The Dawn of the Internet in Brazil

1
The Dawn of the
Internet in Brazil
Marcelo Sávio Carvalho (presenter)
Information Technology Architect
IBM Brazil
Henrique Luiz Cukierman
Associate Professor
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

2
Introduction
“A generation which ignores history
has no past — and no future.”
Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988)
North American science fiction writer

• Former Brazilian Bulletin Board Systems user since the mid-80s
• Started my career as a systems programmer at UFRJ University in 1989,
where I had the opportunity to participate in the first experiments of network
access, with BITNET.
• In 1992, I was selected as technical support volunteer at the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development at Rio de Janeiro, where I
had the chance to accompany the deployment of the first generally
available Internet connection In Brazil.
• In addition, in 1994, I participated as a testing user in the first pilot project
from an Internet Service Provider of commercial access in the country.
3
1985 2017
About me

4
This paper is based on Marcelo Sávio’s
master thesis at the Federal University of Rio
de Janeiro (2006) which was supervised by
Prof. Henrique Cukierman.
It is available (in Brazilian Portuguese) for
download here:
http://www.slideshare.net/msavio

5
Motivation
• The knowledge of the history of any technology is a key
factor for its full mastery;
• In highlighting the richness of our historical experience with
the Internet, I intended to offer some subsidies for future
efforts to create indigenous knowledge in science and
technology;
• The History of Science & Technology community in Brazil is
still small and there was no much research related to the
history and development of networks/Internet in the
country;
• Despite being so recent, this history was “endangered”,
because a lot of information about it was still at people’s
heads or stored in many personal archives. I went after
them to collect material for my research.

The formation of the
Information Society in Brasil
6
“Le problème avec notre époque est que le
futur n'est plus ce qu'il était“
Paul Valéry (1871-1945)
French Philosopher, writer and poet

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Data Communication:
A Matter of the State

• Brazil had a military dictatorship ruling the country
from 1964 to 1985.
• Data transmission started as a matter of the State,
specifically submitted to the interests of the Ministry of
Communications.
• It reserved to Embratel, the state-owned Brazilian
Telecommunications Company, the monopoly for
installation and operation of data communication
services in the country.
• A few value-added services was left to the (also state-
owned) local telecom companies, operators of the
Brazilian Telecommunications System (Telebrás).
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Data Communication: A Matter of the State

• The military government, as a whole, supported the idea of
data network deployments in the country aiming at the
competitiveness of the domestic industry and at the
purposes of strategic military order.
• Geopolitical issues raised the telecommunications area into
a strategic theme for national autonomy and security.
• In the early 80s, the military government security agency,
created the powerful Special Secretariat of Informatics
(SEI), to intervene in this subject. The objective was to
analyze the national landscape of telecommunications and
informatics sectors and guide the government in directing a
development policy.
9
Data Communication: A Matter of the State

10
Computer Networks:
Informatics or telecommunications?
SEI
Secretaria Especial
de Informática

• Later in its National Plan for Informatics and Automation,
SEI had established guidelines relating to the so-called
"Transborder Data Flows", in which it had the only and
ultimate decision on authorizing computerized data
communications across national borders.
• By that time, airline and banking networks were the only
ones allowed to operate internationally, with their access
points installed in facilities from Embratel, who was also
responsible for the equipment operation.
11
Data Communication:
Command and Control

12
The sources of inspiration for the
Brazilian Information Society
Original
Translated
Original
Translated
19801978

• In 1975, during the 1st
Latin American Seminar on Data Communication
at São Paulo, an access to ARPANET in the USA was demonstrated by
the first time in Brazil.
• The international experts who carried out this task were Vinton Cerf
(Stanford University) and Keith Uncapher (Univ. of Southern California).
13
A small taste…
“[…] we brought a gigantic GE Light Valve projection unit
half the size of a refrigerator. They set up a satellite link
from New York to Rio de Janeiro and a microwave link
from Rio to São Paulo. When they brought us into the
auditorium we found three bare copper wires sticking up
from the stage, two dry cell batteries and a hand-
cranked telephone. Keith had to keep the audience
entertained while we tried to get this Rube Goldberg
setup to work. Incredibly, it did. Which led me to believe
that Keith carried around not a little bit of his own luck.”
Vinton Cerf

14
The First Data Network
The first data communication service in Brazil, offered in 1980 by
Embratel was TRANSDATA, a point-to-point (not switched) network of
private circuits, leased at fixed prices, calculated based on the
distance between the ending points and the corresponding
transmission capacity

15
RENPAC
(The 1st National Packet Network)
• In 1985, Embratel launched RENPAC, the
national packet network, which was a public
data transmission network that used the
X.25 protocol (based on the OSI model).
• To increase its use, Embratel created the
CIRANDÃO Project, an general-public
information service offering.
• Those services never really got much
usage or acceptance, except in the
government administration purposes.

