community telecenters, such as cybercafés,
where most users in the region access the
Internet. 25 In countries such as Honduras, cybercafés and other public access centers have
become the local “telephone booth,” providing
cheaper and more readily available Internet
telephony. 26 Though VoIP is available throughout
the region, the regulatory landscape is still evolving, with sometimes contradictory reports on the
legality of the service. VoIP is illegal in Cuba, but
it is offered with stringent restrictions in countries
such as Guyana, Paraguay, and Costa Rica.
Licensing requirements also legally restrict which
operators can offer VoIP in Bolivia, 27 Mexico,
Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and the
Dominican Republic, though these restrictions
are not enforced in many countries. 28 In Chile
and Brazil, the VoIP markets operate as if unregulated, but they are also evolving. 29 In October
2006, even after deregulation, Telefónica Chile
was fined nearly USD1 million for antitrust violations in blocking VoIP calls. 30
The introduction of Internet services in Latin
America has offered citizens opportunities to
affect their social and political landscape. For
example, bloggers in Mexico inaugurated their
coverage of elections in the 2006 presidential
campaigns. Social networking sites are also
immensely popular. Orkut in Brazil was host to
eleven million of Orkut’s more than fifteen million
users. 31
Social content
The protection of children is a widely used rationale for filtering the Internet in Latin America.
Despite the generally sparse extent of Internet
regulation, countries throughout the region have
focused on making the access and provision of
pornographic material illegal online.
The bulk of the regulatory responsibility for
filtering has been delegated to ISPs and public
Internet access points such as cybercafés. For
example, in 2006 the Venezuelan National
Assembly passed a law to safeguard children
from illicit content on the Internet, requiring ISPs
both to limit content on their servers and to provide free filtering software to users in order to promote self-regulation. 32 Examples of similar mechanisms include the 2002 Argentine Internet
Providers Law, which requires all ISPs to provide
filtering software to users upon request, 33 and a
Colombian law demanding that ISPs monitor
their content and report any illegal activity to the
government. 34 Colombia’s “Internet Sano”
(healthy Internet) campaign calls for public education on “decent” ways of using the Internet as
well as penalties for improper usage. 35 In Peru it
is mandatory for all businesses to have
filters installed in all computers designated for
use by children. 36 In Buenos Aires businesses
offering Internet services that fail to install
pornography filters on computers for use by children are subject to fines or temporary closures. 37
Definitions of pornographic content are not
always clear; Argentine ISPs expressed concern
that the instruction to filter “specific sites” was not
adequately precise. 38
Regulation of child pornography is steadily
being expanded to include the Internet. In 2003
Brazil made child pornography illegal in any
medium, explicitly including the Internet. 39 Similar
laws have been approved and implemented in
Buenos Aires 40 and Colombia.
41
In Argentina’s
proposed draft law on cybercrimes, child
pornography is criminalized in “any medium of
communication.” 42
In addition to efforts at protecting children
from explicit online content, other social content
deemed offensive has occasionally come under
fire. Since the 1997 presidential declaration
regarding “Free Speech on the Internet” that
guaranteed Internet content the same constitutional protections for freedom of expression,
Argentina has become a haven for neo-Nazi and
race-hate groups around the region. 43 In 2000 an
Argentine appellate court affirmed a lower court’s
dismissal of a claim that a Yahoo! site selling Nazi
memorabilia violated Argentina’s anti-discriminaRegional Overviews
199
where most users in the region access the
Internet. 25 In countries such as Honduras, cybercafés and other public access centers have
become the local “telephone booth,” providing
cheaper and more readily available Internet
telephony. 26 Though VoIP is available throughout
the region, the regulatory landscape is still evolving, with sometimes contradictory reports on the
legality of the service. VoIP is illegal in Cuba, but
it is offered with stringent restrictions in countries
such as Guyana, Paraguay, and Costa Rica.
Licensing requirements also legally restrict which
operators can offer VoIP in Bolivia, 27 Mexico,
Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and the
Dominican Republic, though these restrictions
are not enforced in many countries. 28 In Chile
and Brazil, the VoIP markets operate as if unregulated, but they are also evolving. 29 In October
2006, even after deregulation, Telefónica Chile
was fined nearly USD1 million for antitrust violations in blocking VoIP calls. 30
The introduction of Internet services in Latin
America has offered citizens opportunities to
affect their social and political landscape. For
example, bloggers in Mexico inaugurated their
coverage of elections in the 2006 presidential
campaigns. Social networking sites are also
immensely popular. Orkut in Brazil was host to
eleven million of Orkut’s more than fifteen million
users. 31
Social content
The protection of children is a widely used rationale for filtering the Internet in Latin America.
Despite the generally sparse extent of Internet
regulation, countries throughout the region have
focused on making the access and provision of
pornographic material illegal online.
The bulk of the regulatory responsibility for
filtering has been delegated to ISPs and public
Internet access points such as cybercafés. For
example, in 2006 the Venezuelan National
Assembly passed a law to safeguard children
from illicit content on the Internet, requiring ISPs
both to limit content on their servers and to provide free filtering software to users in order to promote self-regulation. 32 Examples of similar mechanisms include the 2002 Argentine Internet
Providers Law, which requires all ISPs to provide
filtering software to users upon request, 33 and a
Colombian law demanding that ISPs monitor
their content and report any illegal activity to the
government. 34 Colombia’s “Internet Sano”
(healthy Internet) campaign calls for public education on “decent” ways of using the Internet as
well as penalties for improper usage. 35 In Peru it
is mandatory for all businesses to have
filters installed in all computers designated for
use by children. 36 In Buenos Aires businesses
offering Internet services that fail to install
pornography filters on computers for use by children are subject to fines or temporary closures. 37
Definitions of pornographic content are not
always clear; Argentine ISPs expressed concern
that the instruction to filter “specific sites” was not
adequately precise. 38
Regulation of child pornography is steadily
being expanded to include the Internet. In 2003
Brazil made child pornography illegal in any
medium, explicitly including the Internet. 39 Similar
laws have been approved and implemented in
Buenos Aires 40 and Colombia.
41
In Argentina’s
proposed draft law on cybercrimes, child
pornography is criminalized in “any medium of
communication.” 42
In addition to efforts at protecting children
from explicit online content, other social content
deemed offensive has occasionally come under
fire. Since the 1997 presidential declaration
regarding “Free Speech on the Internet” that
guaranteed Internet content the same constitutional protections for freedom of expression,
Argentina has become a haven for neo-Nazi and
race-hate groups around the region. 43 In 2000 an
Argentine appellate court affirmed a lower court’s
dismissal of a claim that a Yahoo! site selling Nazi
memorabilia violated Argentina’s anti-discriminaRegional Overviews
199