The Brazilian Civil Code is undergoing a series of changes, which are the result of recurring decisions made by courts across the entire country. Among them is the creation of Digital Law, establishing protection and guarantees for citizens within the virtual environment.
The changes in legislation regarding the regulation of Law in the online environment are positive and quite welcome, with Brazil still lagging behind the United States and European Union countries, which a few years ago published their own declaration on digital rights and principles. Thus, the new Brazilian legislation comes at a good time to increase the debate and the questioning on the subject.
By defining the legality and regularity of acts and activities carried out in the digital environment, the goal is to strengthen the exercise of private autonomy, preserving the dignity of individuals and organizations and the security of their assets. It is viewed very favorably, for example, the definition of what constitutes digital assets and its correlation with the right of succession.
With regulation, digital assets can be inherited and described in a will. This is extremely important for today's days, where YouTube channels, for example, can have billion-dollar values. The legal successors of deceased persons can request that their social media profiles be deleted or converted into memorials.
With the legislation, the removal oflinksin search engines that display intimate personal images, creating the possibility of compensation for the victims. However, nowadays, the inclusion of civil liability for data leaks is already well regulated by the General Data Protection Law – LGPD (Law No. 13,709/2018). Dealing with the same topic in two laws of the same level may, in the future, cause interpretative confusions.
This demonstrates that some inclusions of Digital Law into the Civil Code may not be the most appropriate. However, it is known that deceptions are part of the evolution of the subject, which is still quite new to the legislator. The main benefit of the changes is legal certainty for both individuals and companies, allowing their conduct to be regulated in a reasonably predictable and stable manner.
In points where the law remains vague, allowing for different interpretations, the decisions made by the courts will prevail. They will standardize their understandings as the volume of legal issues increases and are brought under review.
Other significant upcoming changes include the recognition of digital identity as an official means of citizen identification, with regulation of electronic signature use; and the requirement for clear identification of AI (Artificial Intelligence) tools usage. Authorization will be required for creating images of people, whether they are still alive or deceased.
