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A
press representative for the court in Sergipe state that is
handling the case said Diego Dzodan, who is Facebook vice
president for Latin America, would likely be released in Sao
Paulo on Wednesday morning after a judge overturned a lower
court decision.
Law enforcement officials withheld further information about the
nature of their request to the messaging service that Facebook
Inc acquired in 2014, saying that doing so could compromise an
ongoing criminal investigation.
The arrest, which Facebook called an "extreme and
disproportionate measure," came as social media and Internet
companies face mounting pressure from governments around the
world to help them eavesdrop on users and filter content.
Court officials said the judge in Brazil resorted to the arrest
after issuing a fine of 1 million reais ($250,000) to compel
Facebook to help investigators access WhatsApp messages relevant
to a confidential drug-trafficking investigation.
That is likely impossible because WhatsApp began using
end-to-end encryption technology in 2014 that prevents the
company from monitoring messages that travel across its network,
according to Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist with
the American Civil Liberties Union.
(Reporting by Brad Haynes; Additional reporting by Jim Finkle;
Editing by Frances Kerry)
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