During the World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, police monitored and preemptively arrested dozens of people who they assumed were plotting to commit crimes during a final World Cup match protest. The DRCI (Bureau for the Repression of Computer Crimes) led the investigation, which was largely conducted by wiretapping phones and monitoring protesters’ public social media postings. Moreover, the court authorized requests for access to Facebook user data on more than 20 pages and 50 profiles.

In São Paulo, police initiated an investigation into protesters who used black bloc technique, a tactic used in demonstrations where one wears a mask or clothing that conceals their identity in order to defend other protesters from the police, summoning hundreds of protesters to testify at times the protests were scheduled. This resulted in an even larger surveillance state and increasingly fewer protesters on the streets.

Many reacted to the overreaching Brazilian police force; lawyers, judges, legislators, and law professors published a manifesto reporting several illegal police violations. The manifesto called for an end to the criminalization of demonstrations (such violations are outlined in a report published by Article 19). In June of 2013, Brazil staged massive demonstrations initially organized to protest against increasing public transportation fares in Brazil.  The demonstrations eventually morphed into protests against government corruption, police brutality, and big spending (on mega events like the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics). The combination of these large demonstrations and Brazil playing host to the World Cup and the Olympics led the Brazilian government to invest heavily in surveillance technologies.

When Brazil agreed to host the World Cup and the Olympics, the country put an enormous amount of money into heightening its security and surveillance capabilities. It’s common for countries to increase their security and public surveillance measures during such events, but all too often countries maintain such measures well after they’re over.  In fact, it’s not uncommon to see governments take advantage of global events in order to strengthen cooperation from certain countries in broader security issues. And that’s exactly what happened to Brazil when preparing for the 2014 World Cup; according to diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks, the U.S. lobbied Brazil to increase their security and information-sharing strategies after the latter was chosen to host the 2016 Olympic Games.

Brazil invested widely in its domestic security and surveillance capabilities, spending over $900 million on drones, cameras, and location tracking tools in order to help gather information about the concurrent protests. The country also integrated their national and international databases with cooperating parties, like Interpol, and subjected Brazilians to this invasive data collection techniques.  Intelligence agents mapped protest routes and monitored demonstrators by tracking their social media accounts.  And, because traditional media outlets in Brazil are heavily concentrated, media coverage of the protests largely focused on protesters as “vandals” rather than police brutality and unlawful mass arrests. Ultimately, this biased media reporting resulted in a chilling effect among demonstrators, stifling the words and actions of many.

While the World Cup and the Olympics always seem to provoke and expand security measures in host countries, Brazil ended up creating a surveillance state that infringed greatly on the fundamental freedoms of citizens and visitors alike.