Data Protection as a Democratic Imperative: Janaína Rodrigues Valle Gomes on Privacy, Power, and Digital Rights in Brazil
In an era defined by rapid digital transformation, questions of privacy, power, and human rights are no longer abstract — they shape everyday life. For Janaína Rodrigues Valle Gomes, protecting personal data is not simply a technical or legal challenge, but a fundamental democratic imperative. An alumna of the Presidential Precinct’s 2025 Judicial Fellowship Program, hosted in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Janaína draws on her work within Brazil’s federal judiciary and her global perspective on digital governance to address some of the most pressing challenges of the digital age.
“The protection of digital privacy is crucial to citizens’ freedom and to preventing state overreach.”
Janaína’s path into data protection began during her Master of Science in International Human Rights, where she encountered the historical foundations of modern privacy law. In her research, she studied Convention 108, enacted by the Council of Europe as the first binding international treaty to specifically address the automatic processing of personal data. The convention — and subsequent European data protection frameworks — emerged in response to the abuses of the Nazi regime, which used mechanical data-processing machines to cross-link census and registry data to track Jewish populations. “I realized that the protection of digital privacy is crucial to citizens’ freedom and to preventing State overreach,” Janaína explains. That realization anchored her career at the intersection of law, technology, and human rights.
As Brazil began debating its own privacy framework, Janaína sought to deepen her understanding of global approaches to digital governance. She traveled to the United States to pursue an LL.M. with a concentration in internet law and privacy, where she studied the role of internal compliance mechanisms in advancing data protection. “In the United States, I learned how internal compliance mechanisms are essential to kick-starting the protection of digital rights,” she says—experience that later prepared her to serve as leader of the Federal Judiciary’s Data Protection Committee, overseeing privacy compliance in Brazil’s 3rd Circuit.
Today, Janaína views Brazil’s rapid digital transformation through a lens shaped by both opportunity and inequity. She identifies three urgent challenges facing vulnerable and marginalized communities: limited access to digital infrastructure in remote regions, low rates of compliance with Brazil’s General Data Protection Law (LGPD) — particularly among small and medium-sized organizations — and a widespread lack of digital privacy literacy.
Brazil’s size and uneven infrastructure mean that many communities remain excluded from digital services altogether. Even in major cities, reliable internet access is often unaffordable. At the same time, enforcement gaps persist. With only one national data protection authority for the entire country — currently under-resourced — many organizations remain noncompliant. “This lack of compliance exposes the privacy of citizens, especially underprivileged ones, who do not have the financial resources to seek legal counsel,” Janaína notes.
Compounding these challenges is the complexity of privacy legislation itself. Schools and employers rarely provide adequate civic education on how personal data is collected and used, while digital technologies often obscure what happens to personal data long after a service is consumed. Janaína warns that this opacity threatens the rule of law: it is not enough for rights to exist on paper — they must be protected throughout the entire lifecycle of data processing.
Within the public sector, Janaína’s work implementing the LGPD presents its own set of complexities. Leading the privacy program of the 3rd Circuit involves overseeing vast amounts of personal data at both judicial and administrative levels. Many digital systems were built under outdated assumptions, requiring extensive adaptation or entirely new solutions. This work, she explains, demands “creative solutions in light of limited financial resources and staffing constraints.”
“It is essential to reframe the LGPD as an enabler of innovation, not an obstacle.”
Equally challenging is the cultural dimension of data protection. There remains a misconception that the LGPD slows innovation or hinders institutional progress. Janaína argues the opposite. “It is essential to reframe the LGPD as an enabler of innovation, not an obstacle,” she says. By demonstrating how privacy by design reduces legal risk, avoids rework, and increases institutional trust, organizations can align innovation with accountability. In this process, leadership matters. Clear guidance from senior management affirming that innovation and data protection are complementary objectives has been central to the approach now being pursued within Brazil’s federal judiciary.
Janaína’s time at the Presidential Precinct further sharpened her thinking on these issues. Discussions with federal and state judicial schools on cybersecurity and the use of artificial intelligence in the judiciary proved especially formative. She found particular value in examining “the delicate balance between embracing AI, protecting personal data, and keeping humans in the loop.” Looking ahead to 2026, she plans to continue these exchanges and to draw on the codes of conduct already developed by judicial institutions to guide staff and judges on cybersecurity and AI governance.
“Privacy rights must be embedded in technology.”
When considering the future of digital rights in Brazil, Janaína outlines a threefold approach. The first is structural and technological: both public and private sectors must fully embrace privacy by design, embedding data protection into digital services from the outset. “Privacy rights must be embedded in technology,” she emphasizes, requiring a shift in how products balance efficiency, profit, and fundamental rights.
The second approach centers on policy and values. Governments can accelerate compliance by incentivizing a cultural shift toward digital privacy consciousness within organizations, while schools should integrate the topic of privacy rights into civic education to prepare future generations. In this vision, informed consumers play a critical role in holding industries accountable.
The third approach concerns legislative evolution. While the LGPD was modeled after Europe’s GDPR, long considered the gold standard of privacy regulation, Janaína notes that recent flexibilization in Europe highlights the risks of overregulation. As Brazil considers AI regulation, she urges lawmakers to proceed carefully — to craft policies grounded in Brazil’s social and economic realities rather than copying external models. Regulation, she argues, should weigh costs and benefits, address local challenges, and promote innovation alongside rights protection.
For Janaína, her time at the Presidential Precinct offered more than a professional exchange — it provided space for reflection at a critical moment in her leadership journey. Engaging with judicial leaders, policy experts, and peers reinforced her conviction that effective digital governance depends not only on law and technology, but on values, collaboration, and institutional trust. As she continues her work within Brazil’s federal judiciary, the experience remains a touchstone — shaping how she approaches leadership, innovation, and the enduring responsibility to protect citizens’ rights in an increasingly digital world.
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