Luca Belli, a professor at the FGV Rio de Janeiro Law School and the coordinator of its Center for Technology and Society, has been selected to be part of a select group of 19 world-renowned experts who will make up the Steering Committee of the International Observatory on Information and Democracy. The observatory will support the International Partnership for Information and Democracy, an initiative that brings together 51 governments around common principles related to defending the circulation of reliable information, democracy and international cooperation.

The observatory was created to bridge the gap between knowledge producers and decision makers, establishing a permanent process of interaction between experts and policymakers. The idea is to produce periodic reports to evaluate the means, standards and architectures of information and communication spaces, including analysis of the compatibility of technology companies’ algorithms with democratic principles.

“The aim of the International Observatory on Information and Democracy is to play an essential role in guiding the sustainable development of online communication by bringing together experts from around the world to create an interface between knowledge and public policy. More than 50 governments across the world are committed to this new entity. It is an honor, but also a huge responsibility, to participate in an institution with such an ambitious mandate,” commented Professor Luca Belli. 

The International Observatory on Information and Democracy is led by Harvard professor emeritus Shoshana Zuboff, the author of the book “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism,” and Angel Gurria, a former secretary of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The Brazilian government joined the International Partnership for Information and Democracy in August. Fundação Getulio Vargas is the only Brazilian institution represented in the partnership’s observatory.

To find out more about the composition of the Steering Committee, click here. 

To find out more about the FGV Rio de Janeiro Law School’s Center for Technology and Society, click here.