Stanford CIS

The Marco Civil da Internet and Digital Constitutionalism

By Luiz Fernando Marrey Moncau on

Abstract and Keywords

Between 2009 and 2014, Brazilian civil society groups and government engaged with and ultimately approved the Marco Civil da Internet (Civil Rights Framework for the Internet). The MCI, which has been considered by some as a ‘Constitution of the Internet’ or as an ‘Internet Bill of Rights’, created a broad set of principles and norms, as well as specific rules, that articulate rights and limitations on the exercise of power on the internet. But how does the MCI measure against the backdrop of global debates on digital constitutionalism? To what extent and in what ways can the enactment of the MCI be considered a landmark for the constitutionalization of the digital environment? This chapter, in order to address those questions, will review the intermediary liability regime before the MCI, the process of approval of the MCI, and how the law is being implemented in practice. Finally, it will analyse the MCI in the light of digital constitutionalism theories.

Read the full piece at the Oxford Handbooks Online.