Rapidly changing technology has significantly affected and expanded state surveillance capabilities, leading to direct implications for the privacy of individuals. Along with new technical powers and uses arise controversial legal issues such as the constitutionality of data retention for law enforcement purposes, the extent of the authority to access communications data, the limits of obligations to assist law enforcement by encryption-based services, and the accountability mechanisms affecting intelligence agencies.

In view of these changes, in 2015 InternetLab published the report “State Surveillance of Communications in Brazil and the Protection of Fundamental Rights“ [in Portuguese], elaborated in partnership with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which presents and evaluates the legal framework applied to surveillance of communications in Brazil – from data retention to wiretaps – as carried out by agents in different levels and departments of the government. The report makes recommendations in the light of the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights in Communications Surveillance and is part of the international project “Necessary and Proportionate“.

In 2017, the revised and updated edition of this report was released – “State Surveillance on Communications in Brazil 2017” [in Portuguese], mapping and discussing legislative changes and doctrinal and jurisprudential advances related to state surveillance activities. Among the new issues discussed in the report are the retrieval of personal data from mobile phones, police infiltration (including state hacking), and access to data held by companies based outside of the country.