It is necessary to civilize the Marco Civil da Internet. When? Now! – 05/11/2023 – Reinaldo Azevedo

It is necessary to civilize the Marco Civil da Internet (Law 12,965). This is a legitimate pleonasm. “Civis” in Latin: “citizen”; “civilis” means “worthy of the citizen”. And civilized it will be, despite the truculent mobilization of “big techs” and the sordid lies of the extreme right. Who cares about vale-tudo? I always try to avoid constructions that seek to certify the truth by disqualifying, as a matter of principle, the contrary thought. And I can’t swear that I haven’t already done it here and there, like Terence: “Nothing human is foreign to me…” But I try to avoid the procedure.

“Only an idiot doesn’t know…” Well, at this point, the subject is ready to be a kindergarten fanatic of some poorly assimilated belief or conviction. A note: this does not imply, of course, to wink at scammers, prejudiced and violent. Asking a fascistoid what he thinks about the democratic regime is like asking a PCC boss to give his opinion on public safety… One of the secrets of tolerance lies, I believe, in controlling appetites and passions. I’m old enough to be so sure and not learn from doubt. But it is necessary to identify and combat what undermines our freedom. On the verge of creating a kind of global entity of reason, tending to be averse to any control, I appeal to the system of guarantees of the open society.

The Brazilian Constitution is not, to repeat a poet, “an arcane impossible to read”. Even if something went wrong here and there, allowing the low exploitation of crooks —like Article 142, which defines the role of the Armed Forces—, the text, in general, is clear and coherent. “Look there, you called them ‘con artists’… You already recanted”. Wrong. Those who take advantage of bad writing to argue, in this case, that the military exercises the role of Moderating Power in the country deserve this qualification. Doing so corresponds to defending a guardianship, which violates the text itself. Being tolerant does not dispense with clarity.

The debate on grid regulation is populated by industrial ghosts. The provisions of the Magna Carta and the Civil Code are ignored. The fact that, since 2014, we have been living with article 19 of Law 12,965 does not imply that, over time, it has adapted to the Greater Law. This provision ensures that the “Internet application provider” is not liable, except in the event of non-compliance with a court decision. Thus, it is imperative that the crime of disobedience be committed in order to configure the obligation to repair damage. It’s an aberration.

We are not in the realm of common law. It is not about ingrained practices and customs that organize social experience. That section is written, and the many times it was appealed to to guarantee impunity to those who caused harm to third parties, it did not give it legitimacy, effectiveness and ability to guarantee rights. No one has yet dared to create the current of “constitutional Lamarckism”.

Accountability is one of the pillars of our legal system. Or Articles 186 and 927 of the Civil Code would have to be extinct. And chaos would ensue. The first defines: “Anyone who, by voluntary action or omission, negligence or imprudence, violates the law and causes harm to others, even if exclusively moral, commits an unlawful act”. And the sole paragraph of the other is clear: “There will be an obligation to repair the damage, regardless of fault, in the cases specified by law, or when the activity normally carried out by the author of the damage implies, by its nature, a risk to the rights of others” . What part was not understood?

I’m not going to write: “Only an idiot doesn’t know that there are no natural and legal persons who are civilly unimputable”. Pretending to ignore the exclusivity enjoyed by the so-called “application provider” —which, moreover, violates the caput of Article 5 of the Constitution— does not translate as idiocy, but an excess of cleverness. After four years of algorithmic maximization of coup preaching on the networks, the attack on the respective headquarters of the three Powers and millions of children exposed, without protection, to pathogens because without a vaccine, the sinister mess of impunity will come to an end.

For a constitutional and… civilizing Civil Rights Framework for the Internet!

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