The Brazilian Supreme Court – known by the acronym “STF”, in Portuguese – is the Court with constitutional jurisdiction and powers to give the final interpretation of the Brazilian Constitution.
In his most recent book, “Communication Law Matters in the Jurisprudence of the Brazilian Supreme Court” (not translated into English yet), the author Ericson M. Scorsim – lawyer, Public Law consultant, Ph.D. in Law by the University of São Paulo (USP), and an expert on Communications Law – presents the most relevant decisions from the Brazilian Supreme Court over the past 30 years on matters such as the Internet, telecommunications, broadcast TV and Radio, Pay TV, and press. The book presents these cases under the critical viewpoint of the author, who revises the jurisprudence, as the case may be.
The book will be sold exclusively on Amazon, and highlights, among other matters, constitutional issues related to the interpretation of the Internet Regulatory Framework, the Brazilian General Telecommunications Act, the Private Broadcast TV and Radio Act, the Public Broadcast Services Act, and the Conditioned Access Communication Services Act (Pay TV).
It also examines the case of the court order that blocked the WhatsApp application within the context of the constitutional interpretation of the Internet Regulatory Framework. On this matter, the Brazilian Supreme Court has submitted the questions to debate in public hearings, more specifically regarding the use of encryption in the communication through this application and the possibility of effecting court orders to intercept communication.
The book also presents case law from the Brazilian Supreme Court related to the Federal Government’s exclusive jurisdiction to legislate on telecommunications, by declaring the unconstitutionality of state laws that imposed certain obligations to telecommunication companies such as: expiration term of pre-paid mobile phone credit, prohibition of the charge of a basic fee on fixed telephony and cable TV contracts, sale and resale of used mobile devices, locating mobile devices, adoption of mobile phone blockage devices in correctional facilities, and more.
It holds questions on the constitutional analysis of federal laws that require telecommunication companies to provide personal information and data of their users, under the grounds of violation of the fundamental rights to privacy and confidentiality of private communication.
The constitutionality of the Pay TV Act is also under debate. That law legislates on the Conditioned Access Audiovisual Communication Services, containing rules on the limits to cross-ownership between telecommunication companies and Pay TV companies, quotas for Brazilian content on the scheduling, the Anatel services authorization regime, and more.
In the realm of general repercussion before the Brazilian Supreme Court, the book highlights cases on the constitutionality of radio-communication station licensing fees charged by municipalities (Theme 919); the right to be forgotten in the civil realm, more specifically related to television programs (Theme 786); the State Courts’ jurisdiction to try disputes on the charging of basic fees between telephone services’ consumers and telecommunications providers (Theme 35); and offenses on social networks and the rights of personality (Theme 533).
The book is the second in the Communications Law Collection, launched with the book “Communications Law: Telecommunications, Internet, Broadcast TV, and Pay TV”, available on Amazon.
Available at: www.amazon.com;