the public - the official reason being "practical dificulties to implement such interactivity" -, and it is not linked to Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Orkut or any other social network, for the time being. This second feature, however, is already and explicitly planned, and shall happen on a "one step at a time" basis. Running on open source software, with its contents licensed under a Creative Commons license (Attribution Share Alike), an optimistic view of Blog do Planalto could classify it as a marvelous gambit towards Data.gov.BR.
For more information contact Daniel Do Amaral Arbix at darbix@stanford.edu
Just a quick plug to follow events in Brazil involving the Internet. I was just in Sao Paulo, Brazil giving two lectures on Internet law. I definitely learned more than I shared.
Brazil is thinking about passing a variety of laws regarding the Internet, covering everything from website liability to cybercrime to online speech. There is even an Internet bill of rights floating around.
Brazil has free speech clause (in Article 5 of its 1988 Constitution) but the concept itself continues to evolve. Recently the Brazilian President partially vetoed an attempt to restrict how politicians use the Internet in campaigns. It was only a few years ago when Brazil overturned restrictions on the press that have existed since the military dictatorship in the 60s and 70s. Privacy, similarly, is a concept under examination. A federal judge famously shut down all of YouTube for a short time over one clip of a Brazilian model filmed on the beaches of Spain.
Brazil is, of course, an enormous country---both in terms of population and physical borders---and a dominant force in South America. How it comes out on Internet policy matters.
Point is: keep an eye out for developments in Brazil.
Hi Ryan,
It was a pleasure to meet you for the lectures down here in Sao Paulo.
Regarding the lack of comments on the official Brazilian government blog, I think it is worth mentioning that a "cloned" version of the blog was created at http://planalto.blog.br/. It essentially reproduces every single post from the official blog and allows people to comment on the issues. Interesting solution, and hopefully a lesson for those in power.
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