Brazil is going through a very unique moment of internet regulation. By the end of 2009 a process of public consultation was created - in a collaborative way to establish a civil-rights based regulatory framework for internet in Brazil. This initiative has been put forth by the Ministry of Justice (MJ), with the support from the Center for Technology and Society (CTS) at Getulio Vargas Foundation.

In its first phase, in which the guiding principles of such regulation have been discussed, weve received more than 800 legal and technical comments on issues such as freedom of expression, privacy, competition, consumers rights and liabilities.

After reviewing such comments, the Ministry of Justice and the CTS have drafted a Bill of Law. This text has been made available to the general public on April 8th and will be open for public input for another 45 days. The results of this second phase will be contemplated in the final version of the document to be sent to the National Congress by July, 2010.

This Best Practices Forum aims at presenting at the IGF the Brazilian experience in crafting such legislation out of an open and collaborative process. Our goal is not only to highlight our national experience but also to profit from the very diverse and expert audience of the IGF to learn from about other experiences and to exchange relevant information on the challenges of internet regulation.

In other to offer a wide range of views on this process, we invited representatives from the national government, the civil society, the business sector and the academic sector to reflect upon this creation of a true bill of rights for the Brazilian Internet, improving the debates over e-democracy, openness and political participation.

The original version of the text (in Portuguese) can be found here: http://culturadigital.br/marcocivil/debate/". A translation to English and Spanish is expected in the next couple of days.