<nettime> Brazil to push for greater decentralization of Internet infrastructure

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Brazil moves to secure telecom, Internet systems after US spying

Brasilia, Aug 15
The Hindu http://tinyurl.com/kmnrp8b


(AFP) Brazil said on Wednesday it is moving to secure its communications 
through its own satellite and digital networks to end its dependence on 
the United States, which is accused of electronically spying on the region.

?Brazil is in favour of greater decentralisation: Internet governance 
must be multilateral and multisectoral with a broader participation,? 
the Communications Minister, Paulo Bernardo, told a congressional panel.

Yesterday, Foreign Minister, Antonio Patriota, warned his US 
counterpart, John Kerry, that the row over Washington?s electronic 
snooping could sow mistrust between the two countries.

Kerry responded by conceding that Brasilia was owed answers from 
Washington and would get them.

He suggested that the vast US surveillance programme aimed to "provide 
security, not just for Americans, but for Brazilians and the people of 
the world."

But Bernardo today criticised the ?strong concentration of (Internet) 
traffic? by US firms.

Revelations by US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden about the vast 
scope of US electronic surveillance programmes have caused deep unease 
in Brazil and other Latin American countries that have reportedly been 
targeted by the spying.

Bernardo said Brasilia was finalising the selection of companies that 
will be tasked with building and launching a geostationary defence and 
strategic communications satellite.

French-Italian group Thales Alenia Space (TAS) has said it had won a 
contract worth about $400 million to build a satellite for Brazil's 
developing space programme.

The order, placed by Visiona -- jointly owned by Brazilian aeroplane 
maker Embraer and telecom provider Telebras -- is for a geostationary 
satellite for civil and military use.

Telebras said that with the satellite, "high-speed Internet will be 
extended to the entire nation and will ensure the sovereignty of its 
civil and military communications."

Arianespace has been selected to launch the satellite in 2015.

The deal also allows for a transfer of technology between TAS and 
Brazil, making TAS the preferred industrial partner in building up 
Brazil?s space programme.

(This article was published on August 15, 2013)



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