Brazilian judge suspends X platform after it refuses to name a legal representative
Brazilian judge suspends X platform after it refuses to name a legal representative
A Brazilian Supreme Court justice on Friday ordered the suspension of Elon Musk’s social media giant X in Brazil after the tech billionaire refused to name a legal representative in the country, according to a copy of his decision.
A search Friday on X showed hundreds of Brazilian users inquiring about VPNs that could potentially enable them to continue using the platform by making it appear they were logging on from outside the country.
This is your chance to break free.
There is something that most news articles aren't paying attention to: the judge requested Google and Apple to remove VPN apps from their marketplaces. Not just apply fines to those who dare to use VPNs in order to access X, but removing the VPNs altogether. I mean, I use OpenVPN Client for making a LAN to connect my smartphone and my laptop together (so, for example, I can use KDE Connect between a smartphone over mobile network and a laptop over cable internet). I don't even have an X account, but a decision focused on that platform is extending its reaches beyond the intended target, affecting those who use VPN for professional and technical purposes.
He already backed down on this vpn ban, because he heard smarter people than him saying he should.
https://veja.abril.com.br/coluna/radar/moraes-recua-de-decisao-sobre-veto-a-vpn-para-acessar-o-x/
Unfortunately people like routine. Look how many people went back to reddit after the mobile disaster.
"Hundreds"? Oh my God there are "hundreds" of them. A solid user base for a social media app there.
On the bright side, more people using VPNs.
Good.
However, I'm curious about how they plan to implement this, technologically.
Like will it be a court order to ISPs to block X at a DNS level?
Will Musk go full Qanon and make a big deal about making an X darknet site for Brazil or some dumb shit?
We live in a fucking circus, and the clowns are running the show.
Like will it be a court order to ISPs to block X at a DNS level?
Yes, I believe the next step is for the Telecomm Agency to issue an ordinance. Google and Apple now have to remove the app from the store. Apparently VPNs are also not allowed to access it but I dunno how that would even work.
Perhaps VPN servers in Brazil (I'm no lawyer) but people can choose to connect to servers outside the country.
Apparently VPNs are also not allowed to access it but I dunno how that would even work
That's the point: they can't. However, based by the judge's inquiry, the VPN apps are to be removed from app marketplaces, every single one of them. He asked Google and Apple to remove VPN apps altogether. This extrapolates the boundary of "blocking X", because VPNs aren't solely used for "bypassing ISP blocking", VPNs are also used to link two or more devices into the same LAN over ther Internet, but this will be affected as soon as these apps vanish from Brazilian marketplaces.
Like will it be a court order to ISPs to block X at a DNS level?
I think that's exactly it and how I understand this sentence:
Given that operators are aware of the widely publicized standoff and their obligation to comply with an order from de Moraes, plus the fact doing so isn't complicated, X could be offline as early as 12 hours after receiving their instructions, said Luca Belli, coordinator of the Technology and Society Center at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a university in Rio de Janeiro.
Like will it be a court order to ISPs to block X at a DNS level?
It will be exactly this.
He's taking all vpn off Google and apple too. This is a terrible, dangerous and dumb decision despite how much I dislike Twitter and musk.
Edit: they just went back on the decision to remove vpn, so it's all good. Hooray.