(English) THE DANGER OF ANONYMITY

The recent Law No. 13,608, dated January 10, 2018, provides, in Article 2, that “States are authorized to set up a complaint collection by telephone, preferably free of charge, which may also be maintained by a nonprofit private entity, by means of an agreement”.

Article 4 sets forth that “The Federal Union, the States, the Federal District and the cities, within their jurisdictions, may establish forms of compensation for the provision of information useful for the prevention, repression or verification of crimes or administrative offenses”.

It is worth remembering that, under Article 3 of said law, the confidentiality of the complaints is guaranteed.

This can provide progress in the combat of administrative offenses, but it can also create a system of personal revenges guaranteed by anonymity and, even worse, a way to make easy money with unfounded accusations.

It is clear that the purpose of the law is noble, but its application should receive extreme caution.

2018/03/07