Brazil's Internet Gets Groundbreaking Bill Of Rights

Brazil's internet now has its own bill of rights. On 23 April, the country's president, Dilma Rousseff, signed the Marco Civil da Internet, a bill that sets out new guidelines for freedom of expression, net neutrality and data privacy for the country's 100 million internet users.

Its passage drew excitement from many internet activists, who had been watching the bill's progress through Congress since 2009. Activists have singled it out for its protection of net neutrality. Many feared it would be compromised under pressure from the telecommunications industry, which lobbied for the inclusion of a "freedom of business model" clause. Although the provision made it into the final version, companies must treat all data packets equally, regardless of content – a cornerstone of net neutrality.

This stands in stark contrast to the US, where the federal government recently lost a high-profile court battle for the right to regulate the country's internet service providers, who seek to charge varying sums for different speeds of internet access.