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METHODOLOGY

The time frame defined for the conduction of the first step of the research is the period from March 20, 2020 (when the public calamity state was declared due to the pandemic) to December 31, 2020. The collection of data in this step was executed using:

a) FOIA requests (based on the Brazilian Freedom of Information Act n. 12527/2011);

b) search in public transparency portals;

c) Official Gazettes;

d) exploratory searches using keywords in Google search. In this case, the information was selected from publications that announced a personal data based technology being used by the public sector in the fight against COVID-19. Advanced research techniques were implemented in order to make the search more efficient;

e) Information and documents requested directly via email of the companies involved in the acquisition of technology.

FOIA REQUEST TYPE X CATEGORY OF ANSWER

The circumferences represent each of the types of FOIA requests sent, while the circles inside them represent the type of answer received as indicated by color in the label. The size difference between each circle corresponds to the variation of the number of answers obtained (also indicated in the graph).

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FOIA REQUEST TYPE X CATEGORY OF ANSWER FOIA REQUEST TYPE X CATEGORY OF ANSWER}

FOIA REQUEST SUBMISSION STATUS IN THE MUNICIPALITIES

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FOIA REQUEST SUBMISSION STATUS IN THE MUNICIPALITIES FOIA REQUEST SUBMISSION STATUS IN THE MUNICIPALITIES

EXPLORATORY FOIA REQUESTS

DOCUMENTAL RESEARCH - CONTRACTS

The documents obtained during the research were organized in a repository to allow public access. Each governmental sphere is indicated in a row containing the following information: state/federal unit (UF), local, population (according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics - IBGE), link to the citizens online information service (e-SIC) and link to the folder in which the documents are stored. All the documents obtained by the research team, such as contracts, Official Gazettes excerpts, opinions and other documents regarding the technologies are in each indicated folder.

There were 5 categories created to quantify the access to documents and information about the contracts:

   
Category Explanation
Obtained contract The contract was obtained through FOIA request, search in transparency portals or Google advanced search
No contract - own technology When the public agency/body that implemented the technology has developed it internally
No formalization Two (2) cases in which there was no formalization of the acquisition or partnership. Here are included pilot projects and informal partnerships
Not found The research team was not capable to locate the documents in which the acquisition was formalized
Official Gazettes excerpts Only the excerpt of the contract in the Official Gazette was located


Table 1. Results of the documental research - contracts of acquisition of the mapped technologies

Category Total Percentage
1. Obtained contract 72 28,46%
2. No contract - own technology 21 8,30%
3. Sem formalização 2 0,79%
4. No formalization 141 54,94%
5. Official Gazettes excerpts 19 7,51%
TOTAL 253 100,00%
   

From the 253 technologies mapped out, the documentation of 141 (54.94%) of them could not be found, either by FOIA request, or search in transparency portal or Google engine or Official Gazettes. The contracts were obtained only in 72 cases (28.46%), while 19 (7.51%) had Official Gazettes excerpts. 21 technologies (8.30%) were developed internally by the public agencies and 2 cases (0.79%) had no formalization.

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CREDITS

Data Privacy Brasil Research Association carried out this project between October 2020 and May 2021. The work counted with the financial support of Open Society Foundation.
Directors: Bruno Bioni e Rafael Zanatta
Head of projects: Mariana Rielli
Research Coordinators: Bruno Bioni e Daniela Dora Eilberg