[JURIST] The Senate of Brazil [official website, in Portuguese] on Tuesday passed a bill [press release, in Portuguese] that puts limits on the metadata that can be collected from Internet users in the country. The law [materials, in Portuguese] also eliminates Internet service providers’ liability for content published by their users and requires providers to remove offensive materials following court orders. President Dilma Rousseff signed the bill into law on Wednesday.

Recent events such as allegations that the National Security Agency (NSA) [official website] has spied on more than 60 million phone calls made in Spain [JURIST report] indicate that Brazil’s recent action on internet privacy is directed at the US and its various surveillance programs. Last year Germany and Brazil proposed [JURIST report] a draft resolution within the UN General Assembly [official website] calling for member states to take measures to put an end to “gross invasions of privacy” such as excessive electronic surveillance and data collection. The revelations surrounding NSA surveillance programs such as PRISM [JURIST backgrounder] have sparked worldwide debate and controversy.