16
Some telco companies of the
Telebrás system deployed
Videotext terminals.
The Videotext Experiment

17
“There are no known
networks in Brazil.”
Page 588 from the book
“The Matrix: Computer Networks and
Conferencing Systems Worldwide”,
1989 (700 pages).
Reality Check from the 80s

Networking in the Brazilian Academy
“I see the future repeating the past
I see a museum of great novelties”
Cazuza (1958-1990),
Brazilian poet and musician.

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In 1979, the National Laboratory for
Computer Networks (LARC) was created by
several universities in Brazil to integrate the
institutional efforts in the area of computer
networks, in order to generate a nationwide
expertise in this area and to promote the
exchange of scientific information and software
through the integration of local computing
laboratories.

• Seeking alternatives to ensure the creation of an academic network in Brazil, the
board members of LARC visited, in June 1985, the academic network of
Deutsches Forschungsnetz (DFN) in Berlin, Germany, a supporter of the OSI
protocols, as many European countries at that time.
• As a consequence of this visit, the Brazilian Science Information Network
(BRAINS) initiative was conceived to be a network that would interconnect
academic institutions in Brazil. Since this network was planned to be similar to the
DFN, it would be OSI compliant, which was accordant to what was
recommended by the national information and communication policies running in
Brazil.
• In April 1986, the technical director of DFN was in Brazil presenting the German
project at the IV Brazilian Symposium on Computer Networks (SBRC) and
visiting some national academic institutions. There was a cooperation agreement
between Brazil and Germany at that time that supported many technological
projects, such as nuclear power plants.
21

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Academic Networks Worldwide
DFN (Germany); ARN, ACSNET, CSIRONET, SPEARNET, Pegasus (Australia);
ACONET (Austria); BRNET (Belgium); CDNET, NETNORTH, The Web (Canada);
DSN, KR (South Korea); DUNET (Denmark); NORDUNET (Scandinavia); IRIS
(Spain); ARPANET, BITNET, USENET, CSNET, MFNET, ESNET, NSFNET, FIDONET,
FREENET (United States); EARN, EUNET, EAN (Europe); FUNET (Finland); Smartix,
COSAC (France); HARNET (Hong Kong); JANET, GREENET (England); IRL
(Ireland); ISANET (Iceland); IARN (Israel); OSIRede, IRDNET (Italy); JUNET (Japan);
UNANNET, ITESMNET (Mexico); NICARAO (Nicaragua); UNINETT (Norway);
DSIRNET (New Zealand); SURFNET, ENRNET, PICA, HEPNET, HBONET (The
Netherlands); RIUP (Portugal); NUS (Singapore); SUNET, FREDSNET (Sweden);
SWITCH, CERN, CHUNET (Switzerland)
By 1987, there were more than 50 academic networks in over 30 countries
worldwide. In Brazil, despite the operation of RENPAC network by
Embratel, the academic community was still totally disintegrated because
first projects were, for several reasons, nothing else than pieces of paper.

23
Preparing for the National Network...
• At a meeting held at the VII Congress of the Brazilian Computer
Society (SBC), in July 1987, there was a “birds of a feather” session
to discuss the importance of academic networks as well as to
exchange information about experiences that began to take place at
several institutions all over the country.
• That meeting led to another one, held in October 1987. At this one,
called "Preparing for the National Research Network in
Computer Science", happened the first attempt for recruiting allies,
as representatives from many academic and research institutions
were invited and attended the meeting, together with the members
of LARC, SEI, Embratel and the Brazilian National Council for
Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). As a result, it
was planted the seed for a Brazilian academic network.

• In November 1987, three Brazilian researchers attended the VI
International Academic Networking Workshop that took place at
the University of Princeton, USA, in which they knew about several
academic networks in the world.
• This series of workshops were attended by individuals who were
pioneering the development of national networks in their countries.
The goals were to educate, share experiences and encourage the
connection to the Internet.
• These events were organized by Prof. Lawrence Landweber (Univ.
Wisconsin), who also helped to establish many network gateways
between the USA and other countries.
24
Preparing for the National Network...

