Senator Soraya Thronicke (Podemos-MS), rapporteur for the Bets CPI, announced that she will present a bill prepared by the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel).
The objective is to amend the Internet Civil Framework and assign new responsibilities to connection providers and agents responsible for connectivity-enabling services.
According to the Anatel text, “agents responsible for connectivity-enabling services” are considered to be companies that offer services such as domain name resolution (DNS), management of traffic exchange points, content delivery networks (CDNs) and provision of cloud services. Furthermore, it includes other infrastructures that enable internet access.
Project by the president of Anatel was presented to Bets CPI
Thronicke received the project from the president of Anatel, Carlos Manuel Baigorri, at the end of last year. The senator stated, through her press office on the JOTA portal, that the text has already been analyzed by her team and CPI consultants and is “ready to be presented in the final report of the Bets CPI, as part of the proposals to adapt the sector’s legislation”. The project would have the collegiate as its author and would be processed in the Senate.
The project proposes changes to articles 18 and 19 of the Marco Civil da Internet. Article 19, in fact, is under analysis by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) in processes that could lead to its unconstitutionality.
Furthermore, Anatel intends to include in article 18 that it is the competent body to “regulate, monitor and sanction” companies that offer connectivity-enabling services.
According to the agency, these duties include obligations such as establishing a legal representative in the country, as well as registering domain names and allocating IP (Internet Protocol) addresses. Thus, Anatel justifies that, without the approval of the measure, it is “unfeasible to make compliance with the Bets Law effective”.
As an example, the agency cites the case of social network X (formerly Twitter). In September 2023, the platform used the infrastructure of three CDN companies (Cloudflare, Fastly and EdgeUno) to circumvent the block imposed by internet operators, in compliance with a decision by the STF.
Anatel also suggests that article 19 of the Marco Civil clarify that “administrative authorities, as long as they are legally established with such powers”, may request the removal of content considered to be in violation of legislation and regulations.
SPA-MF also receives the project
Anatel sent the project to the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA), and to the Ministry of Sports. However, the telecommunications agency said it had not yet received any feedback from the government or Thronicke’s office.
When asked about the content of the project, SPA responded. “Improvements to Anatel’s tools, from a legal point of view, could be beneficial to the efficiency of its competencies.” Therefore, the secretariat highlighted that this can “confirm cooperation with the SPA in the performance of its legal and regulatory powers”.
The National Secretariat for Sports Betting and Economic Development of Sports, linked to the Ministry of Sports, stated, in a statement, that it is in “total harmony” with the Treasury.
The ministry declared that it “favors Anatel’s initiative to improve mechanisms for blocking and controlling illegal websites. It has full interest in approving the text according to the proposal presented”.
However, the secretariat emphasized that approval must be analyzed by parliamentarians. “Obviously, this depends on analysis by parliamentarians and the entire process of approving a bill.”