Carlos Afonso and Alternex
termISP & telecomprivacy
The co-founder, with sociologist Herbert de Souza (Betinho) and Marcos Arruda, of the Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic Analyses (IBASE), and the man behind Alternex - the first internet service in Brazil open to the public, years before commercial providers existed. Inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame in 2021.
Alternex came out of civil society rather than industry or academia, which is the point: Brazil's first public network access was built by an organisation whose purpose was social justice, and it served non-governmental organisations before it served anyone else. Its defining moment was the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, where Alternex, riding infrastructure assembled with the nascent RNP, provided internet mail to conference participants - the country's first large public demonstration that the network was for everyone.
Also known as: ca, ibase, betinho, primeiro provedor brasileiro