Ten major countries that use open-source software platforms are discussing establishment of governance rules for the digital environment.
Ten major countries that use open-source software platforms are discussing the creation of a governance framework for the digital environment. According to Esther Dweck, management and innovation in public services minister, the idea is for this framework to function as an “international tribunal for the digital environment.”
Created in 2025, the Global Digital Collaboration (GDC) is an organization whose members include countries—such as Brazil, the United States, and China—as well as companies, international institutions, and civil society organizations. The ten countries in question are part of the GDC.
“This group is thinking about how to prevent countries that dominate the technology from blocking others from advancing,”
said Dweck, who chairs the GDC’s government representatives group. Brazil is among the ten countries but has not yet taken a position on the proposal, she said.
On another front, Brazil became, in the first half of June, the only Latin American country to establish a strategic partnership with the European Union on digital issues. Among other initiatives, the partnership will allow both sides to work jointly in international forums.
“The digital space is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few companies, American and Chinese, and we are major users without being major technology providers,” the minister said. “Brazil and the European Union have been working extensively to try to reverse this.”
Brazil was chosen because European officials view it as a regional leader with potential for technological development. Under the partnership, both jurisdictions mutually recognize the adequacy of their respective personal data protection standards. The agreement will also focus on creating a safer digital environment for children and adolescents.
The partners also share the requirement that sensitive data stored in the cloud be repatriated, meaning data must be stored on servers physically located within their respective territories. “Data can be located anywhere in the world, with the vast majority in the United States,” Dweck said. “That became a major concern for us, and I think the geopolitical context has reinforced those concerns.”
Brazil’s Lower House is currently debating legislation to regulate artificial intelligence (AI), under the rapporteurship of Congressman Aguinaldo Ribeiro, who attended the ceremony marking the partnership agreement with the European Union on June 12.
“His concern, which I share, is how we build a governance model to deal with AI,” the minister said. “He told me: ‘For me, governance is the most important part because technology advances very quickly and the law can quickly become outdated.’”
Dweck said that while there are concerns about technologies such as deepfakes—which can realistically manipulate images, videos and audio—the challenges are likely to evolve rapidly. “It may be that in two or three years there will be another new technology that is just as problematic and that regulation did not anticipate.”
As a result, Brazil’s AI regulation is moving toward establishing governance structures and strengthening the National Data Protection Authority (ANPD), the minister said.
“It will not override sector-specific regulators, which will continue to operate, but for areas without a dedicated regulator and for broader rules, the ANPD will be the responsible authority,”
she said.
Source: Valor International
