Brazil Telecom Operators To Cooperate With Police On

UNCLAS RIO DE JANEIRO 000347 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECPS EINT PGOV PHUM KCRM BR SUBJECT: Brazil Telecom Operators To Cooperate With Police On Internet Child Porn Cases ¶1. Brazilian telecommunications companies TIM (Italian majority-owned),Oi, and Brasil Telecom signed a cooperation deal on December 17, 2008 with the country's police authorities for quick supply of data in the investigation of internet child pornography cases. Representatives of the federal government including Senate President Garibaldi Alves and Magno Malta, head of the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee (CPI) which investigates pedophilia cases in Brazil, also signed the document. The stated goal of this project is to have a central location where allegations are received, filtered and responded to in the quickest possibly fashion by law enforcement, Internet and telecommunication companies. ¶2. According to the agreement, the telecom operators are obliged to provide information about suspects in child pornography cases within three days. If the minors involved are under life threat, the data must be provided in 24 hours and if the risk is imminent, in two hours. The telecom operators will have a year to make technical adjustments needed for the speedy supply of information to the police. The two sides also agreed to set up a committee within 60 days to oversee the implementation of the cooperation deal. ¶3. Joco de Deus Pinheiro Machado, Oi's Executive Planning Director, told ConGen Rio that the initiative was part of Oi's corporate social responsibility agenda. Paulo Roberto da Costa Lima, TIM's Director for Regulatory Affairs said that the agreement would help his company assist government authorities in a more coordinated way rather than the current ad hoc system. Neither Machado nor Lima forsee any technical or financial difficulties in implementing the agreement. They acknowledged that other telecom companies operating in Brazil (Vivo, Claro Abranet, Myspace, NET, Telefonica, Terra and UOL) participated in the negotiations but did not speculate on their motivations for choosing not to sign the agreement. ¶4. Senator Eduardo Azeredo, deputy chair of the special congressional committee on pedophilia, told the press that some companies have cited potential cost increases as their main impediment to signing the agreement. Congress plans to call in representatives from those companies to learn more about their position. Telefonica, Claro, and Vivo are claiming that they were not invited to the signing ceremony - something which Senator Malta says is absolutely false. ¶5. This message was cleared/coordinated with Embassy Brasilia. MARTINEZ