Brazil Wants National 'Antisnoop' Email

09/02/2013 - 08h42

The Brazilian government asked Correios (the Brazilian mail agency) to develop a national email system. Scheduled to be launched in the second half of 2014, it will be aimed at commercial security against "snooping."

The plan is to create a Brazilian alternative to the popular Hotmail, of Microsoft, and Google's Gmail.

The agency had been working on an electronic mailing system for commercial purposes which would include a delivery certification when read by the addressee.

Pedro Ladeira/Folhapress

"When I send you an email and I want nobody to snoop. Last year, the U.S. made 311 requests (to companies). They aren't working in the retail market," Brazil's Communication Minister Paulo Bernardo told Folha. "It's necessary to encourage a safer email service."

After the cases of espionage by the American government became public, Brazil's Communication Ministry requested the project be expanded into a national service.

The government believes that the current services have proved to be vulnerable since Edward Snowden disclosed secret National Security Agency (NSA) documents, showing that American companies are obliged to supply their users' data.

"When I send you an email and I want nobody to snoop. Last year, the U.S. made 311 requests (to companies). They aren't working in the retail market," Brazil's Communication Minister Paulo Bernardo told Folha. "It's necessary to encourage a safer email service."

He says the Correios email will include encryption to safeguard the users' privacy, and the data must be stored in Brazil, unlike those of Gmail, for example.

The encryption serves as an envelope of a traditional letter. The mechanism makes it difficult for the message to be violated.

The first idea was for the service to be paid. However, in the face of the government's new position, Correios is still considering the business model. Gmail and Hotmail, the most used in Brazil, are free.

"Correios has a lot of credibility. It has delivered mail in Brazil for 350 years and nobody thinks they snoop," said Bernardo, confident that the initiative will be successful.

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO

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