Brazil to Fine Anyone Using a VPN to Access X $8,874 per Day; Elon Musk Responds

"He did not cut language saying that people who use VPN apps to access X in Brazil could face fines."

Imo, somebody probably told the tribunal how dumb it would be to ban VPN apps since there are some legitimate uses (for example journalism).

Do note that the $8k/day fine still stands, to citizens who use VPN to access X.

[1] https://www.riotimesonline.com/moraes-revises-vpn-ban-as-bra...

But the main idea of the decision remains, if you're a Brazilian citizen and somehow manage to bypass the ban on X, you can be fined for it. For example, Starlink users can still use X because the company decided to not follow suit, risking to lose their operating license in the country.

My guess, unless you frequently tweet things directed at politicians and government officials, Xandão won't come after you.

EDIT: "Moraes backtracks and suspends ban on downloading VPN applications": https://valor.globo.com/politica/noticia/2024/08/30/moraes-v...

  Alexandre de Moraes' initial decision also establishes "the application of a daily fine of R$50,000 to individuals and legal entities that engage in conduct involving the use of technological subterfuge to continue communications via 'X', such as the use of VPN". The fine remains in effect.

It also signals to companies - domestic and foreign - that this one Supreme Court justice who is issuing secret censorship orders (Alexandre de Moraes) will basically do whatever he wants as far as controlling them. If he’s willing to force Apple and Google to censor their app stores, what else might he or others in the government be capable of? Even if that VPN order is rescinded, Brazil’s business reputation is now damaged. Companies can’t view it with the same stability they expected just a few days ago. It’s a risk to keep any intellectual property or sensitive data there. In other words, you have to take the same precautions you would with the CCP.

He said they froze the bank accounts of representatives and he is closing down the offices to protect those people so they wouldn't be retaliated against. If this is the case, would you agree with it being the reasonable choice of action?

2 - Use some Court order to inform which Brazilians accounts made login during that time

3 - Give time to that users so they prove that whey were outside Brazil during the time

4 - Failing that, there's an assumption that the Brazilian user acessed the X while it was blocked and used some technology to circumvent it

Not that hard. Indeed, very simple, and many users that are trying VPNs right now don't have this tech knowledge to consider the long-term effects of theis actions.

Can ISPs really find this out? Of course if Oops betray users -another win for Musk & Starlink- but short of that?

Is tapping into ISP connections to known VPN IP addresses the only way?

(How the PD is supposed to be checking their Twitter account amid the blockade, I don’t know.)

Personally I'm on social media to talk to my friends. If they block just 1/3rd of my friends, when there's a different non-blocked service my group of friends will move to it. A sort of reverse network effect.

The ban and fine will deter advertisers, anyone making traceable payments, people using their real name, anyone operating a business presence, and anyone straight-laced who believes in following the law. Thanks to this fine, nobody's going to be in a hurry to encourage their friends to get a VPN. And thanks to app stores the state can also get the apps yanked from almost all phones. That's more than enough to trigger the reverse network effect.

The aim here is to either get Twitter to the negotiating table, or to punish them. That's accomplished by blocking 90% of users, the last 10% really won't make a difference either way.