Brazil Calls for “Democratic and Transparent” Internet

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, in an international conference in Sao Paulo on Wednesday, spoke about the ways to govern a safer and a less U.S controlled internet. The two-day NET Mundial gathering attended by Government officials, industry executives and academics from eighty five countries was convened to discuss the internet issues and reach an agreement on a new model after the revelations of Edward Snowden that the National Security Agency (NSA) had been spying on the phone calls and emails of the Brazilian citizens, the President herself and other world leaders.

Rousseff said that no country have “more weight than another” in governing cyberspace and signed a new bill safeguarding the rights of Internet users. “Brazil believes that the governing of the internet should be multi-sector, democratic and transparent. We consider the multilateral model to be the best way to govern it,” said Rousseff.  It was backed by British scientist Tim Berners-Lee, the”father of the World Wide Web who was present at the event.

Rousseff welcomed US President Barack Obama’s decision to hand over the oversight of ICANN, a Los Angeles-based non-profit organization that assigns Internet domain names and addresses. The new international body is yet to be decided.

Infoeditor