Introduction
| Páginas | 13-20 |
Page 13
This book is a window into the current state of Latin American society regarding technology. The present work consists in a comprehensive selection of articles that were published in the newsletter Digital Rights: Latin America & the Caribbean, a project organized in Brazil by the expert in Digital Rights, Professor and Researcher Eduardo Magrani, alongside prestigious Latin American organizations.
The Project
The monthly newsletter initiative was launched in June 2013 by the Center for Technology and Society (CTS/FGV), in Brazil, together with the NGO Derechos Digitales, from Chile; Associación por los Derechos Civiles (ADC), from Argentina; and the Fundación Karisma, in Colombia. It has been translated each month into three languages (Portuguese, Spanish and English), encompassing 191 publications assembled in 30 volumes/ editions and ended with a inal, special edition, in December 2016.
The publications approach important issues related to digital rights in those regions and manage to portray a broad overview about what was currently happening in those countries, by analyzing the state of digital rights in Latin America and the Caribbean, and addressing regional news, analysis of relevant subjects, recommended research material and data regarding conferences and events.
These topics were studied deeply by The Digital Rights Newsletter, which managed to gather articles from as much as 16 countries, as it follows: Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Cuba, Uruguay, Paraguay, Panama, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras and Venezuela. Mainly, the book delves into issues that represent contemporary topics about cutting-edge technology, the growth of interconnectivity, privacy issues, government actions and laws that try to regulate new advances on this ield.
As such, this selection of papers provides an excellent opportunity to better understand current developments and changes in digital rights in Latin America, how the discussions about those ideas take place, and which way they are headed.
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The background: the democratic importance of the connected public sphere
We live today in a social scene that is largely in the digital world, in which various types of spaces and devices have become vital tools for recording events, news and expression. Digital platforms are used today to share information and to speciically promote a greater degree of participation and engagement in issues of public interest.
Technology can bring us countless beneits, but it also creates dificult problems which need to be thoroughly discussed if we aim to solve them. In terms of privacy, there is a growing fear - and with just cause - that the development of new technologies might end up increasing the risk of violations in users’ privacy. There is no doubt that the improvement of technological devices and the way people grow ever more dependent on those new tools will signiicantly modify the way we deal with and share personal information.
The concern that we may be gradually giving up a greater amount of privacy while technology advances has been reinforced by several factors. Recurring violations of data storages, the constant monitoring of users’ activities online and the mapping of behavioral patterns based on data collection are some of the elements that point out the need to study new ways to keep personal information protected. Moreover, the astounding growth of social networks and connected devices greatly contributes to the expansion of the amount of information made public on the web, and generates some apprehension about its use. After all, it is no wonder that severe criticism has been made about how it may encourage a culture that takes for granted public exposure.
Such issues demonstrate how urgent it is for Latin American countries to develop comprehensive regulation regarding privacy. Many have already passed legislation that directly addresses this matter, but others – like Brazil – are falling behind and let serious violations occur by neglecting to establish the necessary degree of control over...
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