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The Data Privacy Brazil Research Association and TEDIC release a report on surveillance in the Triple Border

by Willian Oliveira

The use of technologies to ensure social order has become increasingly common in Brazil and Latin America. The use of drones, facial recognition, artificial intelligence, and databases are part of the reality of various spheres of regional public security. Therefore, it is essential for the public to understand the use of such technologies, how personal data is processed by them, and for what purpose.

It is in this context that the Data Privacy Brazil Research Association, in partnership with TEDIC – Tecnología y Comunidad, a Paraguayan organization dedicated to defending digital rights, is releasing today (02/23) the report “The Invisible Integration: A Study on the Integrated Border Operations Center.”

The study, through documentary analysis, information requests, and interviews, sought to understand how the Integrated Border Operations Center (CIOF) functions. Additionally, the research analyzed how the CIOF’s information storage network is structured, as well as the relationships between Brazilian and Paraguayan institutions in the design of the Center.

CIOF

Located in the Itaipu National Park, at the triple border between Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina, the CIOF is a Brazilian public security project established in 2019. Its purpose is to centralize information from various national and international public security and intelligence agencies into a single database to combat cross-border organized crime.

The Center is coordinated by the Secretariat of Integrated Operations (SEOPI) of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security and operates as a permanent task force for sharing information under one roof, with the primary goal of integrating databases.

Among the work already carried out by the CIOF in its two years of existence, highlights include the location and arrest of fugitives from Brazilian police and perpetrators of serious crimes both in Brazil and abroad.

BRAZIL

The report found that Brazil has been following a trend in public security of creating and investing in integrated centers, which began with the creation of the Integrated Border Protection Program (PPIF). Approved in 2016 by then-President Michel Temer, the program’s main objective is to integrate public security forces and share information between them, which, in a way, paved the way for the creation of the CIOF.

In addition to following the path of similar Brazilian projects, the CIOF was inspired by the U.S. experience with Fusion Centers. These are locations that serve as central points for the collection, coordination, analysis, and dissemination of intelligence for public security agents and the private sector.

Coordinated by SEOPI, the project involves the participation of the Federal Police (PF), Federal Highway Police (PRF), the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin), the Ministry of Defense, the Financial Intelligence Unit, the Federal Revenue Service, the Secretariat for Asset Recovery and International Legal Cooperation, and the National Penitentiary Department.

The research draws attention to the fact that there is limited information available about the management of the CIOF’s database or administrative acts that regulate the collection and processing of this data. The Center does not have a privacy policy document, and there is no known intention to produce one.

PARAGUAY

Although it is a Brazilian project, the CIOF intends to expand regionally. In the context of Paraguay, which is part of other monitoring and intelligence programs such as the Tripartite Command, the Bipartite Command, and the VIGIA Program, the research reports that there are Paraguayan institutions that may be linked to the CIOF, although, to date, the Center is composed solely of Brazilian institutions.

The research found indications of “spontaneous access” by the Public Ministry of Paraguay to the CIOF’s database, which seems to have occurred without any international agreement to regulate the exchange of information and subsequent international data transfer.

The report also points to an interest from the European Union in promoting the adoption of integrated centers alongside the CIOF. The main one would be EUROFRONT, which aims to improve the way border management data is collected between the European Union and the Triple Border Area.

You can check the full report here.