Media News - Friday, September 28, 2012
Arrest of Google’s top Brazil executive stirs debate on laws governing Internet content
The arrest of a top Google executive is reviving a
debate about Brazilian laws that hold services such as YouTube
responsible for the videos posted on them, making the country a hotbed
of attempts to stifle digital content. Legal experts said Thursday that Google violated a judge’s order to take
down videos on its YouTube subsidiary that target Brazilian political
candidates — and that the judge was completely within the law in issuing
the arrest warrant. But they said the arrest of Fabio Jose Silva Coelho, the head of Google
Inc.’s Brazil operations, underscores the need to modernize laws that
treat offensive material on the Internet like material that is carried
by newspapers, television and radio, holding platforms such as Google
responsible for user-provided content. Coelho was released shortly after his arrest Wednesday and agreed to
appear before a court at an as-yet undetermined time. Brazil’s strict electoral laws limit what critics can say on television,
radio and the Internet about candidates for office. On several occasions
in recent years, media outlets have faced stiff fines for breaking the
laws, but few if any officials were arrested. Google’s alleged infractions, however, are more widespread, simply
because of its omnipresence. Ahead of municipal elections in Brazil next
month, Google has received requests in more than 20 states to remove
videos that allegedly violate those restrictions. (Washington Post)
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