[UPDATE 4:43pm ET: Shortly after we published our story of the WhatsApp block, Brazilian media began reporting (Google Translate) that it had been lifted on appeal. We have updated our story as below.]
Roughly 24 hours a Brazilian judge ordered (Google Translate) that all mobile phone providers in the country block WhatsApp traffic for 72 hours, an appellate judge lifted that block.
"Thankfully, WhatsApp is now back online," Jan Koum, WhatsApp's CEO, said in a statement sent to Ars. "We’re humbled by the great support of people across Brazil, and appreciate your patience as the legal process unfolded. We have no intention of compromising people's security and we hope those impacted by this decision join us in making their voices heard in support of an open and secure internet. The last thing we want is to see WhatsApp blocked again."
Earlier, Brazilians had discovered that the temporary ban only covered mobile carriers—so Brazilians still could have used WhatsApp over Wi-Fi or a VPN connection over their mobile data plan.
Judge Marcel Maia Montalvão issued the order Monday while working on an ongoing drug case that remains under seal. This was the same judge who ordered that Facebook executive Diego Dzodan should be arrested in March after "repeated non-compliance with court orders." Dzodan was released soon after.@cfarivar @WhatsApp @astepanovich VPNs work. It's IP block. A funny extra: the judge only ordered this to mobile operators. ADSL Wifi is OK
— Javier Pallero (@javierpallero) May 3, 2016
Dzodan was ordered to provide decrypted messages—however, neither WhatsApp nor its parent company Facebook has the ability to do so as they are end-to-end encrypted. In April, WhatsApp expanded its end-to-end encryption across all platforms.
The judicial order comes as authorities in Brazil, the United States, and many other countries are grappling with the deployment of easy-to-use default encryption on many platforms, apps, and devices.
Dzodan’s arrest came after Brazilian courts last month increased fines (Portuguese) to 250,000 reais per day for not complying with the government’s data handover order. When Facebook would still not budge, Dzodan was arrested. Now, the court has imposed a fine of 500,000 reais ($140,000) per day to the telcos if they do not comply. Previously, a different Brazilian judge blocked WhatsApp for 12 hours nationwide in December 2015.
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