Ranking Digital Rights

Ranking Digital Rights (RDR) is a non-profit research initiative housed at New America’s Open Technology Institute, working with an international network of partners to set global standards for how companies in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector should respect freedom of expression and privacy. The Ranking Digital Rights project is led by Rebecca MacKinnon, senior research fellow at the New America Foundation, and has included institutional partners such as Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, Berlin; Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore; Hu Yong, Peking University School of Journalism and Communication; Instituto de Tecnologia e Sociedade, Brazil; Johns-Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies; Center for the Study of New Media & Society, Moscow; Center for Global Communications Studies  at the Annenberg School, University of Pennsylvania; Access; and the World Wide Web Foundation.

RDR launched its inaugural Corporate Accountability Index in November 2015, which evaluated 16 companies based on the project’s initial methodology, comprised of 31 indicators. Companies’ scores and accompanying analysis were generated through a rigorous process including peer review, company feedback, and quality control. In 2017, the Index will build upon these findings to produce the project’s first set of year-on-year comparative data, while incorporating analysis for several new companies, services, and indicators.

In March 2017, Ranking Digital Rights will issue the second edition of its Corporate Accountability Index, which will rank 22 companies according to an expanded list of 35 indicators focused on corporate disclosure of policies and practices that affect users’ freedom of expression and privacy.

The data produced by the Index is intended to inform the work of human rights advocates, policymakers, and responsible investors. It can also help companies improve their own policies and practices.

CMDS fellow Amy Brouillette serves as the project`s research and editorial manager. In the past, CMDS has contributed to the overall development of the project and lead case studies on European mobile phone providers and social media platforms for a UNESCO report and towards the pilot project, as well as participation in a series of roundtable discussion with senior representatives from Facebook, Twitter, Google, British Telecom and others at the Human Rights in Silicon Valley conference.