Can Brazil help roll back US surveillance?

Brazil has become a staunch and vocal critic of US espionage, asking Google and Facebook to install local servers. But will this really work? A contribution to the openGlobalRights debate on emerging powers and human rights. Español.

Brazil has risen to global prominence because of its economic growth and potential, disaster relief leadership during the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and skilled core of globally engaged diplomats.

This past fall, Brazil’s biggest international move was its outspoken opposition to espionage by the US spy agency, the National Security Agency (NSA). OpenGlobalRights author Jeffrey Cason argues that Brazil is too traditional to be a global human rights leader, and that “it is unlikely to make human rights promotion a centerpiece of its foreign policy.”

Yet Brazil has long criticized the US and other governments when they tread on civil freedoms. Now, the country is leading a global backlash against the US for its habit of mass, online espionage.