A evolução das normas do direito digital brasileiro: da indústria de informática à constitucionalização da proteção de dados

Abstract

This dissertation presents a historical-normative analysis of the evolution of Digital Law in Brazil, with emphasis on legislative consolidation and the contemporary challenges of technological regulation. It is based on the hypothesis that the Brazilian legal framework has developed in successive phases—regulation of hardware, software, and data—reflecting a predominantly reactive, sector-based, and fragmented model in response to the rapid transformations of the information society. The research adopts a qualitative methodological approach, both descriptive and analytical in nature, through the triangulation of legal norm analysis, jurisprudential review, and national and international legal scholarship. The study is structured around three evolutionary axes: (i) the formation of the computing sector under protectionist policies and the roles of institutions such as CAPRE and SEI; (ii) the normative transition toward the legal recognition of software and the challenges of intellectual property in the 1990s; and (iii) the consolidation of the digital regulatory framework, notably with the Civil Rights Framework for the Internet and the General Data Protection Law, culminating in the elevation of data protection to the status of a fundamental right through Constitutional Amendment No. 115/2022. The research highlights the persistence of regulatory gaps in strategic areas such as artificial intelligence and digital platforms, while also problematizing normative fragmentation, the lack of coordinated governance, and the limitations of a reactive institutional posture. It concludes that, although the legal framework has matured in areas such as data protection and cybersecurity, it still lacks a systemic, coherent, integrated, and forwardlooking normative regime capable of addressing the legal challenges of the algorithmic age. The study contributes to the broader debate on the impasses of traditional state regulation and advocates for the construction of a transversal regulatory paradigm grounded in constitutional principles.