Brazil has presented a series of measures it will take to protect itself from espionage from the United States, which was reported a few weeks back.

The president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, canceled her visit to the United States that was programmed for next month, and criticized the American Government led by President Barack Obama, which was spying on the company Petrobras, several of the country's citizens through their social networks like Facebook and Gmail services, as well as spying on her personally.

The president will not prohibit the use of Social media or Electronic Mail, but did ask that Brazilian information be stored locally, seeking to safeguard their data from the United States Government.

For some international computer experts, this could result in a double edged sword, besides of the expensive costs that maintaining this level of security will imply, the actions of Brazil could be employed by other, more oppressive governments, attacking freedom of speech.

In a press release given yesterday, the Brazilian government pointed out that "Illegal practices of data and communication interception of citizens, companies and members of the Brazilian government constitute a grave attack on the nations sovereignty as well as individual rights, and is incompatible with the democratic coexistence between countries". With that statement, Dilma Rouseff also confirmed that she will not be visiting the United States as was planned, considering that the responses of the American nation about their espionage was insufficient.

Brazil also stated that while it was important to continue a bilateral relationship with the United States, the current conditions were not proper for their President to visit the United States.

Brenda.Colon@sandiegored.com

Daniel.Aguilar@sandiegored.com