Ranking Digital Rights Launches the 2020 RDR Corporate Accountability Index
Channel: New America
Date: 2021-02-25

The events of the past year have brought a new urgency to debates about technology and power and their implications for both individual rights and democracy writ large.

Overlapping public health, human rights, and electoral crises raised tough new questions for companies about their obligations to protecting users’ data and freedom of expression in the face of government censorship and surveillance demands. In addition, they are facing increasing scrutiny for a lack of clarity about how they enforce and provide remedy for policies and practices of their own.

Public consciousness about the power of algorithms—often the engine driving profits for platforms like Facebook and Google—also reached new heights, intensifying pressure on companies to divulge more information about exactly how their technologies work.

At the same time, many tech and telecom companies also saw their profits skyrocket, especially e-commerce titans like Amazon and Alibaba, which performed especially poorly when it came to respecting users’ rights.

How did companies do in 2020 when it came to respecting users' freedom of expression and privacy? Are they keeping up with their obligations? And if not, what will it take for them to do better?

Join Ranking Digital Rights for a first look at the 2020 RDR Corporate Accountability Index and a discussion of how policymakers, advocates, and shareholders can use our data to hold tech and telecom companies accountable for upholding our fundamental rights in 2021.

Follow the conversation online @rankingrights. This event will also be livestreamed via YouTube.

Confirmed Speakers:

Rebecca MacKinnon
Founding Director, Ranking Digital Rights

Jessica Dheere
Director, Ranking Digital Rights

Nabiha Syed
President, The Markup

Marta Tellado
President and CEO, Consumer Reports

Marina Madale
General Manager: Sustainability and Shared Value, MTN

====================================

We are dedicated to renewing the promise of America by continuing the quest to realize our nation's highest ideals, honestly confronting the challenges caused by rapid technological and social change, and seizing the opportunities those changes create.

Subscribe to our channel for new videos on a wide range of policy issues: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=newamericafoundation

Subscribe to The New America Weekly and other newsletters: http://www.newamerica.org/subscribe/#

Visit newamerica.org