Verizon building in the New York City skyline. Photo credit: Ted McGrath [CC BY-NC-SA 2.0]
Internet service providers in New York City fail to provide sufficient information for consumers to make informed choices about the privacy risks of using these services, according to a new study (PDF) by the Digital Equity Lab at the New School released this week. The study, which used the Ranking Digital Rights Corporate Accountability Index methodology to evaluate 11 of New York City’s major internet service providers (ISPs), found that these privacy policies were too vague for consumers to understand how these companies handle their data.
The study found that ISPs did not provide privacy policies in the main languages spoken by residents. While companies offered policies in English and Spanish, none provide these policies in the other six official languages of New York City. The study also found that most policies failed to provide users clear options to control what information is collected and shared about them.
The report is one of several recent studies that have adapted the Index methodology to examine corporate transparency of policies and practices affecting freedom of expression and privacy in different regions. A report by the Social Media Exchange (SMEX) in Lebanon used the Index methodology to survey 66 mobile providers in 22 Arab countries and found that mobile users lacked critical information about the policies affecting their freedom of expression and privacy. In addition, this February researchers with Paris-based Internet Sans Frontières published a study based on the Index methodology which found that mobile providers in Kenya and Senegal lacked sufficient transparency, with discrepancies between disclosed policies of the parent companies and their local subsidiaries.
