In December 2015, a Sao Paulo, Brazil judge ordered cross-platform instant messaging app WhatsApp blocked for 2 days. This was retaliation for WhatsApp’s alleged failure to comply with a criminal investigation. Today, Brazil and WhatsApp is at it again.
A Brazilian judge ordered WhatsApp chat services blocked for 72 hours. For three days, Brazilians were forbidden to send or receive messages through this app. Those who disobey are fined up to $142,000 a day. And you think that speeding ticket you got is bad. But WhatsApp is the most popular method of communication in the country. More than half of Brazil’s population use WhatsApp on a regular basis. The ruling judge uses this as retaliation for WhatsApp, and it’s owner Facebook’s, failure to comply with judicial orders in a drug-trafficking case. But encryption is also a major factor. A Facebook representative commented on this case: “The way that information is encrypted from one cellphone to another, there is no information stored that could be handed over to authorities.? ?Technology companies offer their users ‘end-to-end’ encryption, very popular since the Edward Snowden revelations of 2013. This means the technology companies can’t access the information the consumers are delivering. This means governments can’t access it either. This just breeds conflict between legal systems and technology companies worldwide.
So basically, what the Brazilian government is doing is taking this one case out on over 100 million people. “So you’re not going to do what I want, Facebook? I’ll just take it out on our own people!” That’s the message they’re sending. ?This case and the Apple vs FBI case shows us the struggle of governments against tech companies is far from over. Brazil is enduring a lot of trials form environmental to political crises. And they have to host the 2016 Olympic games this summer. Does Brazil really want to play this game now? Don’t they have enough to clean up in such a short time?