Right to Privacy and Personal Data
Protection in Brazilian Law
Anderson Schreiber
1 Introduction
Personal data protection is certainly one of the most sensitive challenges faced by
contemporary legal science, arising from the extraordinary technological advancement occurred in the last decades. In Brazil, personal data protection arises from the
Constitution, which establishes the inviolability of intimacy and private life, in
accordance with article 5, item X. Nowadays, both scholars and case law recognize
that the right to privacy encompasses not only the protection of individual private life
but also the protection of personal data. As a result, personal data can never be seen
as an “ownerless information” (res nullius) that could be freely collected on the
internet. On the contrary, it is a projection of human personality and, as so, requires
strong protection from the legal system.
2 General Data Protection Framework in Brazil
2.1 The Applicable Rules
Until the year of 2018, personal data was not solidly protected by Brazilian legislation, being ruled only by sparse laws that were too narrow or generic. For example,
article 21 of the Brazilian Civil Code of 2002, which addresses protection of privacy
A. Schreiber (*)
Rio de Janeiro State University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
e-mail: schreiber@sdls.com.br
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
D. Moura Vicente, S. de Vasconcelos Casimiro (eds.), Data Protection in the
Internet, Ius Comparatum – Global Studies in Comparative Law 38,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28049-9_2
45
Protection in Brazilian Law
Anderson Schreiber
1 Introduction
Personal data protection is certainly one of the most sensitive challenges faced by
contemporary legal science, arising from the extraordinary technological advancement occurred in the last decades. In Brazil, personal data protection arises from the
Constitution, which establishes the inviolability of intimacy and private life, in
accordance with article 5, item X. Nowadays, both scholars and case law recognize
that the right to privacy encompasses not only the protection of individual private life
but also the protection of personal data. As a result, personal data can never be seen
as an “ownerless information” (res nullius) that could be freely collected on the
internet. On the contrary, it is a projection of human personality and, as so, requires
strong protection from the legal system.
2 General Data Protection Framework in Brazil
2.1 The Applicable Rules
Until the year of 2018, personal data was not solidly protected by Brazilian legislation, being ruled only by sparse laws that were too narrow or generic. For example,
article 21 of the Brazilian Civil Code of 2002, which addresses protection of privacy
A. Schreiber (*)
Rio de Janeiro State University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
e-mail: schreiber@sdls.com.br
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
D. Moura Vicente, S. de Vasconcelos Casimiro (eds.), Data Protection in the
Internet, Ius Comparatum – Global Studies in Comparative Law 38,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28049-9_2
45