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In Sept, 1987 UFRJ received a letter signed
by Prof. Lawrence Landweber, on behalf
of Stephen Wolff (NSF Division Director
for Networking and Communications
Research and Infrastructure), which
granted access to the Internet.
Unfortunately this was not enough, since
besides the inexistence of data
communication circuits between the two
countries, there was no equipment capable
of routing IP traffic available in the Brazil at
that time, and importing one was very
expensive and too much complicated due
to the existing IT market reserve policy.
A grant letter was not enough

The National Education and
Research Network (RNP) Project
• Inspired by these meetings, in August 1988 LARC drafted a proposal to
the recently established Ministry of Science and Technology of Brazil for
the creation of the National Education and Research Network (RNP).
• This proposal was based on the premise that data communication with
other overseas research networks should be done through dedicated
lines for a fixed cost.
• In addition all the national connections to the upcoming RNP would flow
via RENPAC network, and that institutions without mainframe computers
could connect their PCs or minicomputers to a parent institution and,
through a cooperative agreement, would have access to RNP services.
26

… But then frictions emerged
• The telecommunications monopoly forbade the transport
of third-party traffic within any customer circuits of
Embratel (either local or abroad), thereby precluding the
creation of gateways.
• The other contentious issue concerned the recovery
model. Embratel negatively responded to the
establishment of a dedicated connection to a foreign
country for a fixed cost, stating that this would violate the
by then current standards against the sharing of network
circuits as well as the billing process (which did not allow
fixed costs).
27

28
LNCC forced and opened the way …
with BITNET
• In 1988 the LNCC (National Laboratory for Scientific Computing )
requested a dedicated international line (9600 bps) to connect to the
University of Maryland (USA) and access BITNET.
• Embratel promptly refused to attend the request. This episody was
escalated and solved positively to LNCC, after a long meeting in Brasilia
(the federal capital) between SEI, Embratel, LARC and LNCC.
• The first Brazilian access to BITNET, was launched in September, 1988.
(with a gateway possibility). It was not only a victory for LNCC but to the
entire academic community.
LNCC

29
The gate was opened!
Brazil ended the 80s with three distinct islands of access to
BITNET, whose communication with each other occurred
only through international network routes.

Since the early use of BITNET, it was clear that
only email services would not be sufficient for
most academic users, whose requirements went
through the interactive remote access to
applications and more comprehensive file
transfer, features that were already available on
the existing Internet, which by that time was still
inaccessible from Brazil.
30
The Academic Community wanted More!

In September 1989, in a keynote speech at SUCESU, the most
important IT Conference and Exposition event at that time, the
secretary of science & technology of the federal government
officially recognized the need to improve the national
infrastructure of communications as well as to involve (and
commit) the various R&D actors in cooperative activities in order
to contribute more effectively to the development of the RNP.
A working group was created to set up and execute a strategy to
implement a network architecture similar to the one adopted by
NSFNET in the USA, i.e. with three levels: the national
backbone, regional networks and institutional networks.
31
The Academic Network Project (RNP)
[ Take 2 ]

The Protocol War still around
• The creation of an infrastructure for Internet access collided
with the disputed choice of communication protocols. SEI
was a strong advocate of the OSI model, and although
BITNET was initially tolerated as a pragmatic and immediate
solution to a restricted service, the technology of the Internet
(TCP/IP) was not considered a suitable alternative solution,
since it was not governed by formal international standards
bodies like CCITT or ISO.
• A presidential decree published stated about the mandatory
adoption of OSI by the entire federal public administration,
which should also follow the newly published Brazilian
Government OSI Profile (POSIG).
32

• Despite the pressure from the government, it was already clear to
most universities since late 80s, that TCP/IP would supplant OSI at the
global level, at least in academic and research networks.
• So the communication protocol of the future national network slowly
walked toward TCP/IP, but to accommodate some interests and future
requirements for OSI, the national backbone and the regional
networks should adopt multiprotocol routers.
• Paradoxically, the position of the government was already being
smoothly subverted in many research laboratories at several federal
institutions, since their newly acquired scientific workstations already
came with Ethernet LAN adapters and TCP/IP protocols support,
which were immediately put into work.
33
The “multiprotocol” RNP Network

• The first internet connection in Brazil finally came into place in
February 1991 when, after increasing the capacity of its connection to
the Fermilab to a 9600 bps link, FAPESP began transporting the
TCP/IP traffic of ANSP (besides BITNET) through its access to the
Energy Sciences Network (ESNET) which was connected to NSFNET,
which, in turn, was part of the Internet.
• The organization of Internet access in Brazil by the end of 1991 was
limited and highly cooperative, where each participating institution
funded its connection to São Paulo to share this 9600 bps link
• To avoid a repetition of what already happened to the BITNET
connections in the country, the ultimate solution referred again to the
implementation of a national backbone of RNP with a higher
bandwidth capacity.
34
Finally Internet!
But only at 9600 bps…

35
Ok, RNP Project was launched
but still only paperwork

36
The Thrust of the Third Sector
“Melvin Kranzberg (1917-1995),
North American Historian and Professor
“Technology is neither good nor
bad; nor is it neutral."

