Next week, the Ranking Digital Rights team heads to San Francisco for the fifth RightCon conference. Our team is planning and participating in several sessions, and we look forward to many dynamic, informative conversations with experts and advocates from around the world.
Eager to provide feedback on RDR’s potential expansion to include software, device, and networking equipment companies? Then our Day 1 session on Ranking Tech Companies Part 2: Software, Devices and Networking Equipment is the one for you. On Wednesday, March 30 from 4:00-5:00 pm, we’ll converse with privacy and freedom of expression experts, technical specialists, and other participants about how best to incorporate companies that make and sell software, devices, and networking equipment into the already existing RDR methodology.
Interested in corporate transparency? RDR has organized a Day 2 session in partnership with Article 19 focused on Opening the Black Box: Understanding How Companies Enforce Their Rules. Join us on Thursday, March 31 from 12:00-1:15 pm to discuss how companies can be more transparent about their enforcement practices and why governments should be transparent about extra-legal requests they make to companies to restrict content. Our research for the Corporate Accountability Index found that as of November 2015 none of the 16 companies we evaluated reported any data on content they restrict when enforcing terms of service.
Doing company-focused research of your own? Then come to our Day 3 session, “Ranking ICT Companies on Digital Rights: A ‘How To’ Guide” on Friday, April 1 from 9:00-10:15 am. Co-hosted by RDR and EFF, this session is designed for civil society groups who are at various stages of research projects that focus on ICT companies and digital rights. We will learn from each other’s experiences in carrying out company rankings and other company-focused research.
Our team is also participating in additional sessions at RightsCon — come check them out!
- Wednesday, March 30, 2:30-3:45 pm: Allon Bar is speaking at “What Do Privacy and Transparency Mean to You? Perspectives from the Global North and South”
- Thursday, March 31, 4:00-5:00 pm: Ciprian Iancu is speaking at a session on “Helping the Participants Read their Risks: Taking a Digital Literacy Approach to Digital Security Trainings” as part of the Digital Trainer Fest.
- Rebecca MacKinnon is speaking at a variety of sessions throughout the event.
The full conference program is available here. Our team will be at RightsCon for the entire conference, so feel free to get in touch if you’d like to connect: info@rankingdigitalrights.org.
