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The purpose of this paper is to present the results of our research on Internet use by candidates for councilor in Curitiba, Florianópolis and Porto Alegre. Through the examination of the online campaign of candidates who used websites, among about 1.400 applicants for the representative positions in these capitals, we evaluate the use these politicians have made of the Internet in municipal elections of October 2008. Our basic hypothesis is that the web pages of candidates for elected offices, especially the council, served mainly to disseminate traditional political practices, strengthening personalistic and clientelistic ties with the electorate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Brazilian Internet Law Framework was recently sanctioned by President Dilma Rousseff. Giving continuity to previous studies on the initiative, the focus here is to investigate specifically the second consultation, trying to understand who took part, the arguments held and which were the impacts of the online forums contributions on the final document submitted by the Executive to the Congress. The results indicate that there was a deliberative environment, with the existence of reciprocity and respect and the prevalence of a libertarian point of view. On the other hand, not many individuals participated in the process and a large portion of the messages were concentrated in a few users. In general, most of the contributions were heard by the Executive, occurring more conversation, dialogue and participation in the second consultation than in the first one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]