37
BBS
(Bulletin Board Systems)
• Since mid-80s many Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) existed
in Brazil, where their users exchanged messages among
themselves and even internationally through FIDONET.
• Until 1995 there were more than 300 BBS with more than
45 thousand users in Brazil

38
Amnesty for political prisoners and exiles
and the foundation of IBASE NGO
Among users of BBS was the Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic
Analysis (IBASE), a non-governmental organization, which in 1988
created Alternex, a BBS that served to civil society organizations
(research, human rights, ecology etc.).

39
Alternex and APC
In July 1989, Alternex joined the IGC (Institute for Global
Communication) in California (USA), which later became the
Internet access for APC (Association for Progressive
Communications), of which Alternex became a member.
In 1990 the UN delegated to the APC the coordination and
deployment of the communications infrastructure of its future
conferences. IBASE, the APC representative in Brazil, was
responsible for the coordination, planning, implementation and
operation of the information network of the conference on
environment and development - UNCED92 or RIO92.
UNCED 92

40
The UN Conference
• The international importance of this conference resulted in broad
governmental support at all levels, in addition to support from UFRJ,
RNP and LARC.
• It quickly installed connections (international and local) with very high
capacity (64 kbps) of an Embratel international link between UFRJ and
CERFNET (California Education & Research Federation Network).

41
Rede Rio and the
Internet access upgrade
The infrastructure setup for the UN event accelerated the
implementation of the Rede-Rio Network project, which, in
addition to international links, had an operations center and
promoted national repercussions, leading ANSP to expand
access to 64 kbps, improving RNP's national backbone.
LNCC
UFRJ

42
RNP Backbone - Take 3
Launched in 1992, finally!

43
25 years of the RNP Backbone
Nov 2017

44
The First Internet Service Provider
After the UN event in Rio, IBASE continued to integrate
Rede-Rio and sought to expand Alternex's services,
becoming the first provider of Internet access in Brazil, and
also providing access to the USENET message network for
thousands of users of more than a hundred BBS in Brazil.

45
The “Internetbrás”
• At the end of 1994, the federal government announced its
intention to promote Internet development in the country.
• The creation of the necessary structure for the commercial
exploration would be in charge of the Embratel, which then
started its Internet access service via an experimental dial-up
line and then began offering the service in a definitive way
through access to the Global Internet Exchange (GIX), which
gave access to the commercial Internet backbone (CIX).
• The exclusivity of Embratel displeased private initiative and
other sectors of society. Much was written in the press and
feared by the emergence of an "Internetbrás“ (state-owned
company for the service)

46
Taking a ride on the privatization
of telecommunications
• In January 1995 a new president started a mandate, with a
privatization agenda that began with telecommunications.
• In April 1995, The Ministry of Communications announced that
the Internet was a value added service, over which there would
be no monopoly.
• Then it was announced that Embratel would have to terminate
its activities as an access provider.
• Then an inter-ministerial decree from May 1995 created the
Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br), with the purpose
of coordinating and integrating all Internet service initiatives in
the country, comprising representatives of the government,
backbone operators, service providers, academia and the end
user’s community.

Since then, alongside with the explosion of the
World Wide Web, many Internet access and
content service providers appeared (and
disappeared) in the Brazilian market. The Internet
started to appear on TV shows and soap operas,
new professions emerged (web designer etc.),
new concerns arose (such as privacy etc.) and
cyberspace opened for million of Brazilians.
47
And the history keeps going on…

48
Conclusion
“Those who cannot remember the past
are condemned to repeat it.”
Jorge Augustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana
(1863-1952), Spanish Philosopher

49
The analysis of the early days of the Internet in
Brazil may show that technological changes
correspond to technical choices, but linked to
political choices and values socially
constituted, where technology supports (and is
supported by) discourses that emerge among
the complex interactions between engineers
and scientists, funding agencies, government
policies, market laws, civil society institutions,
ideologies and cultural frameworks.
.

50
Sputnik
DARPA
IPTO
Arpanet
Packet
Networks
RAND
NPL
UNIX
BITNET
RNP
Universities
APC
Min.Comm
Embratel
Brazil
NSFNET
TCP/IP
Internet
BBS
WWWMemex
Xanadu CERN
CSNET
Alternex
ISP
UCLA
BBN
UCSB
Utah
LARC
IBASE
USSR
USA
England
Mosaic Apache
NSF
Netscape
Min.SciTech
Min.Educat.
ISO CCITT
UN
RM-OSI
CNPq
IGC
SEI
FapespESNET
Faperj
CERNET
Rede Rio
ANSP
CGITelebrás
SRI
MILNET

51
Thanks
Marcelo Sávio
http://www.linkedin.com/in/msavio
http://www.slideshare.net/msavio
http://betarrabios.blogspot.com/

Since 2006 then my dissertation has been referenced by
many papers and reports as well as by a few books
52
Two recent books (in English) by Peter Knight

The Dawn of the Internet in Brazil

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