Facebook caught in privacy debate with arrest of executive in Brazil - CNET

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Apple isn't the only tech company sparring with law enforcement over users' privacy.

A Facebook executive was arrested by Brazilian federal police Tuesday for not tuing over information from a WhatsApp account linked to a drug trafficking investigation.

Diego Dzodan, a vice president for the Menlo Park, Califoia-based company, was taken into custody for "repeated non-compliance with court orders," according to a statement from police, translated from Portuguese. Brazilian authorities could hold him for a week or more, according to The New York Times.

Dzodan could be released Wednesday after about 24 hours in jail if, as expected, a judge overtus a lower-court decision, according to the Reuters news agency.

At stake is what the tech industry believes is its duty to safeguard the privacy of its users, while law enforcement officials say they need access to data as a matter of national security and crime-fighting. Apple is embroiled in a similar episode -- a high-profile battle in the United States against the FBI for data from an iPhone used by a terrorist in the San Beardino, Califoia, shootings in December that claimed the lives of 14 people.