Communication and information technology law: a first approach to the Marco Civil da Internet (Brazilian Civil Rights Framework for the Internet)

Abstract

Is there a law branch specialized in the communication and information technologies? Does it make sense to treat "digital law" as a discrete discipline? The text approaches these questions as a starting point to focus on the Brazilian legal principles and rules on internet, mainly the internet's civil framework and criminal regimes. There is an interpretation of legal statutes as well as of some cases at the Superior Court of Justice to expose the main features of the Brazilian legal treatment of internet. It concludes that the enactment of the civil framework and the previous case law do not support the emergence of a branch that might be called Digital Law, and that the designation Law of information technologies, although preferable, likewise does not allow the identification of characteristic subjects and principles; it notes that the civil framework reinforces freedom of expression and the fight against censorship and secures minimum standards for users and service providers.