In August, we wrote about the Law Project from Senator Azeredo (PSDB) in Brazil that will restrict the freedom of internet users in Brazil.

A public, Congressional hearing about the current Brazilian data retention bill will happen on November 13th, 2008 after months of political pressure by the civil society, especially the Brazilian free software movement. Many campaigns against the current text are circulating and the petition asking the veto got more than 119 thousand signatures.

A full translation of the bill is available here. The position of government authorities who are against this bill is that before declaring what is a crime on the internet in Brazil the government should first declare what are the rights of the users, none of which are currently guaranteed. A really good analysis was written by Paula Martini from Rio de Janeiro.

More information in English can be found here, which is an article explaining the situation and also proposing that international communities and groups start to put pressure on the Brazilian government. And if you are in São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro, there is aflash mob action being planned for November 14th at 6pm.